Building a garage...any do's and don'ts from experience?

[ryan13]

After 6 years, I am moving out of my first house at the end of this month and into a house that I plan on being at for 10+ years. I have decided that I am going to build myself a garage/shop that I have wanted for a very long time and I want to get it going in early spring. I am holding a portion of the money I built up in equity to make this happen but I am learning very quickly that $20-25k doesn't get me as far as I had hoped.

Goal:
20'x24' ish with at least a 15' peak
1 oversized garage door at the front
1 man door at the side
work space/bench in rear
Lift

I don't want it cooled, but I will do a heater for the winters. I was thinking of doing a propane unit heater or two with a local tank outside of the garage but I know a lot of people love using wood stoves. I think the unit heaters would produce faster heat than the wood stove but I could be wrong... anyone have input?

Also, I am leaning more towards a metal style building over stick-built because of costs and the fact that I can bolt stuff together myself with a few friends once the slab is poured.

Anyone have a personal lift at home? Any brand recommendations?

Any advice, warnings, pointers, suggestions are more than welcome.

 

[MrSimon]

That's awesome!!

I had a wood stove in my shop and got rid of it. It takes too long to heat up, requires a decent amount of space, and requires me to split and store dry wood. Also, you can't just turn it off.

I picked up a small oil heater from a buddy for next to nothing. But, down here in southern PA it doesn't get all that cold so I haven't even set it up.

If there is any chance of going bigger on the garage, DO IT. I say stretch as far as you can on budget and get the biggest building you can possibly afford. It will still feel too small.

Lastly, do your research on lifts before installing your floor. I think you need like 6" of concrete to bolt a lift into .... or something really thick.

 

[squashman702]

No personal experience, but everything I've read says to build the biggest space you can afford, because you'll fill it and then some. Might want to PM Bill for some suggestions, he built his house/shop a couple years ago and I'm sure has some advice.

EDIT: www.garagejournal.com

 

[old_man]

Insulation is your friend for both summer and winter. Also I recommend epoxy coating the floors. Definitely drop a couple of 220v outlets. One for a compressor and one for a welder/plasma cutter.

As far as heating goes, in floor water or even electric is nice in a shop.

Trying to heat an uninsulated steel building is like pissing in the wind.

 

[XJLI]

I'll keep an eye on this for the future. I was thinking steel building at my new place, but I'm probably 10 years out from that :laugh:

 

[ryan13]

Thank you guys who have responded so far. I have been getting a lot of the same responses on another forum as well regarding the size. I will see if I can afford to make it a little larger so I don't have any regrets later on.

Also, I have had a few people inform me about the pole style buildings but for some reason I had not looked into them. I will absolutely be doing some further research on them since it seems to be VERY affordable compared to the metal "Butler" style buildings.

Thanks again and keep the comments coming!

 

[Rock2pus]

I rented a very low roof building years ago for a satellite "shop". It was 30X30 and seemed pretty right for holding 2 vehicles and enough leftover space for benches and open floor space. I'll be doing one for myself here in the not too distant future.
Led lighting is your friend. 4 foot strip lights from Lowe's or HD are reasonable and cheap to run, plus allow more panel space for that welder.
...some lumberyards will prebuild your sidewalls and trusses for cheaper than you may think. Insulating a steel building could end up making the costs more Co.parable than you think, too.
I have an 80,000 BTU gas furnace I would gladly give you. Easily converted to propane, just run some simple duct work from it and run it when you need to.
...there is a company down here in PA that has a 12 foot 2 post lift for around 2300, but you'd have to come down with a trailer to get it. Previous posters are correct you need to a least drop your concrete slab to at least 6 I ch thickness in the area where the posts would go. I would do a bit more than that, and can share that layout when you're ready.
Rich

 

[pajeepman]

Go bigger(20x24 will seem too small real quick) and high as you can, (heat goes up, get a ceiling fan to help blow warm air back down). If it is high enough you can build a loft to get more storage space even if it does not have a lot of hight above the loft, you can put a work bench under it.

Keep an eye out for used pallet racks for sale. We have some at work that are 14' wide and we put 12,000# on each shelf. Could also put 1st shelf up high and put work bench under it instead of a loft.
Do not skimp on outlets.
If possible, water would be nice. Even if you do not install right away, maybe run a line under the slab to a decent spot inside. Coming up inside the building may prevent freezing in the winter vs coming out of ground outside and through an outside wall.

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[sheepjeep]

First off congrats on the new place! Where it at?


My garage is 20x24 and it is tight but not much space to expand with my Jeep and Cait's in there. Enough space for a decent work bench a small tool chest lots of shelf space and a press and that's it. Enough room to pull shafts out but barely.


As for heat I would look at what you can get for a ceiling mount heater and use maybe use the fuel type that you use for your house so you can tap into your source or you just have to worry about dealing with one supplier.

 

[XJLI]

Yup, my 2 car attached is something like 20x24 and it is definitely too small for a "purpose built garage/workshop" type of deal.

