[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!

[marka]

Howdy,

Common gas garage heater:
http://hot-dawg.modine.com/

Electric, similar style (less btu):
http://www.heater-home.com/product/G73.aspx

That's just a quick google search. You can find similar stuff on http://www.mcmaster.com, including (I seem to recall) a btu calculator to determine how much header you need. Biggest issue I can see with the electric versions is that you fairly quickly run into needing more than 220vac single phase if you're going to need a bunch of heat. Obviously you can get around that with two units, but you've still got a decent amp draw... Two of the heaters above is something like 40A all by themselves. Add a plasma cutter & compressor & lights and you might be sucking down 75A just in the garage. Not bad if you've got 100A service to the garage (on its own panel), but it might suck if you're stealing power from the rest of the house via a shared 100A panel...

Mark