Marc Shaw

Since moving west to Alberta from New Brunswick (Canada, if you are now reaching for an atlas), I have sorely missed my 27'x29'x9' garage.

Well, I am please to say we just started work on a new detached 30'x32'x12' garage here in Alberta -- our house has an attached triple garage but it is full of my wife's stuff so I need my own space!

The new garage will be a two story with an insulated/heated ground floor workshop with an unheated second story for storage.

The original plan calls for 2 x 9' wide doors and a 8' 6" ceiling but I will be using one 16'x9' door with a 36" man door. The ceiling will be 11'6" (as the county regulations say you can't be over 12' from foundation to eves). I'll run PEX tubing in the slab for heat but, for the moment, a forced air propane heater will have to do to keep costs down.

I've attached a few of my specs as well as plans and photos, if you're interested. I posted to Garage Journal too for their expert feedback.

I'll post more once I have some progress to report.

Marc

Structural
5” 4000 psi concrete slab floor with thickened (6”) pads for car lift
slope concrete floor to front door for drainage (1” per 20’)
no drain in garage floor
garage door notch for weather-proofing
rough in ½” PEX for in-floor heat
rough-in plumbing and drain (3/4” water supply) for sink and for outside tap by garage door
enlargement of ground-floor window on right-hand wall seen on plan
11' ceiling on main floor
16' x 9' insulated door w/high rails & LiftMaster 3800 side-mount lift (match house with windows)
natural gas line from house
blocking in ceiling for air hose and electrical extension reels

Electrical
100 amp 220 volt service panel (40 breaker)
30 amp 110/220 volt circuit for lift in ceiling
30 amp 220 volt circuit for welder along back wall
30 amp 220 volt circuit as spare along back wall
30 amp 110/220 volt switched outlet under stairs for compressor
20 amp 110 volt circuit for a/c by left-hand window
20 amp 110 volt outlets in ceiling for lift, drop lines, ceiling fans, and air filter
15 amp 110 volt GFI outlets outside on each side of garage door
10 amp 110 volt outlet for exhaust fan by left hand window
10 amp 110 volt outlet for attic fan
10 amp 110 volt outlets on ceiling (unswitched)
110 volt GFI outlets at 48-52” height using double gang boxes
located every 4’ around garage (approx 60 total)
wired duplex on 6 different 20 amp circuits
overhead high-output fluorescent lights (T8 bulbs, 2 per light)
3 rows of lights with 5 lights in each, each row on switched circuit (front/middle/rear)
2 behind staircase
4 above back bench
2 above work bench
switched (non-motion) outside 500w halogen flood light
light outside man-door to match outside lights of house

Other Wiring
wired alarm system (sub-contracted to Bright Knight Industries)
telephone service (run 4 lines)
cable/satellite wired (run 4 lines of coax cable)
Cat-5e network cables (run 4 lines of Cat 5E cable)
wire speakers for 4 in-ceiling speakers with plug-in along back wall
wire video surveillance (power/video lines for 2 cameras)
spare conduit to pull other future cables

elbeee964

Nice, in all regards.
Were you ever tempted to put in a grease pit?
Or, what heart-ache'rs were axed by the master budget.

(Love your frostline's depth!)

deep_uv

Man space. Nice.

Don't forget the underground tunnel for going back and forth during winter.

mr pg

Here in the UK, we can only dream about having garages of that size/quality.

CWay27

Nice project but one little thing. Not sure it's the best thing to skip on floor drain and slope toward the garage door especially if your installing a notch for weather proofing (and by notch I imagine you mean a galvanized tube half anchored in the slab??). It's easier to slope from corners towards the middle then towards the door. You'll end up having water trapped on each side of your garage door.

Colin 90 C2

Marc, nice project, I'm a little envious.

you may want to run 12-2 wiring in the entire garage for your 110v stuff, that way if you need to upgrade breakers in the future, you will be set.

