[JhnBrackett]

http://public.fotki.com/jhnbrackett/bell-dungeon-v20/

I'm shooting blindly with this whole design so I'm really looking for some input. I've searched all over google, and listened to a lot of people's recommendations, but there are always more questions.

Nothing is finalized at all on this design, but I am meeting with a lumberyard tommorrow to discuss the design. I'm really hoping some of y'all can look at the pictures and tell me what you think. What you'd like to see? Any other tips, etc....

2 doors are 8', other is 10'
Spacing between doors is 27"
Workspace is a 4'x8' piece of plywood ripped down the middle
Lighting is expected to be 110w flourescent
Air compressor & tank will be installed outside the building
Stairs are located on the left side of the building to get into the upper room

[F&J]

Well, how about more info on what cars are going to be in the small bays? How many cars will be kept/stored. Do you have an attached garage on the house for "done" cars? Are you going to paint cars in there?? What kinds of work do you do? Full resto frame off ?

If you are going to paint cars, that far end bay opposite the work area would be good to have some sort of temporary wall to pull closed for a paint booth. If you don't paint in that booth, I don't see the need for so much room between that end wall and the first car. (I think it was pic #6 floorplan). I can see a lot of space there IF it was needed for something, but it's at the farthest place away from work area.

I sure dont like the 24' depth. Price it out for at least 26 & maybe more? The 24 doesn't work if you get long cars & 4 door pickup longbeds, etc.

I also don't care for 8' wide doors unless you have 2 tiny cars. The finished size will be under 8'. (you have that extra wasted floor space down by the two 8' doors so you could shuffle around to get a wider door?

I'd also like to see a bigger door on the end in the workshop. It's nice to be able to back a pickup into the work area to unload a motor or whatever. The door will steal much needed wall space though.

Check with the compressor guys here about yours being outside in NH....something may freeze up like pressure switch or lines?

Another suggestion; I had all my doors facing the road, EXCEPT a 9' wide one coming in the side at the back. That door faced my back yard and was great for pushing a car out to do sanding or whatever, without having people staring at me.

You will never get the design perfect, we always wish something was different later on. Plus every car person has different needs in design.

Few more things: I had a big maple tree on the SW side which kept the shop shaded in summer, it stayed real cool if you kept the doors shut. Ceiling insulation was R30 with R11? in the 2x4 walls. Walls don't lose much at all. Mine was 26x36x10' ceilings, running a new oil hot air house furnace. Fuel was 1/2 tank per year on a 275 gal tank. (northern Connecticut) I also did a full foundation with 4' frost walls to keep the floors warmer. Radiant floor heat will be in my next one as it is supposed to be cheaper to heat and more comfy. Mine was in 1989, I bought high output florescents with Rapid-Start ballasts so they would start quickly in cool temps when I first went out each day. Check energy guides on such things, lots of lights are great.

That was one exciting time for me as I never had a decent shop. Didn't last, as the 27 year marriage went to $%#@. But I will get another someday and I like looking at everyones plans here.

[OneMoreTime]

For me the absolute bare minimum would be 28 wide and 32 deep..9 foot doors are about std here on garages unless you go to a single 16 wide door..I prefer the 2 9' doors myself..Having a rear door to be able to drive thru is a plus and having that back door gives a lot of ventilation in spring and fall when the weather is nice..Surface mount your electrical sub-panel and run your circuits in conduit..No matter how you plan something will need to be changed..I use folding sawhorses and pieces of ply for my workbench as I have found any kind of permanent one gets in my way at times..All my toolboxes are roll away as well..the only permanent shelving I have is back in the parts area..If I had my dream shop it would be high enough to get a Semi in..that or a motor home..

Sam

[Kevin45]

Standard doors are 9' wide. If you ever want to pull a car trailer into a garage the 9' wide is not wide enough. 24' is not deep enough. I built mine 28' deep and although my short-bed truck fits nicely, my long-bed took up most of the length. I had room to walk around the front if it was against the door but to paint it overall would have been tight. If I did it over it would be 32' minimum depth. If you are going with a standard block foundation go at least 2 extra blocks high and then build the garage on top of that. The only difference will be your header height for your doors. 2 extra blocks allow you to hose out the garage without blasting the walls down. If you are not putting in floor drains, and a lot of contractors will put a slope back to front for drainage on the floor, make sure the corners in the front are tamped down quite a few times after being backfilled and tell the contractor to build up the corners a little higher so any water will run towards the center of the doors. If not, the corners tend to sink after a few years do to settling under the slab and then water tends to pool in the corner making it difficult to get out.

Kevin

[38Chevy3WCoupe]

You might also look at:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

[JhnBrackett]

Thanks to everyone for the comments thus far

I'm designing this garage for a group of 4 gearheads all living together at a friend's father's property. We've got a 1000 sq ft machine shop about 30 yards away from the garage location and we're located a bit into the back woods. The only access to the garage will be the front. The sides & back have a steep fall off that only my CJ5 would enjoy. There is no garage for 'finished' products. None of us will have long cars & the only truck will be the company diesel. I'll def. get the cost of a 26' deep garage too.

