I need new garage plan ideas

[Indiana]

I am going to build a garage/pole building and want some ideas. I am not one to hang on to stuff. If I don’t use it within a year, I toss/give it away.



What size should I build it?

What else should I add?



I planning on an:



11 foot ceiling so I have room for a car lift that can be moved around on wheels.

Area for roll around tool cabinet.

Airlines and electric from the ceiling.

Roll around work bench that will take the weight of a transmission.

Room for a standup desk with a laptop and internet access

Wash sink with hot and cold water.

Heat pump for heating and AC.

The building will be 300 feet down the road from me so I will not have windows that people can look in. It will have peep holes so I can look out.

A small 4’x4’ building on the outside for the air compressor and anything else that makes a lot of noise and does not need to be heated.

Plenty of lighting around the parameter of the ceiling like in paint booths.

An 8 x 10 area for table and chairs with a fridge.

An area for a urinal (my wife can pee at the house)

An area for the torch and welder

Three doors one overhead and two pedestrian

[ZR1BLAZER]

25x35 or 30x40 should be fine. the price of the slab will determine on how big i guess. if you have that covered then i think 1 of those sizes would fit you good.

[DMONOTJR]

if posible i would go with alittle taller ceiling, maybe 14-16 ft. with a lift and decending air lines, you might want a little clearance between the two. as for the heat pump, maybe they work good up north by you, but here in the south they are some P.O.S.. i work on them everyday, they are overrated. also i would reconsider the urinal, when mother-nature calls, she don\'t like to wait. just keep an \" out of order\" sign on the crapper if you don\'t want the wife to use it.

[rayL]

:::thinks of that movie kingpin, where that big omish dude is crappin in the urinal::::



Yea a real toilet would be nice and wats wrong with the wife piddling in it. Hell my wife claims she can pee in a shot glass HA!.

Nah seriously like homeskillet ^ said higher ceilings sound like a good idea. Also personally id plan on having the lift 90 degrees from the door, to give some more work area if your only going to have one overhead door.

[Scotty_S-15]

The problem with a taller ceiling is that if you need to heat the garage... you\'ve got to pay for, and produce that heat. Did I see Michigan listed? http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_eek.gif Yeah, might need some heat in January & February.

........... On the flip side, with plenty of height, like DMONOT said, you could get in a decent lift. THEY sure have gotten reasonable.

........... Seems that some of those steel buildings look appealing (price wise). I don\'t really know, is that a fact?

[Indiana]

I will rethink the heat pump. I didn\'t want to install a septic system so I don\'t think I can install a toilet. This is out in the country.

[Kyle]

a buddy of mine put an old keg in the corner of his garage and put a hinged lid on it and piped it outside to some pvc he buried and ran out to daylight..cool urinal idea

[Indiana]

........... Seems that some of those steel buildings look appealing (price wise). I don\'t really know, is that a fact?





A 30x40 building with insulation and cement will cost around $25,000. I am going with shingles.

[grimpuppy]

On 2005-07-23 23:29, Indiana wrote:

<!-- BBCode Quote Start --><TABLE BORDER=5 bordercolor= ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-5>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-10><BLOCKQUOTE>........... Seems that some of those steel buildings look appealing (price wise). I don\'t really know, is that a fact?

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE><!-- BBCode Quote End -->



A 30x40 building with insulation and cement will cost around $25,000. I am going with shingles.

I paid $7200 for my steel 30 x 40 with 12 ft side walls. The slab is 3 inches think and cost about $900. I paid about $1500 for the insulation and have about $1000 in wiring and another $1000 in doors and windows. Figure about another $500 for misc. stuff and beer for buddies to help out. All the labor was done myself with help from friends. Total for building is about $12000. With a metal building you can use 10ft side walls and put your lift towards the center since you have no rafters. You should have about 14ft in the center. Most lifts nowdays only require 11 feet 6 inches max head room.

[DMONOTJR]

hey indi., you mentioned that your shop is out in the country. if you don\'t have lp gas running out there, you probably might have to go with the heat pump. like i said, down here in the south, we have a lot of problems with them. they may work more efficent out by you. talk around with other people that have heat pumps and get their opinion. if you do decide to go with the heat pump, shop around for a good name brand ( carrier, trane, lennox) those are in my experiance the top three brands in that order stated. i didn\'t mean to scare you away from a heat pump, just to do a lil homework on them first.

