The great ONSC garage thread

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Rice

Rice

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My wife and I are selling a property where my shop was. A wonderful 30' x 60' metal 3-bay with 12 ft ceilings and tall doors. Our plan now is to build a second garage at our house which will require downsizing and adhering to some HOA guidelines. Maximum footprint size can be about 28' wide x 30' deep. The existing attached garage is 1.5 stories with a bonus room upstairs so the new one will need to be similar but we still have some freedom.

The question ... What features do you want in your wrenching garage?

Would you rather have one big door or two singles?
Would your door choice change if you were installing a lift?
Must have good wall space (ie not too many windows) for tools, benches, welder, plasma cutter, compressor, etc.
Plenty of receptacles and 220 outlets.
Have a Bathroom or save the space? A utility sink?
What kind of hvac?

What else?

Thanks for sharing,
Rice
 
Tall enough for a lift:hhmm:

I'm sure the HOA would dig that:flipoff2:

Deep sink, urinal, drinking fountain, keggerator:grinpimp: I have a 4 car detached garage on the house I am renting right now, love to have all that space
 
phrogg4evr said:
Tall enough for a lift:hhmm:

I'm sure the HOA would dig that:flipoff2:

Deep sink, urinal, drinking fountain, keggerator:grinpimp: I have a 4 car detached garage on the house I am renting right now, love to have all that space
Click to expand...

Kegerator = definite. A HD dude using one of the 220 outlets. :hillbilly:

I may be just dreaming with respect to the lift. Will have to measure carefully to find out what is possible. One option is the forget having an upstairs and make it a hollow shell but I'm not sure we want to lose that space. Our current storage capacity is hurting
 
I'm right there with Alex, deep sink, urinal, drinking fountain and at least a big beer fridge :D Toilet is optional IMO, but that depends how often your wife comes in to help wrench!

How tall can the building be? Tall enough for a lift would be tits if you plan to stay in that location for a long time.

If not a lift, then a mechanic's pit would be super sweet for maintenance type stuff and washing the truck after wheeling.

As for garage doors, it really depends on the orientation of the shop space on the property IMO. Darin's setup with two doors on different faces of the building is badass. It is excellent for cross-ventilation, especially considering that he's got big bug nets that go over the garage doors to keep the pests out, but lets the wind in during the summer.

Height of the doors is obviously important, as is the vertical space above, so try to get 10' tall roll-up doors.

Lots of open space in the middle is sweet because it allows the space to be versatile, allowing for meetings, storage during the winter or for laying out multiple projects at one time. Speaking of projects, floor to ceiling shelving is great if you tend to keep around lots of parts *cough*cough*Darin*cough*.

What type of construction are you going to use for this shop? Pole barn style? Wooden truss roof? Steel? Advantages / disadvantages of the options? I'm more curious than anything.

It would be sweet to have a large air compressor in an outhouse that's attached to the main shop, so the compressor is sheltered from the elements, but the people in your shop are sheltered from the noise when it's running. Air lines ran throughout the shop provide air in various places and allow the compressor to be out of audible range.

As for HVAC, you could go the high $$ route and use a gas furnace in the "winter" and a regular house AC unit for AC in the summer. At that point, insulation becomes a concern, so make sure that the walls have provisions for some high efficiency insulation.


I've thought about this a lot, lusting after the time when I can afford the land to make one of my own.
 
back in 2002 I built a 24 wide x 37 deep backyard garage with a scissors truss to make room for a lift in the middle of the shop. I used regular trusses in the front and back to make two lofts for storage. IIRC the pitch was 10 in 12 or 12 in 12.

I put a pusher fan on eve and a puller fan on the other to move air through - to make this work best, no ridge vent...

I also hooked a kitchen exhaust fan to a sensor and a light to that so that if you moved around in the welding area, a fan and light kicked on automatically.

I had a pellet stove in one corner ducted out the wall

Ran a 200 amp service out there and had 4 50 amp outlets, lots of regular 100 and both sodium halide and high performance fluorescent mounted on angles in the corners to shine in from the sides. It was cheaper to have the power company run a line and meter out there and I got more power in the process.

Had a regular garage door because my HOA would not like a roll up door and I used the front loft as the flat are for it to roll up against. Got a Wayne Dalton Battery backup model

Id get a stainless steel slop sink, home depot sells one for about $500

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Griffin-...e-Bowl-Scullery-Sink-T60-144/100460756?N=bqkn

Took about 3 months to build.

DSCN0048.webp


DSCN0068.webp
 
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seperate taller doors, a pit, slop sink, toilet
 
An advantage of having one door over two would be additional wall space. I would prefer the hassle of in/out a single door to have the extra storage and usage in otherwise dead space.

On the doors, keep in mind the doors dont have to be horizontal when at open position, and can hug the roofline for additional room.

A toilet, and deep sink would be very handy. It will make things better on the home front too.
 
dorton said:
An advantage of having one door over two would be additional wall space. I would prefer the hassle of in/out a single door to have the extra storage and usage in otherwise dead space.

On the doors, keep in mind the doors dont have to be horizontal when at open position, and can hug the roofline for additional room.

A toilet, and deep sink would be very handy. It will make things better on the home front too.
Click to expand...

I think I agree on the one door over two. I do have a nice heavy duty SS sink coming out of the old shop. If I'm smart about it I believe one side can include bathroom and utility closet (water heater and compressor plus some storage) and have that wall be workbench and tools.

Any builder/structural guys in here? How far across can I span the ceiling without having to use poles in the center? I guess if I'm willing to buy the I-beams that can be as far as I want, huh?


