Suburban 3 Car Garage "Shop"

[ikarus]

I can't spend too much time in this forum or on Garage Journal, I start to get a little too jealous of everyone who has a big shop or barn to work in. But I feel lucky to have a garage of this size and will make the most of it.

The garage is a "3" car garage - with one long space I can barely fit my Tundra in, one medium space that fits an 80/200 just fine, and one small space that I have only used to park an M3. An FJ40 or sports car could fit there but otherwise useless as a garage spot.

I have 12-13' ceilings and have been running some 18,000 lumen Amazon lightbulbs for the past 4 years, and they work surprisingly well. I bought this house right before Covid blew up and wasn't able to put much effort into the garage itself beyond a few shelves. Over the years it got messier and I finally decided to bite the bullet last month, ordered a POD, and cleaned it out.

I did the drywall and paint myself, and had a neighbor with an epoxy business do the floor. I went for a light grey flake with added grip texture on the floor, and the brightest/most reflective white I could get from Benjamin Moore in their Scuff-X line

Before:

During:

After:

I'm going to build some new stairs next. I don't have a massive budget, any money spent is less money spent on car parts, haha. But I want to build this into a useful space. I'm going to brainstorm over the next week and start ordering stuff so I can get this back to an operational garage ASAP.

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on what you would do with a space like this. So far in my all-over-the-place brainstorms I'm thinking about:
- 220V
- Air compressor
- Bike racks/mounts
- Cabinets
- Tool chest
- High lift garage doors
- scissor lift (slab isn't thick enough for a 2 post but I might fix that and put in a lift in the future)
- Mezzanine ?? (how can I use all this vertical space)

 

[Michael B]

You’re off to a great start. Installing a couple of 220 outlets is a good idea. You want any future welder, compressor or lift running on 220. If your garage floor is 4” thick (and it should be) it’s thick enough for a 2 post lift. You’re thinking in the right direction, storage needs to be high. You might consider keeping everything mobile, wheels or pallets. My shop is larger and 99% of the big “stationary” items are easily moved. You should consider putting the compressor outside and the 220 for the 2 post will need to come from the overhead normally. I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the future.

 

[ikarus]

You’re off to a great start. Installing a couple of 220 outlets is a good idea. You want any future welder, compressor or lift running on 220. If your garage floor is 4” thick (and it should be) it’s thick enough for a 2 post lift. You’re thinking in the right direction, storage needs to be high. You might consider keeping everything mobile, wheels or pallets. My shop is larger and 99% of the big “stationary” items are easily moved. You should consider putting the compressor outside and the 220 for the 2 post will need to come from the overhead normally. I look forward to seeing what you come up with in the future.

I appreciate the insights! You say 4" slab is good enough? I need to look through the manufacturer's specs again but I thought Bendpak said I needed 6-7".

Compressor on the outside is a great idea - did you build a small shed and then plumb the air lines through the walls into the shop?

 

[Michael B]

I have 10k Challenger lift and 4” was spec. I think Bendpak was the same.

I had room inside my shop for the compressor and it has a muffler on it. But most put the compressor outside in a shed that backs up to building and plumb through the wall.

 

[MUDZLLA]

four post lift for your ferarri
loft storage for junk and cruiser parts.
welding station
press and drill stand

 

[Waorani]

4" concrete thickness is minimum for several 2-post lift mfgs. Bendpak actually says 4.25" with their heavier lifts at 6.5" min. I'd guess 4.25" is more of a CYA thing than any significant difference from 4" in actual strength. But verify by drilling at actual installation points that you've got 4". Floor in my old shop was supposed to be 4" but I never could find suitable location for both posts that were 4".

 

[spazzyfry123]

I'm a fan of the Hornit Clug bike racks.

CLUG | The World's Smallest Bike Rack | Hornit

The Eurobike award-winning CLUG is the world's smallest bike rack. Working seamlessly with your floor to store your bike, CLUG is used to store your bikes either vertically or horizontally. CLUG (which is a cross between a clip and a hug for your bike), is compatible with tyres between 23-81mm...

us.hornit.com

Have you considered any fans? I've been using Air King for years and just installed two 20" fans in my new 3.5 car garage.

 

[ikarus]

four post lift for your ferarri
loft storage for junk and cruiser parts.
welding station
press and drill stand

Good call on the press and drill stand. I need to set aside a corner for those. And I was just telling my wife if we bought some 4 posters we could turn it into a 5 car garage. ha

4" concrete thickness is minimum for several 2-post lift mfgs. Bendpak actually says 4.25" with their heavier lifts at 6.5" min. I'd guess 4.25" is more of a CYA thing than any significant difference from 4" in actual strength. But verify by drilling at actual installation points that you've got 4". Floor in my old shop was supposed to be 4" but I never could find suitable location for both posts that were 4".