[Indiana]

Grimpuppy: I wish I had time to build it myself. I just started a new job. The cement work (5 inches) includes gravel/cement for the building and drive. I got two bids and they were within $900 of each other. Cement has gone up in price. The builder needs to remove trees as well.



DOMONT: Heat pumps are not the best here as well. I may have a small gas furnace incase. We have several weeks a year that it will not work as well, but the majority of the year it will. My Dad is trying to talk me out of it.

[Scotty_S-15]

On 2005-07-24 04:43, Indiana wrote:...................

DOMONT: Heat pumps are not the best here as well. I may have a small gas furnace incase. We have several weeks a year that it will not work as well, but the majority of the year it will. My Dad is trying to talk me out of it.



For a garage, I think the cost to run A/C would be prohibitive, unless of course, you won the lottery.... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_eek.gif http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif And as for the heat pump, I\'m not an HVAC guy, but I think that in Michigan, (that\'s where you\'re at now, right?) a heat pump wouldn\'t be cost effective. I mean, in heating mode, don\'t they start losing their effectiveness and efficiency at 40 to 50 degrees F? Most guys would only consider starting them up in that range. Then, below 35 or 40 deg. F, don\'t they shut down, and switch to resistance electric heat? Ouch, THAT can get expensive to run.

......... If anyone could use a heat pump effectively, you\'d think it would be DMONOJR, being in LA, or anyone else in the south.

......... So Indy, yeah, I\'d think a little gas, propane, or oil-burner would be the ticket. Or, when the contractor clears your property, ask him to split and stack those logs for ya. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif

[grimpuppy]

I know a couple people around here that zig zaged piping through the floor of thier shop. One has a hot water heater hooked to it and the other I believe is hooked to a boiler. It is amazing what they are like in the winter. It really helps to heat the shop and your feet never get cold! It is the one thing I really wish I would have done.

[grimpuppy]

Indiana: That is probably a decent price if you can\'t do it yourself. To bad you don\'t live closer, I would be glad to help ya out. I was a little lucky on mine. We builds water towers where I work. I got all my rebar free. It was all leftoves from tower foundations and my boss let me use the companies concrete tools and a couple or our concrete crew guys pitched in. I used the crane that is on my 22 ton wrecker from the National Guard to set the trusses. We justifed it buy logging it as crane training http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif I also got all the wiring cheap from a supplier we use at work, it is a signifigant discount over retail.

[Scotty_S-15]

On 2005-07-24 11:06, grimpuppy wrote:.......... I used the crane that is on my 22 ton wrecker from the National Guard to set the trusses. We justifed it buy logging it as crane training http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif



http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_eek.gif So you mean I (me) paid for part of your garage? http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif From what I know of such things, that \"training\" was money better spent than most of my tax dollars... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

........ And you know what? It was probably good training too. Because as you know (better than anyone) when you get out in the field, you wind up doing about everything except what the normal training was about. You\'ve got to know your equipment\'s capabilities. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

[grimpuppy]

Not only did you pay for the fuel you paid me a days wages to do it http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif It is good training though. Way better than sitting in a maintence yard lifting concrete blocks up and down. You should be around when everyone takes thier 4x4\'s down the river. They always end up getting a couple stuck like crazy. Thats when I get to go do \"recovery training\"

[Scotty_S-15]

On 2005-07-24 12:15, grimpuppy wrote:

Not only did you pay for the fuel you paid me a days wages to do it http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif It is good training though. Way better than sitting in a maintence yard lifting concrete blocks up and down. You should be around when everyone takes thier 4x4\'s down the river. They always end up getting a couple stuck like crazy. Thats when I get to go do \"recovery training\"



heh heh...... Every time I work on the truck, a tool or two crosses my hands, and I gotta think, \"thanks citizens\" http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif Not to mention my 40 lb. bench vise. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif I was in the Navy Reserve, then, it was 2 years \"in the fleet\". I was attached to a land-locked group that deployed for 6 month stints to NATO bases from our home base. Each time we deployed, they packed up brand spankin\' new tools, everything you could imagine. 6 months later when we got home and unpacked all the skids of tools, the tools just sort of faded away, I think it was expected. Such a waste, but nice for us. BTW, that was 35 years ago, I\'m SURE it\'s not like that now... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif

[grimpuppy]

