Garage ideas

MidWesty · Post by **MidWesty** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:49 pm

I'm getting ready to break ground on a new garage here at the house for my VW's and am looking for opinions for "must have" features.

The basic run down is as follows; It'll be 24' X 24' X 12' high walls. Over the left side I will be building a loft the complete depth of the building and 12' wide for parts storage and what not. There will be a set of steps at the rear of the loft. On this side I will only be able to run 7' high garage door due to the height of where the loft starts. (8') There will be an LVL beam that'll allow me to not have to have any support poles in the way. So I'll have complete open floor space.
On the right side it'll be open to the ceiling, approximately 16' to the peak. I'm using scissor trusses (no bottom runner) so there are no obstructions in the loft area or on the other side. The loft area will start at 4' and go to about 8' at the center. On the right side there will be a 10' X 10' door, so I can easily get my bus in. Also I'll be able to have the pop top up and work on it inside.

Anyway, I'm looking for ideas from others who have a garage or who have built one and have things they wish they had done or would do if they had to do it all over again. Any wisdom is appreciated. Money is definitely a factor here though.

Thanks!

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:43 pm

Cool!! I am a few years away from putting one up, sounds like a good project!

A few ideas...
Give it its own breaker panel and wire plenty of sockets. and get some nice energy efficient flourecent lights in there.
Sink...even just the cheap utility ones.
work bench with plenty of storage to stay organized.
Beer fridge...DUH!!
Stereo.
If you are going to have plumbing in the loft for a bathroom, look into setting the plumbing up so that you could have options down below at a later date...ie...another thrown.

escape hatch to your secret man-lair

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:56 pm

A hoist.

A pit can be handy.

Us midwesterners need insulation. Heat!

Plumbing is expensive, but I could rinse the underside of my bus, I think I'd be willing to drive all winter including in the snow and salt. Plus with the beer fridge you need a urinal...or Depends!

Adventurewagen · Post by **Adventurewagen** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:14 pm

spiffy wrote:escape hatch to your secret man-lair

Most definately.

In my garage I have an engine lift too, I figured with two VW's I'd never use it but as you can see I found something to lift off the ground to work on.

MidWesty · Post by **MidWesty** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:02 pm

I did think about a pit, but then that calls for alot more concrete and I'm afraid I wouldn't use it that much. There is going to be an auction at the end of Oct. locally and there are 2 lifts that are sitting there. If it all works out I'd like to pick one up. Beer fridge is already to go. It's sitting in my other building full of IPA's. I'm out here in the country, so as far as a "John" goes I'd have to tie into my septic system which may cost more than what I've got sitting at the moment. Same deal with a sink and running water. I plan on checking into though.
I'm running 2 seperate 220 lines. One for the welder and one for the compressor. I'm going to go all out with the electric because I've been in garages where you can't run 2 tools at once without blowing a fuse. Sucks!
Heat is definitely going to be in there. There is going to be a 12' steel top work bench across the back wall on the right side too.
So many ideas and limited funds!

Velokid1 · Post by **Velokid1** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:52 pm

Adventurewagon, I'm not sure you NEED an engine lift, brother. Holy Popeye Forearms, Batman!!!

chitwnvw · Post by **chitwnvw** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 5:25 pm

Velokid1 wrote:Adventurewagon, I'm not sure you NEED an engine lift, brother. Holy Popeye Forearms, Batman!!!

He's on the juice. VGH. VDub Growth Hormone. Heard you can lift the back of the bus with one hand, install the engine with the other.

Randy in Maine · Post by **Randy in Maine** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 5:57 pm

I would suggest running a big ass cable out there and installing 200 amp service.

A nice 175 psi 80 gallon air compressor will let you sand blast for a while.

vdubyah73 · Post by **vdubyah73** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:51 pm

Go deeper than 24' so you have room to work and 220vac for a good compressor/ welder. Make sure your flouresent fixtures are rated for cold temp operation. Propane or gas wall furnace is nice too.

Bill

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 4:17 pm

The carp that helped me build my house said: "Figure out how big you need, then add four feet in both directions." So that's what I did.

I'll have 220 but no water. Wood heat, but no satellite TV. Wireless Internet, but no lift. Ah well. Everything's a compromise.

Post by **Amskeptic** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:07 pm

vdubyah73 wrote: Propane or gas wall furnace is nice too.

In it's own weather-protected shed. Do not have combustion flame in garage area or you'll be sweating bullets when you have a gas/solvent spill.
Colin
(install a center drain with a good floor pitch and it will be easier to clean up after your projects. . . depending on the surrounding slope of course)

MidWesty · Post by **MidWesty** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:54 pm

The only way to drain at the moment is directly into the creek running along the boundary line. Obviously a BIG no, no! My house was originally laid out that way. It was built in the early 40's and in the country, that's the way they did things. We've done a lot of re-routing to the septic system since we've got the place. I'd hate to go digging up the whole yard again to run lines to the tank. I'd love to have water but may have to pass as of right now.
As far as going any larger than 24' in any direction, the land lays into a slope to the right side. I basically sit in the valley. The back of the property is pretty rough and gets a lot of run off. The other part would require quite a bit of digging into the hill. The creek cuts along the property line then cuts diagonally across the corner. In front of that are the leach lines for the septic tank. I'm kinda land locked so to speak as to location of the building. 24' deep puts me 4 feet or so out of the creek. There is a 20' X 16' building just to the left of the proposed building. I could maybe get 30' on the width side but that would start to cut into my driveway around to the back of the new garage. I have a lot of mature trees on the lot and the wife (and myself) don't want to part with any of them. As crazy as that all sounds, I wouldn't give it up for anything. I'm just making the best use of the room we've got. Gotta love the Kentucky hills!
I've set aside just shy of $10K for the whole project. I'll do all of the actual work myself, I've got a great neighbor to do the concrete and dirt work, for beer nonetheless, and everything minus the garage doors, heat, and siding is coming in under $3K right now. So far, so good. I know there will be untold changes and needs that arise during the process, so wish me luck. Hoping to be done before the bitter cold moves in.

Thanks for ya'lls ideas!

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:21 pm

If you're putting in a compressor, make life nice for yourself and plumb some air lines down both walls with connectors every so often. Also put one on the outside wall by the garage door for easy tire inflation. But for safety's sake, use steel pipe .. I've heard some bad tales about using PVC for air lines.

Having worked someplace (briefly) that had plenty of air connectors, it's much nicer than having to drag a bunch of hose around all the time .. and tripping over hose sucks too.

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Garage ideas

Garage ideas