What did you end up doing for a lift?

I'm a fan of the Hornit Clug bike racks.

CLUG | The World's Smallest Bike Rack | Hornit

The Eurobike award-winning CLUG is the world's smallest bike rack. Working seamlessly with your floor to store your bike, CLUG is used to store your bikes either vertically or horizontally. CLUG (which is a cross between a clip and a hug for your bike), is compatible with tyres between 23-81mm...

us.hornit.com

Have you considered any fans? I've been using Air King for years and just installed two 20" fans in my new 3.5 car garage.

View attachment 3630917

Good looking garage! Hadn't heard of those mounts and good idea on the fans. I was just looking into heaters and split units as well. The weather here is pretty nice for garage work May-October but I could really use some fans on the warmer days.

 

[spazzyfry123]

Good looking garage! Hadn't heard of those mounts and good idea on the fans. I was just looking into heaters and split units as well. The weather here is pretty nice for garage work May-October but I could really use some fans on the warmer days.

Thanks. Best part on the mount is its simplicity. I'll finish up a ride and pop the bike in place and walk away. I also like the Helmetor wall-mounted helmet mount. Similar in concept if it's something you may be interested in.

Wall-mounted | helmetor

www.helmetor.com

Fans do a great job. In addition to the garage doors, I have six windows that I'll open up for flow. With the fans going, it's great. Do you know if the garage is insulated? Sorry if I missed it. Going to be tough with a split if not. I plan to put one in mine at some point, but even with the super hot couple of days we've had, fans hold up.

 

[ikarus]

Thanks. Best part on the mount is its simplicity. I'll finish up a ride and pop the bike in place and walk away. I also like the Helmetor wall-mounted helmet mount. Similar in concept if it's something you may be interested in.

Wall-mounted | helmetor

www.helmetor.com

Fans do a great job. In addition to the garage doors, I have six windows that I'll open up for flow. With the fans going, it's great. Do you know if the garage is insulated? Sorry if I missed it. Going to be tough with a split if not. I plan to put one in mine at some point, but even with the super hot couple of days we've had, fans hold up.

I didn't mention it yet but on the HVAC front: the garage walls are insulated but doesn't have weatherstripping around the garage doors, and the garage doors aren't insulated. We have some pretty cold winters here so I'll be addressing that this year. I may do a DIY garage door insulation kit, or convert to an insulated garage door the same time I go high lift on the doors, to get the proper springs for a heavier door.

I've been researching standard heaters, infrared heaters, and split units. Realistically I don't need AC - I live at 6K feet and the summers are nice - but a heater is a must.

 

[cruzinfj1]

Thats a nice shop space, with a lot of potential!! I've worked in a lot smaller!! One thing to consider with a rack, 2 post or 4 post, is that they take up a lot of real estate. Sneaking a two post in with that garage door track and service door might be a little tricky, at least by looking at that pic with your Tundra in it. A 4 post with the center jacks would probably be what I went with if I had that space. Could always keep something on it, and something parked under it. Cut a couple of 2'x2' pieces of cardboard and lay them out on the floor, 12' center. That helped me when I was trying to figure out where to put mine.

I went with a Quincy QT-54 compressor and really like it. Its pretty quiet, and not too big. Fits in the 3' corner between my outside wall and garage door track. You could always build a catwalk/loft and put it up there also.

I had a 2 1/2 car before my shop, and had a wall mount, electric heater from Amazon in there. I will see if I can find which exact one, but it had a remote thermostat and fan. Pretty sure it cost me less than $500. Worked alot better than what I ever thought it would. Had no problem keeping the garage at 65-70 all winter here and wasn't too loud/annoying when it would kick on.

 

[PIP]

Can you hook into whatever hvac your house already has?

 

[ikarus]

Thats a nice shop space, with a lot of potential!! I've worked in a lot smaller!! One thing to consider with a rack, 2 post or 4 post, is that they take up a lot of real estate. Sneaking a two post in with that garage door track and service door might be a little tricky, at least by looking at that pic with your Tundra in it. A 4 post with the center jacks would probably be what I went with if I had that space. Could always keep something on it, and something parked under it. Cut a couple of 2'x2' pieces of cardboard and lay them out on the floor, 12' center. That helped me when I was trying to figure out where to put mine.

I went with a Quincy QT-54 compressor and really like it. Its pretty quiet, and not too big. Fits in the 3' corner between my outside wall and garage door track. You could always build a catwalk/loft and put it up there also.

I had a 2 1/2 car before my shop, and had a wall mount, electric heater from Amazon in there. I will see if I can find which exact one, but it had a remote thermostat and fan. Pretty sure it cost me less than $500. Worked alot better than what I ever thought it would. Had no problem keeping the garage at 65-70 all winter here and wasn't too loud/annoying when it would kick on.

