Having lost the 'battle' with my wife that her car is worth a fraction of our 911 and should be parked outside, we are now building a garage 🙂. Starting with a blank slate, I wonder whether you guys have some input on do's or don'ts:We live in a very humid climate close to the ocean, does it make sense to install air conditioning or dehumidifier to reduce humidity or does it make about zero difference to the car (but is expensive to operate)?Any recommendation on flooring, what should I put on top of the concrete?Any thoughts on great lighting instead of just putting in a few neon tubes?Any other thoughts? Thanks for your input PS:I am not mechanically inclined and will not be doing work on the car, there's no need for a pit or a lift.

 

I just recently updated my lighting in my garage with lights many are using...Huge difference. Hex lighting provides very even lighting.

 

Based on the fact that you dont work on your car and assuming you don't want to make it a showpiece of a garage to hang out
- AC --> If you are in very humid conditions and particularly close to the ocean, maybe a dehumidifier would be good --> there was a thread about the impact of humidity/salty ocean air, and as long as you don't have condensing humidity on your car while parked, you will be fine.
- flooring --> concrete is fine, if you want to pretty it up, epoxy or the new shark flooring is nice and easy to keep clean, another option is to lay tiles. If you do, there are several considerations: non-ventilated tiles (aka just flat plastic sort) are easy to keep clean but may accumulate moisture underneath in a really humid environment, porous tiles prevent that but collect a ton of dirt in it.
- lighting --> the hexagion shape lighting is nice to look at but if you dont use your garage for anything but parking the car, some LED lights work (they now come in same shape as neon tubes and can replace the neon tubes).
- Others
(1) if you wash your car at home, consider mounting a retractable washing hose close to garage door permanently connected to a water line, if you want go fancy, add a water filter in that line.
(2) Some power outlets in good locations to charge a blower (drying the car) or any tools, including an outlet close to the front passenger side to mount a CTEK or other maintenance charger close to it.
(3) space/cabinets of any toolboxes/tools (even when used just for home repairs), etc., maybe a working desk with light - but forget about it if you are not into handyman things, as you state.

 

Race deck flooring and metal cabinets ‼️

 

I am in SC and I have a dehumidier in my garage. It is a lifesaver in terms of keeping humidity at a low level. Keeps mold and rust away, as well.

Other thoughts:
- add a motion sensitive LED tube near the door or doors. That way when you walk in, the light will automatically turn on until you get to the main switches. Plus, when you drive in and park at night, the light will turn on for 5 minutes so you can easily park and get headed toward the house
- Add enough width or depth for bicycles or wheelbarrow or whatever other awkward items you may intend to store, so you can move the car in and out without worrying about dings, and so you can move the other items in and out without worrying about dings.
- Add a window on each side or end with screens, and perhaps one window fan, so you can have a cross breeze if you want one while you are working in the garage, without having to have the large doors open and letting in leaves, etc.
- Add a lockable closet or similar if you may want to secure some things when on vacation or for other occasions
- Add 120 and 240 Volt if you intend to ever run a compressor or a freezer
- Add a place for a wifi router and perhaps an ethernet jack if you intend to have wifi coverage
- I simply sealed my concrete with floor sealer. It is anti skid, easy to apply, easy to re apply, easy to maintain. I had epoxy in my old house, too. Both work. The main concern is hot tires can lift the coating in the areas where the tires end up parked. May want to consider some sort of flooring, but then have to clean in between or underneath it unless it is full coverage ... may want to research this aspect of your project
- I do not need heat nor AC in my garage, but if you do, plan for this, along with the dehumidifier
- ensure the garage doors have lips or some sort on the ground or have the floor constructed an inch or two above ground level, so if there is a hurricane or some huge rain event, you can keep water from leaking into the garage
- plan where you want your security cameras mounted and make sure you have power located in the right spots
- Install remote light switches so you can turn on and off the outside front or outside side or back door lights from in the house or via a remote FOB if you want to

On my garage, the height was such that there was basically a 4 foot section above the garage space for the roof peak and "storage". The garage itself has 9 or 10 foot ceilings. By simply having the contractor turn the 4 by 8 plywood vertical on the upper section instead of horizontal, I basically was able to get a second floor for not much more money, as the only added expense was a few more feet of siding and wallboard and insulation. You may be able to find very inexpensive ways to add space by looking at where studs are being cut vs leaving them uncut and where walls are being shortened vs not having to make them shorter - all depends on what you are building and how it integrates with your existing...

Hope this helps you brainstorm. It should be a fun project.

