building a garage

[GI JOE]

This might not be the place but... here goes

I am considering building a 3 car garage... soon...  any advice???

I am considering a 3 car where two bays are open and high enough to accommodate lifts... 3rd bay with above storage space..

i am thinking of 3500 psi concrete floor, 36x24 

garage height is limited to only 1.5 stories high...

Any ideas on cost /SF for some thing like this?

What size garage doors would you recommend?

What Lifts would you recommend and why?

Any advice on climate control, insulation, frost protection etc....  here in New England we need to go 42" down below the frost line...

something like this I think...

http://www.barnpros.com/products/garage-shop/barn-house-garage.html


...maybe I should be thinking of moving south to warmer weather... LOL     GI Joe

[buenymayor]

First thing, if you have the room, go at least 30' deep. 24' doesn't leave much room to get around the car if there is a work bench in front of it. It'll cost you a little more, but you'll never regret it. Probably ought to go at least 12' side walls if you are putting a lift in there, 14' if you can do it and stay under your height requirement. Insulate under the concrete, even if you aren't planning on heating it. Sooner or later you probably will, and then it's too late if you don't.

[BillOhio]

We have a farm and when we built our shop we installed the heat in the floor. It uses a gas instant hot water heater like you use for hot water in the house. When you open the doors your heat doesn't leave, floor doesn't sweat, nice to lay on and work, seems to be efficient. We love it

[Kelley W King]

I am in my 3rd garage now. I firmly agree that 24 ft. is not deep enough. My last one was 28 ft. and with the work bench and tool box it was workable but to pull and engine you had to back part of the car out the door. My present one is 31 ft. deep. I also recenting built a pole shed at my business with 12ft ceiling and had the truss builder raise a section in the middle of one bay about 18 inches for the lift clearance but going to all trusses kind of limits the upstairs storage. As far as doors I really like a 16 or 18 ft. door instead of 2 8 or 9 footers. My present house has 2 8 footers and I am waiting for my wife to take off her side mirror or worse. Plus have them insulated when installed. It is cheaper and easyier than doing it later. As far as lifts I have a 4 post drive on and a 2 post frame lift but I am considering buying a 4 post drive on that rolls around with the car not on it. I have friends that have them and they roll them out side on nice days to pressure wash or paint bottoms. If you condition it oversize the air handler and increase the duct outlets. I did and when not in use I set the temp to 55 or 60 in the winter and 80 to 85 in the summer. With over sized equipment I can change the temp about 10 degrees in 30 minuites whe in use. Lastly on my last garage I plumbed the air lines in. Northern Tool sells a PVC kit with stand 3 outlets, you can buy more. for less the $100 bucks. I put my compressor outside under a shed with a switch in the garage. This is one the best things I have done, it,s quiet and a 25 foot air hose is all I need. Here in NC a garage like this would cost $50 to $75 a square foot depending on the level you want it finished and the grading. Hope this gives yo some ideas to ponder.

[click]

When we wanted to add an attached 24x26 garage to our old farm house, we had no limits on height or size, our garage part is 24' deep, and 26' wide, we also had 10' more feet in additional width as a 10' wide entry for our house which we needed badly, then we have 8' overhang in front and 12' overhang in back for a 12'x36' screen porch. Our zoning does not consider overhangs as part of the dimension for future taxes that you apply for. The overhang is taxed at much lower valueation...  but consider these hints:

1. Truss company will help you design the roofing trusses (most do it for free) to maximize space you can use above and below the trusses. Consider " attic trusses " which give you full stand up height storage space in the 'attic' area but on the outside it still looks like a 1 1/2 story design to get you past nosey neighbors or inspectors.
 The trusses can also be built to extend out over your garage doors for a HUGE overhang area in front of the doors. Great for parking cars under the overhang in winter for guests plus it keeps rain away from your garage doors. My overhang is 8 feet out from the garage doors.
They do wonders these days with custom designed trusses that give you huge storage areas, then add gable end windows for ventilation and light up there.

2. Use 2x6's for your walls, allows more insulation and strength for 'attic truss' needs.

3. I also 2nd the  "in slab" heat, its wonderful but remember to plan it so that any lift you install wont puncture any heat tubes in the floor. In fact, if you plan your lift location accurately, you can 'beef' up those corner locations with more slab concrete at those points where you will have bolts installed. Then you route your slab heat tubes around those areas.

4. Use at minimum a 100 amp elec. breaker box just for the new garage, so you have endless power options, 200amp boxes are about the same price but you might have to have new 200amp service pulled in from the pole, which adds to the price. Then put 20amp GFI outlets every 4' all the way around your new garage, plus a 220v if you plan on welding equipment. Also have exterior outlets on all 4 sides.

5. Plan your CAT 5 wires and TV cable for internet and speaker wires for TV and stereo system or surround sound.

6. Buy only thermal insulated windows of course to hold heat and keep out hot air in the summer.

7. Consider a heavy dute ventilation fan to exhaust summer heat out and any fumes you might create in the garage.

 Those are a few ideas that we used in our new garage.

