Garage planning

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Selling our house and the Mrs. was looking into the dream house... Massive and would likely make us house broke.  I may have her talked down to something much more reasonable with the intention of removing almost all storage in a house to maximize living space and building a second detached garage.  Will likely be a 2-3 car detached with power and eventually gas line ran.  Will be putting in a small room for her craft stuff and making a big chunk of it into storage.  Hoping to leave a couple stalls open and now looking for ideas.  This is our last house so I want to do it right and get what I want... which is mostly a garage hide out.  I will probably run pex in the floors for heat.  Cars will be parked in the attached garage for the most part so dont have to worry about taking up to much space.  This will mostly be for projects/ hangout space.  Ideas I have so far are pex, cabinets everywhere.  Storage built on the ceiling, storage in the attic. may look into water lines but not sure I want to do that in cast I decide to turn the heat off ever.  What else??

[vtx1029]

Why not just add a second story? its cheap to do when your building it all from the get go.

[Moon Lake Refuge]

22 minutes ago, vtx1029 said:

Why not just add a second story? its cheap to do when your building it all from the get go.

I'll check the ordinances but A lot of areas around here don't allow for accessory buildings to be higher than a certain point.

[delcecchi]

Plumbing and a floor drain.... Or two.  

[nofishfisherman]

Personally I'd water in there.  I'd either keep it heated all winter or be able to turn the water off to the entire building when its not heated.

I'd want a place to clean and process fish and deer. That would mean a large deep sink, stainless steel counter, and a large upright freezer or two. Also a well placed floor drain in the area to make clean up easy.

Another thing to think about if its going to be your man cave and if your wife will be out there crafting a lot.  If you have water out there why not think about a half bath.  A sink and toilet might be nice to have out there.  Or better yet if its primarily a man cave then you could simply go with a urinal on one wall.

[vtx1029]

True about the roof height but maybe you can get a variance. Barn style buildings with a loft as said also add a ton of useful space without going super tall

[Cheers]

sink would be mandatory ,

mouse poof ,

floor sump pit to accept floor drains to prevent them from filling with sand and sawdust and the like

wide doors

[delcecchi]

Is this the garage for the family, or the auxilary backup garage?  

Cars go in family area, this sounds like a secondary building.

Edited October 5, 2016 by delcecchi

[Surface Tension]

How do you know your future house has an attached garage?  Someone said mouse proof and no better way to ruin your storage and hangout then a mouse.   If you downsize your future house then IMO it wouldn't make sense to compensate for lack of storage space with another building.   I do get the hang out space/work shop idea though.  Our creative juices, energy levels,and sense of well being are good when we walk into the hang out shop.   I think you kill that with an attached sewing room.  The sound of a sewing machine or small talk over quilting squares is enough to make you go back in the house and watch TV.     If not for you,  think of your friends at least.  You won't have any left.  

 So don't make it so nice and you won't have to worry about where you'll hang the pinking shears..  A wood stove,  beer fridge, pizza oven, TV,  BB gun for mice,  set of tools, and funnel out the wall is all you need.

[Moon Lake Refuge]

All good ideas, 1st I know I will have an attached garage still for vehicles because that's a deal breaker.  I won't move without it.  2 I go back and forth on water a lot, deer get cleaned at the cabin and I honestly think most of my projects out there would be woodworking.  Not worried about the wife's craft stuff out there.  It would primarily be storage and during games and weekend evenings she wouldn't be out there doing anything anyhow.  Just trying to free up that entire room in the house.  Love the idea of floor drains but that would be more practical in the garage attached to the house where vehicles would be.  For the water, I'm most concerned about the drain line.  Any idea what that would cost to tap into the main?  Likely within 100 feet or so.  Also toyed with putting a wash tub out there with a bucket under it and just being able to hook up a hose from outside since I would likely just be running water to wash hands quick.

thanks all!

[Cheers]

drain into a sump then pump to the back 40

[rundrave]

couple of things to consider, I built a 28x32 garage a few years ago. 2x6 construction with 9' walls.

What direction do the doors face? Mine face north but didnt really have much of a choice so I bought the best insulated doors I could. I also went 8' tall instead of 7'.

I have 2 slider windows (6 total) on the 3 other sides. On one hand its great in summer time to open them and get some air moving through the building especially since my dogs have an indoor/outdoor kennel run in there. But on the other hand I wish I didnt have windows as its hard to put shelves up for storage. 

I did poured footings instead of a slab which helped make the walls a little taller. Put pex in the floor also but dont have it hooked up yet. 

I dont have water and only wish I had it for the dogs but so far its not a big deal. For me being on a rural property it was just too much to get it to tie into the existing septic system.

I didnt think I would want to store stuff in the attic but now that I have it mostly finished I wish I would have went with a more open truss system. I have a 4/12 pitch and in the middle section of the attic I put 4x8 sheets up there with an attic door. can fit quite a bit up there so that has been nice just to get stuff up there and out of the way.

I did a white corrugated steel ceiling and it was so easy to put up. Panels were 36" wide and 16' long from menards. Very little cutting and they went up very easy and fast with a sheet rock lift. Best part was they have a 40yr warranty and I didnt have to tape, mud, sand or paint anything. 

I have it wired and walls spray foamed haven't decided what I want to finish the interior with yet. 

When you think you plan it big enough plan bigger. I was restricted on size based on utility locations, septic and property lines but I wish I could have gone bigger already.

[Tom7227]

IMO Runrave has made some very good points.

I do some woodworking and ended up buying a dust collector.  I wish I could built a separate closet for it as it make a lot of noise.  I have been to several other shops and most have done this.  If you do much work at all give some serious thought to a dust collector.  You can get a lot of info on line about what all is required.

You and others have mentioned storing items in the rafters.  If you do this be sure that you get them built strong enough to allow for the added weight.  Quick way to ruin a building is to overload the rafters.

B in law put the fiberglass panels on the ceiling and walls of his auto workshop.  Nice clean looking and probably pretty easy to dust off.

[terrywatkins]

Hi there, I like the way you planned for your garage. I think the garage should be spacious. I have also renovated my garage and planning to go for hanging closet and cabinets. My neighbor recommended me this site who provided them cabinet service last year. Do you have more suggestions?

[Moon Lake Refuge]

Was that the same neighbor who they did floors for too???

[PurpleFloyd]

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