Walk out basement vs shop out back?

Ok, I am seeing a trend here which is to make enough noise first in the basement that the new workshop out back is the WIFE's idea!! You guys are GENIUS!!! :)

Having both would obviously be pretty awesome except for the tools I need being in the "other" one every time but eventually that gets solved by buying even MORE tools, yeah!! I can see the "body shop" portion and especially any and all painting in the workshop out back. If that really is the primary purpose of that building I can see that even the 20x20 with concrete for $4000 would be enough to be my paint booth.

A few of you have met my Dad over the years and he is telling me he is "too old" to mess with painting stuff anymore so I am working solo on my YJ! Course part of that is he is in FL and cannot physically get to my YJ at the moment or he may have got it half finished already while I was still at work. But for years he has been talking about building "me" a big shop at my house so he can give me all his tools, etc.

Sam
 
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I'll parrot what others say about the basement use and raise you (generally) shorter ceiling heights!
Can't flip the hood back on the Moss and the 1st time you accidentally knock the prop-rod out while you're underneath... :mad: :poop:
 
I will 3rd or 4th the bigger garage. Either go deeper or wider than a standard 2 car garage. I like deeper so there is room to work in front of the vehicle. 24' wide x 26' or 28' deep would be good.
 
drkelly said:
I like deeper so there is room to work in front of the vehicle. 24' wide x 26' or 28' deep would be good.
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That's fine if you never plan on anything larger than a jeep. 15x30 per vehicle is ideal.
 
Mine is 24w and 40d.I can get my CUCV and my CC LB PSD in and close the doors w a lil room in front of both.I know a guy who has a 60X80X16 and its full,so full he has to work outside.Unless you have good self control you'll never have enuf room.
 
shawn said:
That's fine if you never plan on anything larger than a jeep. 15x30 per vehicle is ideal.
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True dat! My garage is 25' deep x 33' wide. Another couple feet wider and deeper would be nice for big vehicles. I've had my quad cab Ram in there when I replaced the clutch and again when I replaced the exhaust and it was tight. I'm building a shed/storage building now so I can clean out the garage and maximize the available space it offers. It is ridiculous how so many new houses have a dinky 20 x 20 or something garage and claim it to be a 2 car garage. Two what? Ford Fiestas? LOL
 
shawn said:
That does not comply with building code. If one of those cars catches fire, you're up shit creek.
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Was this the pic of the open joists w/ no ceiling for fire break? (gone now)

Our old house in Lewisville was like that. Basement 1-car garage, right under a bedroom.
Bottom of joists was only a bit over 7', no drywall, and the PO had added in R13 w/ the paper still open facing down. It was nice for absorbing sound but the first time I had a small fire from a spark I watched the smoke rise and quickly realized the danger.
 
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The garage on my house is 24x24, but 6x10 of the back corner is taken up by a bathroom and stairs. When my TJ is in there, it is full, but there's room to walk around it. When my truck is in there, the rear bumper touches the 18" deep shelf at the back and has about 2" clearance between the front bumper and garage door.

My shop is 34 deep, 40 wide, and when the truck is in there, it still feels a little crowded but there's plenty of room to work.

Both shop and garage are constantly full. I have 850sqft of living space, 576 sqft of garage, and 1708sqft of shop floor plus 680sqft of shed/lean-to at one end of the shop. We will be adding on and building our "real" house soon and will probably do a full basement so that my wife has a place for crafts/furniture restoration/etc and I'll set up some woodworking stuff down there.

There are times it would be nice to go to shop by just going downstairs (like when I leave my phone down there), but it's also nice to have physical separation that separates sound, smells, fire, nagging, etc
 
2am, just finished an engine install and you want to fire it up before quitting ......
Doing so in the basement will get you in the doghouse.


Matt
 
My first house had a detached 1 - 1/2 car garage. It was ok for the first house, but I had 3 outbuildings for everything else. I fell in Love with my 2nd house, due to the drive-in basement, & a 16 x 22 upper attached carport. [now a garage because I bought a door] NO More outbuildings! Yes, the smells & fumes can be a problem, as too being careful about fire. But I'm single, so no one complains. All the plumbing & electrical is open to the basement. Washer/dryer/hot water heater, basement. Lawn tractor, & all my yard & yard tools/equipment, basement. Jeep is in basement. My truck is in the upper garage. I don't use my basement shop for heavy building & fabricating, like many others do. And, I've collected too much crap & filled the basement. I believe the full basement also helps maintain the House temperature. For my dollar, I'd go with a basement, for convenience & extra room, & add the Real Shop, when you can!
[Ben Too long Sam!]
 
So am I the only one who enjoys their basement garage?

I had a few friends over today. We did a spring over on an offroad teardrop, installed adjustable bump stops, some CB install and tuning, GraBars install, and a front spartan install. Also ate some pizza, wings, birthday cake, and ice cream. Sometime during all this, my 9 month old took his afternoon nap.





After everybody was gone.




Packed in like normal. My pop-up, wife's Yukon XL, My crew cab sierra, LJ tucked in the back, ATV, and the kid's toys.


The footprint of my house is similar to what the OP was saying. Its 40x60. The back side of the steps is the center point of the house (30ft). The notch that the LJ is in is roughly 13'x8'. The original plan had this side as basement with crawlspace for the rest, but the contractor said it would cost more to do it that way because he had to get two different crews out, so we ended up with the full basement.
 
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