garage build time- what works, what would you do different?

Chuckman

Chuckman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
Location
Huntersville
so, we are moving up to Boone since Fuller is moving away. There simply isn't anyway that I could be there with him there....

I have 3 acres to play with. The land is such that if I wanted, I could build two stories and access the top from the back at ground level. The wife wants extra storage and a 'hobby loft', so that's an easy way to do that. Or I can level it out and go one story. Either way, I want at least room for 3 flatfenders inside, and a couple more vehicles/trailers under lean-tos on the side. I like the look of a traditional barn shape, hence the idea for upstairs. anyway, what have you guys built and liked, and what have you built and would do over again? I like the idea of a pull around trailer path= no backing. I like the idea of a pull though, but that's tricky with building into a hill. 4" thick floor or 6"? lift or no? what kind of heat? windows? shitter or just hand wash station?

Hater
 
Won't be much help on the construction side of things...but from this point forward, any garage/shop I build that doesn't have enough bays for each individual vehicle, will have front and rear overhead doors.
 
If your going to put in a hand wash area might as well add a bath cost won't go up much since your gonna be running water anyways. Build it double what you think you'll need if you can afford it

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4" concrete is plenty. 6" is even better, but not necessary. I thickened mine to about 6-7" around the area where the lift posts were going, just because it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but all of the 10k pound and smaller lifts only require 4" concrete. I have a loop driveway around the front of mine, which is nice. I can pull up, unload stuff off the trailer, and then pull on around and head out or park the truck or whatever, without messing with the back and forth game. Definitely go the "hobby loft" route. She'll never use it because it smells like gas and gear oil, and you'll end up with extra space. After seeing the loft in @GONOVRIT and @BRUISER shops, I decided to put one in mine. What a great addition for all that stuff that you don't "need" in the floor, but don't wanna put outside in the weather.

Things I would do different:
-My door is offset to one end. Its 18ft wide, and the front wall is 40ft long. The space would work better if I had put the door in the center.
-Pole barn vs conventional studwall: I saved a godo bit of money by doing a pole building style of construction, but the exterior trim and finishing has been a huge pain because of the pole building style construction and metal walls. If I had it to do over again, I'd strongly consider "conventional" construction with studwalls.
-Power: I had a seperate service run to the shop so that the house wouldn't dim when I did stuff. Minimum charge is $20/month, and the cost per kilowatt hour is about twice as much as my house. Because of the difficultly of effectively sealing the steel wall pole building construction, I run a dehumidifier, and my monthly power bills for the SHOP ONLY have been $70-90! If you factor out the $20 minimum and double kwh cost, that would have added $25-35/month to my regular power bill, which would be much easier to swallow.
 
I will be building my shop next year. I am enclosing one of the bays with stud walls and sheetrock, 16x24-ish. That will give me good inside space to weld, without having to worry about catching crap in the main shop on fire or ruining a paint job. Also that small area will be easy to heat and cool.

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My shop is SMALL. 20x24. Just big enough for my rig. That was as big as I could build where I wanted it (drainfield, easement). 10' ceilings MINIMUM. My roll up door is not a typical garage door type, it rolls into itself so it doesn't kill the lighting. 10' wide roll door minimum. I also have a separate power service to my shop. 200A panel minimum IMO. I can weld while the air compressor is running (or be able to use a plasma). Draw everything out on graph paper a bunch of times. Small spaces require strategic placement of workbenches and shelving. I hate having to bring 20' sticks of steel in my shop to cut, this usually requires moving my rig out.
 
Old pics, there is more crap in there now. These are from when I was finishing the electrical.

INSIDE1.jpg
INSIDE2.jpg
INSIDE3.jpg
 
sgtbriangreen said:
My shop is SMALL. 20x24. Just big enough for my rig. That was as big as I could build where I wanted it (drainfield, easement). 10' ceilings MINIMUM. My roll up door is not a typical garage door type, it rolls into itself so it doesn't kill the lighting. 10' wide roll door minimum. I also have a separate power service to my shop. 200A panel minimum IMO. I can weld while the air compressor is running (or be able to use a plasma). Draw everything out on graph paper a bunch of times. Small spaces require strategic placement of workbenches and shelving. I hate having to bring 20' sticks of steel in my shop to cut, this usually requires moving my rig out.
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That is close to the size I'm putting up next year 24 x 24 as big as I can go in my little yard and no plans on staying here 5+ years. Next house will have a shop already or building a bigger one. I agree lay it out on paper to see how much workable room you'll have and how much storage/work top areas you will have I like having a couple feet on either side of my rig to work with. That said we are building a big rig maintenance facility and their bays are 20' wide

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sgtbriangreen said:
200A panel minimum IMO
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Thats a bit overkill. I had a 70A subpanel in the garage at the old house, and it would let me run the plasma and air compressor at the same time. Never wanted for more power. In a bigger building, I might want more, but for a single bay, it's plenty.
 
tknopp said:
You have Duke power? I do and they only charge me 10 bucks a month a service fee for my building power.
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Yeah, sure do. I remember applying for "Small General Service". Any idea what yours is and what your price per kwh was last month?
 
Build it bigger than you expect you want or need.

Install outlets like every 4'

Run air piping throughout. Don't use pvc as it becomes much more brittle at high and low temp and will burst at the most inconvenient time

WWM is cheap and so are chairs. You can greatly reduce the chance of cracks by using it with the fiber reinforced concrete.

O resize your doors as much as reasonably possible.

Get insulated doors. It's much more difficult to add it after
 
However big you think you need at least double it, and like @Loganwayne pointed out go ahead and put in a full bath. A shop is one of those things that will never be to big don't start out to small.
 
rockcity said:
Install outlets like every 4'
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And alternate the circuits that the outlets drop from....you don't want all the outlets on one wall or in one area of the shop off the same breaker. My outlet plates are also labeled A-B-C-D....If I plug a lightstand into A...I'm going to plug whatever else I am using into a B-circuit outlet.
 
kaiser715 said:
And alternate the circuits that the outlets drop from....you don't want all the outlets on one wall or in one area of the shop off the same breaker. My outlet plates are also labeled A-B-C-D....If I plug a lightstand into A...I'm going to plug whatever else I am using into a B-circuit outlet.
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That is a good point!
 
shawn said:
Thats a bit overkill. I had a 70A subpanel in the garage at the old house, and it would let me run the plasma and air compressor at the same time. Never wanted for more power. In a bigger building, I might want more, but for a single bay, it's plenty.
Click to expand...

Id rather have room to expand than be limited. There were times this past winter where I had a 220v heater, 220v air comp, 220v welder, beer fridge, radio, lights, grinder all running at the same time.
 
I had Duke out to my place today to quote new service to my garage that is soon to be expanded, they said if I start the service under a registered company name, it wouldn't come with the additional monthly charge (because it won't be two meters on the my home account).
 
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