CT03911

Looking to go with a 28x28 for my budget. It will be a classic New England style barn look, detached from the home. 12 pitch roof, architectural shingles to match the cape style house. Clear tongue and groove cedar 8" vertical planking exterior over 2x4 frame, plywood sheathing and house wrap. Stained "barn red", of course. Going to go with custom 8x9 doors, wood with the cedar overlay, both on conventional door openers- one of many modern concessions from a real barn.
I am planning on a 6" concrete floor for a future lift, sloped for inside winter washing. I will have 200 amp service and water as well. I may just run a cold water line from the main house to a water heater in the garage. I would like to have a propane tank hidden around back to run a modine heater for the winter and just a window air conditioner on the back side for summer. Am thinking of setting around 70 for a summer temp and 55-60 for winter when not working in there. I will add insulation and drywall next spring. Just want to get the structure up before the end of December, dried in.
Plenty of light, natural and electric, clear spanned interior with 10' ceiling height. I may just have a shop deep sink plumbed into a dry well instead of going all the way to my septic, the town inspector may have other ideas! Would also like a drain inside for winter washing but am sure the inspector will not go for that. May hide one under the concrete and tap it out after it's finished then put a drain grate over it.
Am getting quotes now, any ideas would be great. No unlimited budget here, just want to be able to build it now and add goodies later but plan for them now.

Eric - Plug Guy

You left out cable tv.

jerhofer

I would go for at least an 11' ceiling. I had a 10'6" ceiling in a previous house with a lift and I could not raise the lift all the way without putting the roof of the car through the ceiling.

Be sure to put in plenty of electrical outlets including some 220volt for the huge compressor you will want someday. If you are going to have a compressor, I would run some air lines for convenient hook ups.

If you want music or TV in the garage, run the wiring now. Be sure to install a phone line and, as mentioned above, run a cable for either your cable tv or your satellte dish. I enjoy washing the car early on a Sunday morning and watching a F1 race.

pongobaz

I had my garage built a few years ago and the architect specified 2"x6" framing for the walls. It's a small extra cost, but with makes for truer and more stable walls.

Palting

Just had mine done last spring. Seems like you have everything covered, and more. Dunno what you feel about it, but I considered having them put at least one heavy beam and support for a possible heavy lift tackle suspended from the roof. Changed my mind, since you can probably get better utility with the potable ones.

gota911

You might want to consider a wqater softener, especially for the well water. I don't know how "hard" your water is, but when I lived in NJ, we had extremely hard water. I believe a 6 or 7 is considered very hard water and our well water tested at 26. Within the first 4 months (prior to installing a water softener) all of our drinking glasses appeared to be frosted glass, but they were clear glass.

mduff

Common guys, let us not forget about data traffic also! There is debate on whether you should use wireless, Cat 6 or Fiber but at minimum you should run a couple of Cat 5E cables to the main house demarcation point or Hub juncture box. This will ensure that when you are working on the P car and need a diagram of a wiring harness, you can simply pull the image up on your monitor mounted in garage and not have to run to the house, print and come back.

I also woundnt go anything below 12' on the ceilings. It paid off for me.

NCporsche

You might want to consider a single wide garage door rather then a double door. Wide garge doors are available up to 18' wide.

Fred R. C4S

StructoGlass FRP on OSB board.

StructoGlass

This is the product used in car washes, walk in freezers, public restroom, etc. It has a FRP surface with different textures, colors or gloss. It can be hosed down without a problem. Get the white, textured, semi gloss and you'll be happy. It's not much more expensive than OSB.

Cheers,

jumper5836

As well as running some network cable and putting a network jack in. Add an alarm system. Put contacts on all the garage doors and doors and windows as well as at least 1 motion sensor. Think of putting the alarm horn on the outside of the building or running a wire back to the house for the horn.

smankow

depending on the type of car work, you'll want an exhaust system installed and maybe some sort of vacuum system, too.

as for the flooring, I remember seeing a thread about a lift system that was recessed into the floor that prevented you from tripping over it when a car isn't there. Also, make sure that your lift hits the jack points rather that lifting the wheels as this adds more work to changing tire/brakes and adjusting suspension.


be sure to let us know when it's finished and ready to be Christened!


Steve

Gretch

I agree with the ideas expressed so far. My experience is that you cannot have enough light, nor enough power outlets. I have a 200 amp service and have used up all but one 15 amp pole position, AND my welder and air compressor share the same outlet.

I have an "I" beam that I hung two gantrys from. With chain falls or even a come-along, they are very useful.

Ceiling height. if you plan a lift, work out the heights necessary first, for obvious reasons.

I use a modine/propane for a shop 3 and a half bays wide and 24 feet deep. You are going to want to insulate the ceiling PDQ, or the heater will be running constantly. I keep mine at 50 degrees unless I am working in the shop. The modine will bring the temp up rapidly and it is reliable and cheap to run. It also works well to quickly change the air out in the shop after you have started a car or what ever.

I have a window air conditioner which we really do not need, except it is an excellent way to eliminate humidity in the shop.

A shop the size you are talking about prolly does not need to be plumbed for air, a long hose on a retracting spool in a central place will work just fine.

The water line and small electric water heater is a basic necessity. so is the utility sink. My shop has a bathroom too, but it is a half a mile away from the house....

My floor drains are plumbed to an outlet in the yard, not to the septic system. you will have to check with code requirements where you live, but being able to wash the cars in the winter, inside a heated shop, is a great benefit.

A shop vac should fill your vacuum needs.

You will want a big work bench and a couple of heavy vices. and PLENTY of shelf space. Don't forget, you cannot have enough light.

EDIT, don't forget the refridgerator.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kmayer

You probably already know about this guy, but browse around for some more ideas:

http://ultimategarage.com/

Steve is very knowledgable and helpful.

aben8057

or jump on this forum...great reading very helpful information. I am spending days there with my project.

www.garagejournal.com

Chuck Jones

I'm in the process of designing and doing a makeover for my two car garage. I don't have the cieling height, so I'm going to go to a scissors jack setup which you can see on the Benco website, also you can go to http://www.gladiatorgw.com/BluePrint and see their lines of cabinets plus they have a downloadable garage planning software package that lets you plan the cabinet space and features.

There are a number of different garage cabinet companies located in various states who specialize in this sort of thing....they'll come out to your house, sit down with you and a laptop and help you plan your layout with you....if you buy their cabinets etc. Guardian is another one of them with a website. I have solicited three bids and found the folks to be extremely helpful and innovative. The one thing I'd caution you on is flooring. There is no product that accomodates any sort of steel casters that might be on a heavy jack or scissors jack. All the expoxy products will chip and flake after a while...so if you're going to put aheavy lift in there, if it's a mobile lift, watch out for the type of flooring you let them talk you into. chuck