On 2005-07-24 14:16, Scotty_S-15 wrote:

<!-- BBCode Quote Start --><TABLE BORDER=5 bordercolor= ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-5>Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-10><BLOCKQUOTE>

On 2005-07-24 12:15, grimpuppy wrote:

Not only did you pay for the fuel you paid me a days wages to do it http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif It is good training though. Way better than sitting in a maintence yard lifting concrete blocks up and down. You should be around when everyone takes thier 4x4\'s down the river. They always end up getting a couple stuck like crazy. Thats when I get to go do \"recovery training\"

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE><!-- BBCode Quote End -->

....... I\'m SURE it\'s not like that now... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif

You would be surprised, wanna see my brake parts washer http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

[Indiana]

I know a guy that works at GM. If a GM magnet was passed over his garge all he would have left is bare concrete.

[spacecadet]

The bigger you can afford to build now will reduce the chances of having to \"add\" on later. As for ceiling hieght, you could use cathedrial ceiling truss. Since you said the lift would be on wheels anyways.

Heating would be an issue with ceiling heght. I know nothing about heat pumps, so no advice there. But, My heating plans are mobile-home furnaces. They are fan forced hot air. I bought a 55gallon drum and use it to hold kerossene. I use this in my tent garage, as is, and it keeps it warm enough to do repairs. I wouldn\'t paint with it in the dead of winter. It takes too long to get everything warmmed enough to hold paint.I bought a second unit I plan on hooking up once I build my garage. I have 80% of the materails. Buy a bit everythime I get some xtra cash. soon I will buy the post\'s. I already have the truss and the roofing materails.

Good luck. I\'m sure it will turn out fine.

Space.

[Scotty_S-15]

And regarding the urinal, I\'d say you wouldn\'t need anything fancy. When the guy is there excavating, have him dig a hole 4 X 4 X 6 ft. deep (overkill for a urinal?) or whatever. fill it with stone, even boulders you have lying around, if any. Then cover it, permanently if you like. Of course, you\'d need to put something over the top so the dirt doesn\'t migrate down. Maybe an old fiberglass hood.... http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif If the soil is real loose & sandy down deep, you might want some walls. (perforated 55 gal. drum?) If it\'s clay, no need. The reason I say to fill it with stone of some type, in case it ever collapses 30 yrs. from now, nobody will be killed, drowned, etc. Maybe a twisted ankle at worst.

......... If you\'re getting any building inspectors involved though, you might want to do that on the QT. If that\'s the case, you can even run the pipe 1-1/2\" PVC? under the slab, set it up with a pvc coupling a smidge under the finished floor level, duct tape it, and measure it twice. After the slab is poured, building is up, and the inspectors are long gone, chip out the concrete where the pipe is, (damned! lost the measurements!) and install the urinal. Much more civilized than pissing out the window. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif

[85350DROPTOP]

Heat Pump in Michigan (big giant money waster). I am an HVAC guy, and I would do propane (stay away from fuel oil, nasty to work on! expensive to have it worked on, cause no one wants to do it). I work for Trane, not a dealer, but the corperation, so I\'d say go Trane. There is an option no one has brought up. you can use a \"convetible rooftop unit\". this is a commercial rooftop, that can be sat on the ground outside your garage, fully containing heat and a/c. just run the supply and return ductwork inside. this is a good option since you are borderline commercial size, and with a self contained unit, there is less chance of leaks, and easier maint. just my 2 cents

[Jeffyboy]

It was 103 degrees yesterday and we used my cousin\'s air conditioned shop to pull the motor and trans out of a \'72 Cutlass. I wouldn\'t want to pay the bill, but having the a/c sure was nice doing that job.

[dirtnut99]

I helped my friend build his shop over the past few months. It is a 40x48 stick built with 10\' walls. He is a carpenter so he gets awesome \"Contractor Deals\" from the lumber yards. We poured a 3\" slab, Hardy siding, comp roof. It is an awesome shop. there is room in it for 2-69 land cruisers, 4-toyota 4x4 pickups and a ford ranger. with more room for the 10x20 bar room we will be installing this fall in one corner.. I am planning on building a 24x30 pole building at my house maybe,if all goes well, next spring.. I want 2 roll up doors and a walk in door.. just big enough to fit on my lot and store my jetskis and s15 during monsoon season.. and more room than my garage to work..