Garage building thoughts, aesthetics & ultimate shop layout

[jseabolt]

The water part is tricky and I am already considering acceptable ways to have a wash sink/utility sink...but opening the whole tier of cost/complexity/etc of a very long run of wastewater line is just too much. Since we will have water at/outside the structure, a gardening-purpose outdoor wash basin might be the compromise.

Just do what I did and run the drain pipe out the side of the wall and let the waste water hit the ground!

Not living in a subdivision has it's advantages!

[cgranju]

though technically being in a subdivision, I have a lot of space & privacy, we're zoned "agricultural" and people tend to generally keep to themselves and not complain about other people the way most of think of subdivisions. I'll figure something practical out on that front.

[cgranju]

Thought maybe I'd bump this in case anyone is playing along at home....I've been living in a major construction zone since the week after Thanksgiving. I suppose my building permit unleashed an insanely wet December & since the start it's been a pattern of about 3 halfway decent days to work in between weeks of rain or soupy wet conditions. Alas, I am about to have footers spotted in for the garage.

I'll be asking more of my plant/landscape architect friends about how to grow stuff than I will y'all about how to fix Fiats this year, I'm afraid.....

[vandor]

Neat!!!

[kmead]

That is a healthy cut. Is the building going up against that or a few feet off? The guy up the hill with the broken down fence must love you.

I would add a perimeter drain all the way around outside your foundation and a swale to carry surface water around the mid parapet you show to keep as much water away as possible.

Next year I will be building a garage mahal but my land is all sand so water isn’t much of an issue here.

Clay however...

Oops, sorry I forgot what your avocation is. Never mind about the water management.

[cgranju]

Ha! But you are correct on the drainage. The slope will terminate in a swale that carries any surface water to the sides of (around) the garage, slopes back up to the wall slightly and then with full height drainage accommodations (like a retaining wall, basically) the ground line in the rear will be 6-8’ against the rear wall. Then the slope will have nice, thick, rooty vegetation and the flat area (it doesn’t look like it from the photo or even from the ground below, but it’s 10-12’) will also have thick vegetation and have a swale cut to direct water away from the slope.

After living here nearly 12 years, it dawned on us that we actually own the broken fence. That is either funny or sad, depending on your perspective, but what’s hard to imagine is that most of it (and it carries through the adjacent property line, so I don’t know why we ever questioned it) has always been obscured by heavy brush, thicket, Ivey, etc. ultimately, we don’t want to see the neighbors any more than they want to see us, so there is some fun screening tree planting in our (near? I hope) future.

Early on, I 86’d the idea of building a subterranean garage for the idea that the design, construction & chronic drainage issues would be too much. Ultimately, this (and the reclaiming of about 6/10 or so of an acre that was formerly either a nasty jungle or a swimming pool we don’t want) will be nicer, but it is nerve wracking in the moment.

[PhillySpider]

Any thoughts on a pole barn garage? They are fairly cheap and quick to build.

We dealt with a pole barn guy, highly recommended, blah blah blah. Over the phone said $25-35k for a standard 2 car with loft. He came out and measured, and said he'd email me the formal quote "in a few days". Three weeks later, after numerous follow up attempts on my part, he quoted me...$65k! When i asked about his estimate he blamed Trump and said material costs are up over 20% lol. I guess he's selling pole barns as his basic math skills are as bad as his follow up skills...

[cjwaters]

Chris, congrats on breaking ground! I'm just catching up on this whole thread and it's been fun to see the evolution of the project.

I've been operating out of a 1200 sq ft shop (about 400 office/bathroom, 800 shop) for the last 10 years. It's typical industrial condo construction with insanely tall ceilings and a shotgun layout (24 x 48). No problem fitting lots of Fiats in nose-to-tail but the front office really chokes things off. Your two door layout looks much easier to deal with shuffling vehicles around, yet you could still pack them in two Fiats deep which is great. Air circulation should be good too. I tuck my machine shop area behind the office to obscure the valuable stuff from prying eyes when the rollup door is open, and it keeps the long half with the rollup door clear for cars and activities. It gets damn hot in the back during summer though!

I try to keep as much stuff on wheeled carts/stands as possible to make reconfiguring the shop easy, even if for temporary work. Non-running cars on dollies or rotisseries keeps those mobile. The heavy machinery at the back never goes anywhere so no need for wheels there.

I would love storage lifts but even the smallest ones seem huge for a Fiat, where the extra width taken up would offset the gained floor space of stacking the cars. Bendpak makes some very nice scissor lift type storage lifts that don't take up a ton of space and don't require tall ceilings. I would love to make a 3/4 scale version with maybe a 3000-lb capacity for Fiat size stuff. Someday!
https://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/parking-lifts/

A sink & toilet are a must but I don't have my house next door like you.

I have seen some garage doors that roll angled with the roof so you don't kill overhead room. Might be worth looking into if that's a concern.

My shop floors are (mostly) polished concrete. Smooth and easy to roll over. Easy to sweep. Not as bright as epoxy but less slippery and no issues with tire marks, chipping, etc. Spills are easy to clean if you don't leave them too long.

I would avoid a compressor in the loft, not just for vibration but also heat. My compressor will occasionally blow the thermal breaker on hot days (100+F in the shop) at ground level with plenty of clearance around it. It's a Kobalt 80-gallon, 4.5HP piston type, vertical compressor that has (other than the occasional tripped breaker) been reliable and easily keeps up with most shop activities. It doesn't take up much floor space. It is quieter (lower frequency at least) and cycles a lot less than the smaller hotdog or pancake compressors.

The more electric power the better but one person can only use so many pieces of equipment at once Modern inverter welders are easy on the power requirements; output amps don't equal input amps so just check the equipment literature. My compressor, TIG, and MIG welders all have plugs and take turns on the same 30-amp outlet. Not as convenient as dedicated wiring but for a shop I rent, it was low cost and flexible. If you're not welding, I guess your biggest power requirement would be a lift or compressor.

[cgranju]

Thanks Courtney. Maybe you'll have to come over the mountain some time & check it out if we ever get enough dry days in a row to make any progress!

Actually, I made an 11th hour change widening the main area to 36' total & with 3 doors. I really didn't want 3 doors...i wanted it to not look like something that might contain cars, tools, or any significant quantities of either, but working w/ some layout tools, graph paper, etc. I finally decided that I'd be doing too much car tetris. In the past, I've had garage arrangements where the last car in blocks everything else & one benefit I wanted out of this was access.

What's funny is how small the garage looks relative to the huge excavation. Well, it's not that funny...there really wasn't a better way to put the garage there and have the drainage & the rest of the flow work correctly.

[davedecker4]

You will definitely not regret that last minute change. Makes a world of difference. Next time I will have to follow that idea.