[vanwyk4257]

Well, I received the blessing from my wife last weekend to go ahead and build a garage out back (it might have helped that I have two F-bodies in the garage at the moment and she's parking outside (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif) ) so I am trying to work out the details on design, size, layout et al.

I am thinking of doing a 24x30 with 12'foot walls to allow me enough height to install a 2 or 4-post lift down the road.

My thought is to put a 16x8 overhead door off to one side of the 30ft. wall which will face the house and then have a 3ft. steel service/entry door as well.

I want to have room to park two cars inside and still have a decent workshop space for working on engines, etc.

I do plan to insulate the entire building and will be running natural gas and electricity (110V only most likely) to it. Heat will be from a 90%+ efficiency furnace, i.e., forced air (my dad's in the business so I can get one cheap).
I also plan to finish the interior walls and ceiling with OSB as opposed to drywall just because it will be easier to live with, i.e., I can bang into it with tools, parts etc. without doing any real damage, and if I do manage to punch a hole in a sheet it will be easier to replace. Finally, I am anticipating putting a loft area in the trusses for storage with a pull-down ladder.

I am looking or any input with regard to the size (I know you can never build too large) based on the aforementioned parameters, will it be large enough?

Also, I would welcome any advice or input with regard to layout etc.

Thanks in advance for the input guys!

[v7guy]

I can say that a sink in the garage to clean up before you go inside is a must. Mostly from the perspective that the better half will not evoke her rage upon you when you touch anything after coming in the house.
220 is ideal, at some point you will wish you had it.

[cccbock]

I can say that a sink in the garage to clean up before you go inside is a must. Mostly from the perspective that the better half will not evoke her rage upon you when you touch anything after coming in the house.
220 is ideal, at some point you will wish you had it.

Had another thought here.

Around where I live, if you put plumbing into the space you are building it will likely fall into into a different assessment category for tax purposes and permitting. Even a small sink...because it requires water supply, and a drainage system of some type with associated environmental impacts. It might as well be a 1 bedroom home.

My "garage" which has electric lighting, other equipment, and a lift, is only considered to be storage building and is assessed very low. You might want to check with friendly neighborhood tax assessor to see how what you are building will be assessed and what things will make it more vlauable in the eyes of the assessor.

Alot of times you can get your C.O. on a shell building, and then finish the interior later without the knowledge and the associated tax liability of the local tax man.

Just FYI.

Bock

[1qwikbird]

I can say that a sink in the garage to clean up before you go inside is a must. Mostly from the perspective that the better half will not evoke her rage upon you when you touch anything after coming in the house.
220 is ideal, at some point you will wish you had it.

Had another thought here.

Around where I live, if you put plumbing into the space you are building it will likely fall into into a different assessment category for tax purposes and permitting. Even a small sink...because it requires water supply, and a drainage system of some type with associated environmental impacts. It might as well be a 1 bedroom home.

My "garage" which has electric lighting, other equipment, and a lift, is only considered to be storage building and is assessed very low. You might want to check with friendly neighborhood tax assessor to see how what you are building will be assessed and what things will make it more vlauable in the eyes of the assessor.

Alot of times you can get your C.O. on a shell building, and then finish the interior later without the knowledge and the associated tax liability of the local tax man.

Just FYI.

Bock

This is good info and becareful when using the term slop sink, you don't want the locals thinking your dumping all kinds of car related fluids down the drain. I might use the approach of a small bathroom for convience sake, might not be as scary to the inspector. Also when running the electric, throw a couple extra conduits in the hole for phone, cable tv, computer etc. Wireless is good, but hardwire is even better, especially if the physical distance from the house to the shop is large. And when running the wire leave a "dead" run in the conduit just in case you need to fish extra wires in the future, the dead run will make that easier.

Chris