 

FWIW, here is my garage exactly as it looks every day. I also do most of the work on our cars and motorcycles and you can tell by the way this garage looks vs how other "Showroom" garages look. Unlike a car, a capitol improvement such as adding a garage and I'd keep the potential next owner in mind. Taller, Wider and Deeper are all better, more electrical service (Amps & Outlets), higher psi Concrete for the floor, Plumbing water and drains in particular, make sure it matches and complements your home aesthetically, etc.
I think in terms of Function over Fluff. So, as one example, I prefer shelves over cabinets with doors. Cabinets definitely look better, but lots of deep and wide open shelving are far more useful to me.
We live near and have a lovely view of the Pacific Ocean (~1 mile) but it's Southern California. So while humidity isn't a noticeable problem for humans, there is definitely salt in what little humidity there is in the air. In particular, the chrome on our motorcycles reacts to it. Frequent washing and TLC seems to be sufficient to keep ahead of it.
Our DD's live outside 24/7.
.


Standard 3 car garage in California. Very few homes have basements, so garages do double duty in this area of the country.

 

I'd recommend checking out Obsessed Garage (https://www.obsessedgarage.com) for great flooring, lighting, cabinets, etc.

Here's my budget build 1.5 car garage.

 

Obsessed Garage has a garage design service:
https://www.obsessedgarage.com/pages/garage-design-lp

Alternatively, you can see all of the “best” garage products available (flooring, lighting, car washing, cabinets) to get ideas.

If I were building a garage, I would include:
— HVAC heated and cooled garage
— Hot and cold water taps (for car washing in cold temperatures)
— at least one 220v electrical wall outlet (for a potential future electric car charging station)
— drain (to be able to wash my car inside the garage)
— larger than normal width and depth per car. The “standard” x car garage isn’t wide or deep enough. My two car garage is cramped, always concerned about car doors hitting each other

 

I have a detached garage, but if you have the ability to have water at the garage, you could make sure you can run a line so that a wash system could be installed, unless you don't wash the car yourself. Just have a good installer do an epoxy floor. Some people like those mat systems that interlock but I think you have to take them out and clean them from time to time. Those suspended hex lighting systems look cool but it's a garage. At some point there's a budget (unless you don't have one) kind of thing going on.

 

extra wide and deep garage in progress, lift hasn't arrived yet.
Under the trailer are the voids for the flush mounted alignment rack.
Cabinets will be in front, winch hard mounted inside of one of them.

Didn't want mini splits, went with a 3ton heatpump.
REFUSED to have spray foam and all of the pitfalls with few upside vs rockwool.
Doors are 12ft tall with jack drive openers to avoid worries of height restrictions.
Ceiling is 16ft, full bathroom because a petrol flavored shower within the house never went over well.
in ground dump for the camper trailer / a small class b should friends come to visit.
make sure you have enough depth for a truck, with your cabinets. in my case, I wanted a trailer inside if needed, for ease of 3am rollouts.
A few 11kW EVSE, 14-50 NEMA plugs, and plenty of standard outlets will be within the garage (200amp service direct feed) as the home has ~23powerwalls and what amounts to a small solar substation ~38kW pv.

There will be a few TVs, maybe a projector as well. full audio, possibly a mezzanine for indoor hangs. Outside has a full patio with kitchen and hangout pit.

Mostly wanted to hold a trailer, double wide stacker lift, and have a low car friendly alignment rack under roof... and when building it all yourself, why not check every box?

Oh.... and most important was that I couldn't see it from my house... so I dug to bedrock and moved all the dirt out with the R1S.



Just so happened to come across a SRS project while in the middle of the build...

Don't get me started on the house. Wall mounted motorcycle, indoor RS parking. Glass box on top of a mountain.

 

Great suggestions.

I would add, even if you don't plan on having a lift for wrenching, have at least a 12' height as you could then add a lift for car storage in the future. Also high ceilings are visually more appealing.

 

Lost the battle but you can win the war by building a new garage for a new 911. Seems fair to me. that, or upgrade the wifey.
As for the garage, make sure you have plumbing for a sink, car wash station with softened water, high ceilings in case you want a lift in the future (good for resale, next buyer may want that too), polyaspartic flooring over concrete, scuffX paint for walls, good dimmable LED lighting, workbench with lots of storage, vice, the list goes on!...
https://www.youtube.com/@ObsessedGarage

 

https://rennlist.com/forums/991/1196...-s-garage.html

DaveGee

 

I was going to do a garage thread here....I bet some folks got crazy happy places to go to. I built 2 of my 3 bays myself back in 99-2000. Only thing I'd do different is height. Wish I would have done a 9' or even 10' ceiling. If OP has the ability, I'd recommend highly. Other issue - I have one drain in each section...FIL talked me into only putting one drain in the large area. Wish I would have put 2 drains in like I originally planned.

I'm currently in phase 3 of my garage rebuild. Bay 1 got the swisstrax -but the others will be epoxied in phase 4

 

Put an electric fan exhaust air vent with timer. Parking the car with hot engine inside a humid room will accelerate corrosion.
Suggest that you also install security camera while in construction.