Also, if you don't want an inground floor drain, consider cutting a drain in your pad. You know, just in case you get the urge to wash your car in the middle of winter.

can't wait to see the progress.
Colin

hawk911

+1 on the slope of the drain. I have a drain in the garage, but the only water going into it is the stuff right by the drain. They kept normal pitch out the door, so now i have to crack the door an inch to let the stuff run out. Makes for a nice skating rink in the winter, because the only reason we did it was to wash cars in the winter. Seems kinda silly to not pitch ALL the floor toward the drain, huh? Damned contractors.

The Stig

That looks awesome and very well built.

I looked into in-floor heat as well. But passed on it because of the cost to install and run. Have you considered low-intensity, infrared, natural gas heater? There's a company in Calgary that has really neat units for garage applications. Its made by Calcana.

http://www.calcana.com/ (no affiliation, etc, etc)

Good luck with the rest of the build.

hawk911

btw- I use natural gas to heat the garage and can reach 60deg in about 20 minutes. R13 in the walls, and R38 in the ceiling. Gaps around doors are not well sealed.

Marc Shaw

Hey guys, thanks for the comments.

I decided to skip the floor drain for 3 reasons:

- I had one in my previous garage "just in case" I wanted to wash the car inside......never did
- my current triple has one and all the floor slopes to it - including the part of the slab that is under the garage doors and exposed outside......any water hitting the garage doors (doors face weather/wind side) runs down, under the doors and across the floor to the drain -- the floor in that garage is all wet ever time it rains - PITA!!
- I have no where to drain it to as our septic tank is 1/2 acre away on the opposite corner of the property

By "notch" I really mean that the main slab will site 3/4"-1" higher than the part under the garage door so when the door it closed, it seals the weather out well (see pictures -- not my garage but stolen from somewhere on the 'net).

Thanks all and I'll keep you posted.

Marc

jneteler

Marc,

You really know how to rub it in for us condo dwellers. A forgotten tool is not on the other side of the garage but 25 stories away. DIY maintenance, only the most simple tasks.

Oh and you have clean air and cool temps too???

My only consolation is that there is no gardening and no snow removal here.

Looks great,

JNeteler

DWS964

Outstanding garage project, Marc
It is nearly identical in design features and scope as the one that I built in the fall of 2005. The only minor issue is, I still cannot use it.
We built the garage first (I knew that my chances were better at getting garage that I wanted BEFORE the house was built, and the budget was overdrawn). I justified it to The Wife as it would be convenient to be available for storage as the new house was being built and our belongings from the old house needed a place to go. Well, here it is 2008, and the garage is still fullofcrap. My son, in between apartments, has all of his shtuff taking up 1/3. My Packard occupies 1/3 along with assorted car stuff and implements. And, most of my prized tools and garage shtuff is still stacked in boxes, along with a whole bunch of shtuff that is absolutely clear that I DO NOT NEED, occupies the remaining 1/3. The building is 32x40, and interestingly enough, The Wife, the last person I expected to hear this from, tells me during construction: "I don't think it is big enough". Dammmmit, why didn't you clue me in on this before I built it? It has 12' ceiling, because I plan to put in a 2-post lift. I have purchased the materials for phase one of wiring, but don't have enough room to install yet. Marc's plans for wiring are helpful. I did not put in floor drains, just the 1" slope toward the big doors. My builder suggested installing 10' wide by 10' high overhead doors, and I'm glad I did. This allows plenty of room for almost anything I might pull in (someday), including a loaded car trailer, etc. I roughed in for plumbing drains in the floor for a shower (parts washer?), toilet, etc. I ran coax and Cat5E cables from the house to the garage, and tied the alarm system into the house system.
Someday....

Indycam

Isn't the roof side ways ?
It's going to dump snow onto your drive ?

Marc Shaw

It does not do that on my house as snow does not typically slide off sloped roofs without help.

Marc

Marc Shaw

My trailer is about 12' wide so having a 16' wide door will let me pull it in if I ever need to.

Marc