Same, I've done engine swaps in tiny garages. I'm grateful to have the space

I would love to see that heater when you get a chance. The garage stays above freezing for the most part as is, so I think it'll be easy ish to heat.

Can you hook into whatever hvac your house already has?

Not sure! I'll have to look into that, hadn't considered it.

 

[cruzinfj1]

Same, I've done engine swaps in tiny garages. I'm grateful to have the space

I would love to see that heater when you get a chance. The garage stays above freezing for the most part as is, so I think it'll be easy ish to heat.



Not sure! I'll have to look into that, hadn't considered it.

This is the heater I had:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076FNKBTQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?pd_rd_i=B07QM2H5TR&pd_rd_w=WYKzF&content-id=amzn1.sym.eb7c1ac5-7c51-4df5-ba34-ca810f1f119a&pf_rd_p=eb7c1ac5-7c51-4df5-ba34-ca810f1f119a&pf_rd_r=ZWXYJNQVT3QV8ZJX19N1&pd_rd_wg=VabFX&pd_rd_r=bb3a8476-0fd9-4ae6-84c3-c15c3d14e1af&s=kitchen&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&th=1

I also thought of tapping into the house duct work as it was in the side wall, but was worried about smells getting into the house. Welding/Exhaust/grinding dust/spray paint/etc. Im sure someone on here is a HVAC guy that can say for sure, but that was the primary reason why I went with that style wall hung for that space. I knew that we were gonna be selling it also, so cost wise was a lot cheaper too. It worked well for what it was, biggest thing is keeping the temp up to keep everything in the garage warm. Setting it at 50-60* and then turning it up when working out there as needed worked well.

 

[ikarus]

Washed the 200 and was able to finally park inside now that the floor has cured. The epoxy guy recommended waiting 10 days since it's been a little cold. We actually had a snowstorm out of nowhere that dropped about 6 inches a week ago.

And I scored a basically new 60 gal air compressor as a gift from my father in law who's consolidating his wood and moto/auto shops. Stoked!

 

[cruzinfj1]

That is a beautiful truck!!!! Ive been wanting one for a while now, but just cant find a good enough reason to get rid of the Tundra.

 

[ikarus]

Small update. Haven't got as much done this summer as I'd hoped but I've just about wrapped up the stairs/landing.

I went back and forth and spent way too much time designing it, but I eventually settled on a traditional deck design with a small cantilever. Between that and shrinking the width of the stairs but expanding the length of the landing, I am hopeful that I now have enough room to park more than a small coupe/sedan on that side of the garage.

Little overkill but I want something that will last and stand up to all the snow we track in during the winter. Went with mostly Simpson for hardware and fasteners as well as some GRK and FastenMaster.

Started off with some PT for a ledger, with flashing, and 6x6 for the two columns.

Doubled up a 2x8 for a beam and used some beefy Simpson column caps with all stainless bolts from McMaster. (I ended up switching those thru-bolts on the post for slightly longer ones, you can see there was just barely enough thread engagement.) 2x8 joists with blocking for surface mounted railing, and deck tape.

Redwood 2x6 decking with stainless hardware. I had planned on doing some nice 45° cuts and a picture frame but changed all my plans at the last minute for surface mounted railings vs integrated posts and decided to roll with function over form. It's just a garage. haha

Finally added some modern steel stringers. Since this picture I've painted them flat black to match all the other hardware. Treads are all attached and I'm just working on concrete epoxy/threaded rods for the bottom of the stringers this week. Will wrap it up with stain and a railing next week.

Huge improvement over the original, I think!

Best "before" pic I have, just missing the wobbly vinyl railing I had just removed. The job was so poorly done I was able to pull the concrete anchors out by hand.

Now I have some room for storage underneath - thinking it might be a good spot for wheels/tires.

Beyond that the main challenge I'm running into is that my garage floor slopes. Had to fab some spacers for the stringers and posts to keep things level. It's pretty significant too, over the 40" width of the stairs, it drops 1/2".

It's got me rethinking how I want to handle storage in here. Might go wall mounted as much as possible. I'd love to get a big tool chest on wheels but I might need some sort of leveling coasters.

 

[ikarus]

Got the stairs stained and installed today. Went with a Behr "Coffee" semi transparent stain. Mocked up the railing posts. I have some matching wood railings for the top rail, then cable for the rest.

 

[ikarus]

Got the cable railing installed. Onto garage organization next.

Also I realized I can fit 4x 35s underneath the landing. Didn't plan that but it's a nice bonus.

As far as I can tell the stairs are up to code except for the gaps underneath each tread. I might make some thin steel plates to cover half the opening and bring it up to code.

This photo looks a little wack but I swear everything is square and level in person. haha

 

[BadReligion]

Looks nice. Where did you find the cable railing? I need to do that to a few flights of stairs. Local places are insanely expensive for something that looks fairly simple.