Thinking about building a garage.

[Vreracing]

Our house is getting a little too crowded with cars. I don't have the heart to sell any of them.

We may be building a remote garage. Probably be a metal building that will hold three cars.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

The questions I have:

How much room would be good to have around each car.?

I will be doing some minor mechanical work. Exhaust brakes etc.

How much depth to the garage would be good?

Three garage doors, or two?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

The most common response you'll get is "build it as big as you can. At least twice the size you think you'll need."

 

[Shelby3]

Make sure you have vertical room to get the cars in the air. A lift is a cheap appliance these days.

 

[snakebitdave]

Don't let yourself get into this predicament! I have only three doors and you can see my problem!! Three feet minimum all around. A lift is a must.
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snakebitdave

Registered: 5/2003
Location: size=
Posts: 3 It takes a little work but I can get them all in and still have a little room for woodworking in the corner.

Fri Jun 20, 2003 2:45pm





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[Chuck 98 RT/10]

SpDave, that pic always makes me laugh.

 

[Russ Oasis]

I built a six car garage with a ceiling high enough for 2 cars and it STILL isn't big enough for my taste. I'll post some pics as soon as I can figure out how.

 

[Rocketman66]

They are just putting the garage doors on today. I have built a 30'wide by 26' deep garage. If you go ahead. I suggest 2 - doors to be 10ft wide by 8' high.
My viper feels tight going into my other garage which has 9ft wide doors. A 10'door will accomadate easily a Excursion or pickup truck if necessary. For an 8 foot high garage door you will need a min 10ft high ceiling to give enough clearance for the garage door openers.

With the cars parked inside, you will have plenty of room to put a work bench infront of the car.

My total cost was about $20k, which is built on a concrete slab with a stone facia infront and siding all around. (no insulation yet!)

 

[Vreracing]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Jay Herbert]

The most common response you'll get is "build it as big as you can. At least twice the size you think you'll need."

Chucks on the mark with this one. If you do it the right height, you can add storage lifts and double your capacity. Dean Word's garage has a really high ceiling, to take advantage of a storage lift. A lift is in my future, at $3K for a good one, cheaper than adding onto the garage.

Be sure to visit the Ultimate Garage area of the marketplace for ideas. Included are links to several metal building companies.

If you can do three doors, do. But, two doors will work fine, but make one of them a double garage door, 18 ft wide if possible, the other, 10 ft wide as someone suggested above. If you click on my Avatar, you'll see my "right" garage door and part of the left one. My garage is 22 x 30, so I have an 8' door on the right, a little tight, so that bay holds my work area.

Go for at least ten foot cieling height, and have the garage doors installed so they hug the cieling when up, this may mean you'll need to recess your lighting, but it will allow for lifts. 24' x 36' should handle three cars great. At that depth, you'll have lots of room in front of the cars for work benches too. Design it so you can take advantage of the attic for misc storage.

I could go on and on, my dream job would be to design and build garages and shops for car folks.... If you want up your garage IQ, buy and read the following books:

Reinventing the Place We Park

How to Design & Build Your Auto Workshop

Ultimate Auto Workshop Design & Planning

Ultimate Garages

 

[Frank 03SRT]

Hey Snakebitdave, looks like you have plenty of room to wedge another motorcycle to two in there --see that area toward the back near the door?

No need to thank me.

 

[DR VIPER]

The best advice is-you can never have a garage big enough.
I ended up building an 1100 sq.ft building on my property to fit 6 cars and I still have stuff sitting outside.
How about 3 wide 2 deep,can you go that big?

 

[Ron Hickey]

A lift for stacking parked cars is a good idea. Even if you don't want or need one now, at least make the ceiling high enough to accommodate one. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable using a lift to stack cars if one of them is driven every day or other day. I think my lift has 7 feet between the poles. Maybe I'm just pessimistic, but moving a car in and out of the lift day in and day out, it just seems it's only a matter of time before you're in a hurry or distracted and scrape a pole. I think the lift is great for cars driven infrequently (like most Vipers). Plus, of course, it's useful for maintenance and mods like exhaust, etc.