Here are some pics that might give you some ideas and ask if you have any questions about our project  :

[lcmc]

Not sure what the frost line has to do with it unless you are planning on running a water line to it.

[click]

Our frost line requirement for footings is 5 feet below grade, since our frost can go down almost that far here in Minnesota. Frost will 'heave' a footing and affect the structure above it, if it moves.

 Note, you dont go 42" below frost line itself... you go 42" below grade...

[lcmc]

Our frost line requirement for footings is 5 feet below grade, since our frost can go down almost that far here in Minnesota. Frost will 'heave' a footing and affect the structure above it, if it moves.

 Note, you dont go 42" below frost line itself... you go 42" below grade...

Guess I'm thinking pole barn type garage which is much cheaper to build. No footer required.

[click]

Our pole building required the posts to go down 5' below grade as well but no concrete footing under them...my 32x50 pole barn has not moved an inch in the 8 years its been up. Much cheaper to build for sure but sadly you cant 'attach' a pole building to a home or structure that has concrete footings since the 2 styles of construction move differently. Maybe down south they can?

[tmodel66]

Joe I vote to move South.  I have a nice 2 acre lot with 4 or 5 big old oak trees for shade and a 1/4 acre lot graded for your new house. Plus I need another Camaro gear head for a neighbor.  

BTW it's 63* this morning and I'm in a tee shirt.  

[JohnZ]

Here's a story "Corvette Fever" ran on my garage a couple of years ago - most of the specs and details are in the article. In terms of cold weather (also an issue here in Michigan), I framed the garage (and the house) with 2x6's to get R-26 insulation in the walls, R-58 in the ceilings, and the 18' x 8' steel/foam/steel sectional doors are custom-made with tubular seals between sections. I used a 10-mil Visqueen moisture barrier on the soil, then covered that with 5/8"-thick tongue-and-groove 4' x 8' sheets of high-density closed-cell foam with heavy foil on both sides, then mesh on stands and poured the slab on that, let it cure for 90 days, then had the slab steel shot-blasted, followed by two coats of solvent-based industrial epoxy. Even if it's zero outside, the floor is always warm and dry, with no moisture migration through the slab.

Super-insulating during construction makes all the difference - the home and attached garage total 5800 sq. ft., and we heat it (gas) for about $160.00 per month year-round. My "retirement office" is in the garage, so it's heated all the time.

http://www.corvettefever.com/techarticles/corp_0608_custom_corvette_garage/viewall.html

[click]

John have you any need for an 'adopted' family? 

[rich69rs]

Echoing what JohnZ, click, and others have prviously stated - let me emphasize:

Minimum 8' tall  - INSULATED doors (inslulation between the inner and outer door panels)

Also, strongly suggest lining the walls (or at least some of them) with pegboard.  Two ways of doing this.  If the local codes alow it (and they probably don't) you could install your wall insulation in between the studs and then mount the pegboard directly onto the studs.  In most municipalities though this won't pass fire code which requires drwall to be installed.  If that is the case then mount wood strips through the drywall to the studs and then mount the pegboard to the wood strips.  The wood strips will stand off the peg board from the drywall allowing a gap between the back of the pegboard and the drywall for hooks, etc.

Another advantage to mounting the pegboard to the drywall is that the drywall provides a lot of insulation.  Here in Northern Nevada at 4550 feet in elevation temperatures in the winter easily can go below 0.  I have never seen the temperature in my garage drop to below 45F.

Although I can heat my garage with a portable heater, the only time I used it was the winter of 2004-2005 when I had the front end of the car completely disassembled and was working on it every weekend and wanted to keep the garage at 65F while I was working.

Also, paint the pegboard - I went with an off white / cream color.  Don't leave it dark as it will literally "absorb" the light....and as we all know, there never is enough light in the right places to work with.

As far as lighting, install flourescent fixtures and install more than you think that you will need.  Once again, there is no such thing as too much light.

Attached picture gives you an idea as how mine came out when we buil the house in 2001.

Good luck and Merry Christmas!!

Richard

[jdv69z]

John Z,

Checked out your garage article and drooled over your Z. I noticed it has wheel opening and drip rail moldings, so I'm guessing it's an X33? It doesn't look like it has the quarter trim pieces though? Or maybe I just can't tell in the pics?

Jimmy V.

[jeff68]

Definitely go way bigger than you think you need.  It will look huge when empty, but it will fill up quick - trust me.  My garage is 36 x 36.  It allows you to put two cars in end-to-end, but only if you don't have anything like a work bench up against the back wall.  Another thing to watch out for is support beams/columns.  You don't want any.  They turn a lot of garage space into a lot of unusable garage space.

My only other suggestion is if you plan to use the garage for collector cars and daily drivers.  Put a partition between the 2 areas.  You will want to keep your collector car area separate.  I ended up installing an industrial curtain in my garage to accomplish this.