Rice
 
Here is the space we're talking about. The thought is to extend the driveway through the gate (16 feet wide) into the garage that will be in the back yard. Because of HOA this will be a classy white brick unit with crushed beer cans tossed in the grass :D

backyard.webp
 
It's cool. All your new zombie yard gnomes will collect the cans and recycle them for you. Love the house and the garage will look super high class. Check out Ralph Lauren's garage for an example of super high class.
 
If you call UFP, Weyerhaeuser, Georgia Pacific or whatever - and ask to speak to an engineer they will go over the spans and options with you at no charge. You can also find it all online. Recently, I used an LPI42+ to build an addition over my garage it's similar to a TJI but uses beefy 2x4 sized laminated wood so it has less deflection. I talked to the engineer several times and was able to get a bunch of very handy info and go over options of open truss vs. a wood I beam. There is a great article in Fine Home Building from a year or two ago of the various pros and cons of the popular floor truss systems. You can probably look it up online if you do a trial of their website.

Several smaller doors are much stronger than one big door in regards the building racking - not sure how much NC cars about seismic loads or wind shear. I personally like 3 car garages with three doors, an over sized two car with two doors and a normal 2 car with one door. If you do decide to a 16" foot wide single door you can beef up the header with a paralam and take it all the way to the corner then pot a shear panel on both sides. You can build them or buy them. I can send you some info on how to if you'd like.

If you do a lot of fabrication, have the slab put in flat instead of at at angle sloping to the door as required by code.

I do whatever you could to avoid a pole or lolly column unless the building was huge.

Are pits legal here in NC? There are not where I lived in VA.

I love how you can have a sink in the garage down here, too cold up in N. VA.
 
I design this stuff for a living and know all too well what you'll be dealing with HOA's. Match the style of the house, same brick, etc. I'd only go with an 8' tall door since that will fit most any vehicle in it without a problem and still keep some good balance for the aesthetics on the front. Kulangot has the right idea with the scissor truss or a vaulted ceiling, but I'd probably just stick build it. The vaulted ceiling allows you extra height for the lift (they really aren't all that expensive) while still allowing you to keep your wall height low and in line with the height of the existing house walls. The loft area over the garage door is a good idea for the storage space and garage door mounting as mentioned previously.

A bathroom can get more tricky depending on whether you have septic or sewer. Both are workable and contrary to common belief, the number of bathrooms has nothing to do with septic sizing. The 200A power service is a good idea as well, but I don't know if you're better off to use the same meter or run a new one from the road. Call your power company and find out what their charge is for a second meter and service. Some places aren't bad, where others are. I just finished building a house in High Point and the power company there had a base charge of $100 month for the second service on the same property... Certainly not worth it in that case, so we ran a subpanel off the main house since we had adequate amperage there.

Heating and air simply depends on your budget and what conditions you're willing to work in. I'd insulate the walls and use an insulated garage door, but for the money, I don't think you need anything more fancy than batt insulation. Cover the insulation with drywall or some finish of your choosing. Personally, I don't need AC, but I do need heat in the winter. A simple propane heater on a grill tank is more than enough to heat my 26x26 garage up in 15 minutes. Of course you can go with a full heat pump system, but I don't know what kind of budget you've got.

Lots of options here...
 
kulangot said:
If you call UFP, Weyerhaeuser, Georgia Pacific or whatever - and ask to speak to an engineer they will go over the spans and options with you at no charge. You can also find it all online. Recently, I used an LPI42+ to build an addition over my garage it's similar to a TJI but uses beefy 2x4 sized laminated wood so it has less deflection. I talked to the engineer several times and was able to get a bunch of very handy info and go over options of open truss vs. a wood I beam. There is a great article in Fine Home Building from a year or two ago of the various pros and cons of the popular floor truss systems. You can probably look it up online if you do a trial of their website.

Several smaller doors are much stronger than one big door in regards the building racking - not sure how much NC cars about seismic loads or wind shear. I personally like 3 car garages with three doors, an over sized two car with two doors and a normal 2 car with one door. If you do decide to a 16" foot wide single door you can beef up the header with a paralam and take it all the way to the corner then pot a shear panel on both sides. You can build them or buy them. I can send you some info on how to if you'd like.

If you do a lot of fabrication, have the slab put in flat instead of at at angle sloping to the door as required by code.

I do whatever you could to avoid a pole or lolly column unless the building was huge.

Are pits legal here in NC? There are not where I lived in VA.

I love how you can have a sink in the garage down here, too cold up in N. VA.
Click to expand...

Good info here! I've never seen any codes against a pit in residential construction, but NC code is terribly vague, so it'll really come down to the individual inspector or inspection department. Seismic isn't a concern around here in design or practice thus far, but wind shear is certainly a design factor, especially on garages.
 
I agree with Speedrye and would stick build it if I had to do it over again. Even more room than with a pre-fab truss. I'd just put a collar tie about a third of the way down from the ceiling and bolt with 1/2 bolts. What do you think about that Speedrye? I'll probably build another down here once I buy a place ;)

I think on my next garage I'll use a web truss for the floor with a stick built roof to maximize useable storage and have a stronger floor vs using a prefabbed truss. I like the web truss for ease of running wires and pipes.

For AC and heat I'd go for a mini split system. Fast and cheap vs an air handler. Mo bettah than a window unit.
 
My only fear of a pit is getting stuck in it when you catch the car on fire welding...no bueno. I did see a great shop once where garage was built on a hill and you could just walk out the back of the pit and be outside the garage through a door. It had steel covers that you drove over if the pit was open. Pretty cool.

I'm partial to a 4 post lift, I miss mine very much!

A 4 post lift is much better for rust work as the car has to be supported by the wheels to get panel alinement correct. If the car is held up by the frame, you can get the panels alinement dialed up because the chassis flexes differently from different load points.

The dream shop has both 4 post, 2 post and a pit!
 
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