 

[RCman]

So many things to cover. But really I would spend the money you do have on getting the largest size possible. Things like insulation, drywall, heat depending on what you do, etc can all be done later as money permits. Size is hard to change.
My random no order thoughts?

-24' deep is small to work in unless you are always going to work on Jeeps or small cars. Put a bench in the back and now a pickup gets very tight.
- Insulated garage door, high lift tracks, and a side opener for lift clearance. This isn't box store stuff, call a pro. I have Liftmaster 8500s and they are awesome. No problem with a 12x10 2" insulated door.
- Are you acting as the general? If not find a contractor that is good to work with, may not be the cheapest but a good one is what makes or breaks a project.
- If you are able to be your own general. Time consuming but if you have a sub that sucks you can can them (which I did have to do with the insulation crew on my house, it caused some headaches but the result was worth it)
- Don't put windows in the middle of a wall. That works great in a house but not so much in a garage and is why my damn extension ladders are 12' in the air.
- Gutters
- Plan for the lift, pick the model and pick the location before hand. I had a trench poured in the floor so I can use a 2 post without a spreader. Different lifts have different specs. Look at Bendpak or Mohawk. Figure at least 6-8" of 3500psi but that can be only under the lift and the rest of the floor can be 5" unless you're and idiot like me that likes to waste money on concrete.
- Wiremesh and rebar in the concrete and expansion cut it. Concrete will crack that puts the cracks where you want them.
- Use a reputable concrete company and ask for the ticket when the truck shows up before they pour to make sure you get good concrete for your floor and there was not a screwup and you end up with the wrong psi or additives.
- If your driveway isn't paved a 3' apron is awesome and keeps crap off the doors and gives you a place to knock your shoes off before you go in.
- Plumb for air lines in the walls before you insulate or rock. Makes it cleaner. Pressure test before hand
- Run a chase to the attic for electrical
- You can never have to many receptacles, I hate extension cords
- Plan for the air compressor location and box it off. Nice not to have to listen to it.
- Drastically oversized the heat so you don't have to keep it up to temp all the time and when you want to work it doesn't take hours to come up.

I will probably think of more but that's my few minutes worth.

 

[ryan13]

I just wanted to chime back in here and say thank you to all of the people that offered up some advice! It is all very, very helpful and will be greatly considered as I move forward with this idea.

Over the weekend I went around to a few local garage/barn/shed builders to stand in the real things and look at the different shapes, heights, and designs of the garages. I am also going to start sketching out a layout to see what my space will hypothetically look like. My budget is insanely tight and I am coming to the realization that the lift, work benches, major equipment, etc will all be coming at a later date. The building, site work and electrical are going to be more than eating up my budget so the new goal is to just get the structure up and usable. The rest will come with time...and more money.

Goal:
- I am still undecided on the type of structure it'll be. This will get figured out as I continue to budget, research and collect estimates.
- Detached 24x30. I am going to be around 10' to 11' walls to accommodate my ZJ with my RTT on the roof as well as the future lift.
- Thick enough slab to handle an auto lift in the future.
- Still deciding on one LARGE door (10'x12') or a combination of one tall door and one standard one. The two doors would be more attractive to a future buyer but I actually like the idea of having one larger door so this is still being worked out.
- Many outlets (thinking 6' on center around the perimeter) and at least (3) 220's.
- Windows for natural light - higher on the walls to maintain usable wall space as well as keep peering eyes out.
- One mandoor on the side.
- Storage, storage, storage - some type of overhead storage will be a necessity
- Water will be in the form of a external hose bibb that I can drain during the cold months. There is way too much involved for me to bring it inside the building since it will not always be a tempered space. Also I have a septic system that is too far away to tie into.

 

[ryan13]

 

[old_man]

As far as a thicker slab, I would go with the standard 4" then when you figure out when and where your lift is going to be, cut out and dig down for footers only where needed.

 

[Fidget360]

I'm in the middle of a long, drawn out, spare time building project myself and I've found that a good way to stretch your dollars is to search Craig's for materials. You'd be surprised some of the great stuff you can get on there for dirt cheap. Also look for a used materials auction. I got a bunch of good materials that way too.


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[jeffsjk]

I know I'm late to the party on this one. Learn from my mistakes, when I built my garage I was racing motocross. I built it 18X24 with only a 10' ceiling. Luckily I poured thick concrete, insulated it and it has drywall. I would say if you are looking at building this in stages, go as big as you can and spend the money on making the building bigger. You can finish the inside later. High ceilings so you can use the lift, floor heaters are nice but not the way I did mine. I am using a modine hot dog. I like it, but it is a little loud. I built an addict as well, so my compressor lives up there now and I don't have to listen to it, it's also nice to have the storage room. I had the floors epoxy coated, best thing ever spills wipe right up. When planning for electrical, plan everything out and add as many outlets as you can. Plan out where you might want to have everything, plan for at least 3 220V outlets. My biggest regret is not going higher with the ceiling, I can still use my lift just cant go as high as I would like sometimes. Do it right man, build it as big as you can.