The extra space between the left wall & garage door is for bicycle & parts storage.

I'll look into altering the concrete floor plan. We will have 1 drain under each bay.

Unsure about whether we're going to paint in there or not. I was hoping to leave the far bay as an area to close off and paint if needed.

I'll change the doors to 9' x 8' as recommended. What should be the spacing between the doors? With the lift installed in the 3rd bay, does a 12' door really make a difference? The distance between the center of the lift columns is 10'.

The cars that will be in the two smaller bays within the next 2-3 years are...
Factory Five Roadster
72 Corvette
67 Chevelle
71 Jeep CJ5
76 Jeep CJ5
41 Chevy Pickup

[knighthawk]

I made the doors in my shop 10 feet wide, cause after you frame them in it would be be 9 something. The door width and the space betweem them is deterrmined by what size lumber. For instance, across the door top make your header out of a 10 ' board and by the time you put 2 uprites on each side ,and the trim for the door, you got a little over 9' left,,,,,,,otherwise if you use a 12 ' , to make a 10 ' door. you'd probabley end up throwing out about 1 1/2 feet.. Also if you use 4x8 sheets for anything,I'd make the shop in 4 four foot increments, plus at least one more (4 foot) longer and wider .

[JhnBrackett]

Where can I find actual dimensions for installed doors? All the garage door websites don't tell me jack. I assumed a 9' door meant a 9' opening.

[Mule]

The garage doors are maybe 1 1/2 inches narrower than the stated width. The only thing that takes up space is a small piece of trim..1/2" to 3/4" that butts against the door to seal it from drafts.

Install lots of plugs, possibly a quad every 4 to 6 feet.


Mule

[Kevin45]

None of us will have long cars & the only truck will be the company diesel.

You never know what the future brings

[knighthawk]

Check with the company you get the door from or with the installer, if you use one. On my 10' door (actual door width ) the opening is framed as such :the header is 10' 9 1/2'', with three (2 is normal ) supporting posts under the ends, then a 3/4'' 1x6 to trim the inside of the opening,also acts as a stop or jam for the door to slide against, and then the door seal, which is about a1/2 ''.............Resulting in the finished opening of ( 1 '' for the seals , plus 1 1/2 for the 1x6 trims ; equals 2 1/2 '' under 10 ') which is about 9 feet 9 1/2 inches........I hope this is not to confusing, as you can tell, I do all my own work. Always make it a little stronger and a little longer !!!!( and wider ) You'll be glad you did !!!

[knighthawk]

I guess my point is : by making the header 10' 9 1/2'', you have to cut a 12 foot board, and throw the rest away, but, if you used a 10 foot board, then closed it in, whatever measurement you have left, for the opening, is what you can order the door. I think you can order a door made to any length, cause they usually don't make them till you order it any way.................bottom line : any size you want ............ I hope this helps

[JhnBrackett]

knighthawk: I was completely unaware that was how the garage door business does... business. I'm all for less cuts & not wasting stuff. I'll keep that in mind when I'm talking with the lumberyard I'm ordering most of the components through. Thanks!

[Mule]

You're going to pay extra for a non-standard door!

Standard width's are 5', 8', 9' 10', 12', 14', and 16'. Anything other than those are special order. So you have to throw away 16 or 18". That's the way it is! That is one of the things that go along with construction. A 4 foot opening, like a window, you have to cut the header 4' 3". So guess what? You have waste. When I was building we used the cut-off pieces for blocking, dead wood (nailed to the top of a wall so you can nail sheet-rock to the ceiling where the sheet-rock butts into a wall) blocking for cabinets and things like that! It happens, sorry!

[GypsyR]

I laid out the beginnings of my garage by measuring my long bed pickup, room to use a "cherry picker" engine puller, and little room for a shelf. The goal was to be able to get the truck completely into the garage and pull the engine. I then worked with roof slopes to see what I could do using 16 foor rafters since beyond 16 foot they get pretty darn expensive. (With prefab roof trusses I expect this wouldn't be such a big deal). The compromise ended up being a 30 foot deep garage and I'm glad to say that I did pull that engine and had just enough comfortable room with the door shut.
Speaking of which, I have one 8ft door and one 9ft. The 8 footer sucks like everybody says. With my pickup and Bronco I have to get out and fold the mirrors in before coming in, and it's still tight. Even with smaller cars it sucks. The 9 footer is a lot nicer and a 10 footer would have been great.
Consider security. You can't build Fort Knox but make them work for it. No burglaries around there? Yeah, 10 years ago they said that around here. Two neighbors a block in either direction had their garage and storage broken into last week. I've done what's prectical to keep them out. I've also taken steps to keep them from easily carting away contents. My motorcycle stays chained to a steel support post. My rollaround tool chest setup has the upper boxes bolted to the bottoms on the inside and are also bolted to the framing of the wall from the inside. They can steal the tools but they'd have to pry open all the drawers, they can't just throw the entire box into a truck. Also helpful is a dog who thinks it is her garage.