As far as size goes, make it as big as you can. If you have limitations (due to zoning, property dimensions, money, wife, etc), you will have to compromise. I'd consider my 24x24 garage the comfortable minimum for 2 cars. You definitely don't want anything shallower; of course, a 30-foot depth would be better. If choose to go with a garage door for each bay (as opposed to a really wide one which services two bays), I suggest a door width of 9 feet, and at least 8 feet high. This will allow you to park most SUV's comfortably.

For the flooring, Race Deck or tile is certainly the best looking option. Unfortunately, the Race Deck is also one of the most expensive options. And, of course, it will show dirt more than other surfaces. If you consider epoxy, be aware than most do-it-yourself epoxy and paint options don't last long. Hot tires will pull up the paint. I considered epoxy for my garage, but came to the conclusion -- based on what I found in the archives of this board -- that the only way to do it would be to pay a professional company to put it down; then if it has problems, I'd have some recourse.

 

[ultgar]

I've been building my own garage for the past 18 months. Workshop bays should be 18-20' wide whereas parking bays need only be 13-15' wide. Depth of each bay should be 22-24'. Ceiling height should be 12-14' above any lifts. Garage doors should be at a minimum 9' wide. A 100a subpanel is more than adequate for most garages unless you have a lot of 220v equipment (more likely in a woodworkers shop than an auto garage). I've got an overview of my project at http://www.ultimategarage.com/UltGar2.htm and the 14 pages that follow which may be of help with your garage.

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[b3rndtt0ast]

thats a awsome garage! i can only dream how nice that would be. i would never leave :-D
-dan

 

[plumcrazy]

that is the most amazing garage ever. I grew up and moved outta wayne only a few years ago. I would love to come and see it in person and maybe talk about you working with me on my garage im building in the spring of 04.

 

[Jay Herbert]

This is one garage that really is into the details! The lighting is....um, wow. If each of you does not take the time to go through all the pages of this garage build... you are missing out! The information contained within them is priceless.

Just so y'all know..... this fellow is one gracious person. Many years ago when we added the "Ultimate Garage" area to the web sites Marketplace. Within a day or so he wrote me asking to include his business "The Ultimate Garage" in the list. Most would have complained about trying to steal their businesses name. Not him! He politely asked to be included, and we of course obliged.

 

[ultgar]

Thanks Jay.......the lighting will be a big budget item in this project. All types of lighting will be on display.....T5 flourescents, PAR Halogens, MR16 Halogens, R/G/B LED's , metal halide and some fiber optic. One of the consultants on the project does the lighting for the Radio City Christmas show in NYC each year and won an Emmy for lighting at the Salt Lake City winter olympics.

When the project is done, I'll have a few open house sessions and will do one with the Viper guys if they're interested. Maybe we can dyno a car or two while they're here. SD

 

[plumcrazy]

ultgar, keep me posted when you are done. Id love to see it for myself and talk.

 

[SylvanSRT]

ultgar your garage has a dyno in it? that is one awsome garage, i would love to see the inside and the house also! i am a home builder and really appreciate the details(copper gutters) looks like you didnt miss a beat!

 

[ultgar]

The main garage will have a 4wd Dynapack chassis dyno (its been in storage for over a year) and adequate environmental control so I can control temperature, humidity and pressure in the room. Most dyno shops have big fans blowing heat soaked air about. I've got a 2 1/2 ton Unico system with 12 air drops for the one room, a 50,000 btu heat unit through the Unico plus radiant heat in the floor, and a Thermastor APD to provide digital humidity control and up to 400cfm of make up air filtered to 95%. The HVAC for the 1 room was approx $40,000.

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Since the dyno manufacturer is in New Zealand, there will be an IP camera in the dyno room so that the manufacturer can participate in demos to potential customers without having to fly the 18,000 miles to NJ. There's a lot more which I can go into at a later time. SD (PS - here's my dyno which a local tuner borrowed to dial in his Haltech system..went from 410hp at the wheels to 582hp in 17 runs over 2 1/2 hours. This is not the way I want to see this equipment used....shop is way too crowded with no air flow. Repeatibility would be difficult.)

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[Jay Herbert]

When the project is done, I'll have a few open house sessions and will do one with the Viper guys if they're interested. Maybe we can dyno a car or two while they're here. SD

OK you New Jersey area Viper folks..... here is your opportunity to hold a "Dream Garage" event!

 

[AviSarfaraz]

HOLY HELL!...thats beautiful!