(MERGED) Show us your Garage Pics... want ideas

[devous1]

I'm about to make a fairly large investment in a new garage. We have finally had plans drawn out and staked the yard to see what it looks like. Now I'm thinking I may be going overboard. We have a 2 acre lot, not large but plenty of room for our plans with the existing house and pool. I just don't want to start building this thing and discover we have made a HUGE mistake.

Here are plans that pretty much are what we are looking at. The only difference that we are eliminating the small door on the end, adding an additional 6' and attaching it onto our house with and enclosed walkway for the first and second floor.

Why so big, well between me and my wife we have 6 vehicles not including our John Deere and other toys. The main part of the upstairs will be used for home office we run our business out of, and some storage. I also need space for all my personal tools our warehouse is packed and I have to move a hoist, welders, blasting cab, 3 tool boxes etc. Also I need to bring my stuff home because it is really hard for me to do anything with my tools at the warehouse, I travel alot and need to be home for the family when I'm not working

Here is the link, let me know what you think.

http://details.coolhouseplans.com/de...D=125&sid=chp2

[65fastback2+2]

looks small....can you make it have more garage doors?

[2k4mach]

nice im about to start on my garage this fall. my plans are being drawn up now.

were looking at 6000 sq ft. with 1 bay having the ceiling high enough for a lift and above the rest be a small apartment/guest house.
my house is 4800sq ft lol.

[devous1]

Well I don't feel so bad then. Part of the reason this design appealed to me is the bay with the large door. I believe the ceiling is 16' high enough to get a truck on my lift and not hit the ceiling.

[Dempsey]

My house is 1600 sq. ft.

My shop is 2400 sq. ft.

I see nothing wrong with it. My wife is happy with our house and i am happy with my shop!!

Shop Looks Nice!

Nick

[2k4mach]

Originally Posted by devous1

Well I don't feel so bad then. Part of the reason this design appealed to me is the bay with the large door. I believe the ceiling is 16' high enough to get a truck on my lift and not hit the ceiling.

only way to go imo

[65fastback2+2]

i told the wife if we build a house in 10-15 years.....its gonna be a 6000sq ft garage with a 6000 sq ft house for the second floor lol

[devous1]

**** that is ULTR nice, I like the combo of exterior materials.

[devous1]

I am very envious I wish when I built my house I would have bought a stand alone lot. I travel alot and felt my family would be safer in a small development. We are in the country but only 2 acre lots, with a housing association we have to deal with. That is our problem now, trying to get thier approval to spend about 150k on my house. It is really frustrating.

[White2003Mach1]

my house is 714 sf
my shop area is 950sf


yeh......... i know most your living rooms are bigger than my whole house

[G]

It looks like a great shop. I just wrote the check to cover my foundation. I don't remember the exact numbers but the house is around 3100sf. The garage is a 44f deep 2.5 car. The shop is connected to the garage/house and is a 52f deep 2.5 car width. The garage has 1 wide door and the shop has a walk through next to a wide/tall singe door. All of the area above the garage is "man cave" which connects to the house 2nd floor and via stairs from the shop. The "cave" has a window that looks out over the shop. I have a mezzanine in the shop along the back wall for storage and the rest of the shop area is vaulted.

I should have a lift picked out before the shop is done. The slab is much thicker in the shop for that reason. I also have two drains set for the shop floor.

I would say your plans are not excessive but I'm not a good judge of excessive at this point. We decided to make a substantial investment in our next home because it might be the last and real estate has been our most reliable investment anyway.

Good luck

[KiDD]

I a poor bastard and now i have garage invy!!! But I do have a 2 car garage and a Shop that holds 3 cars and have some storage room. ; )

[devous1]

I should have a lift picked out before the shop is done. The slab is much thicker in the shop for that reason. I also have two drains set for the shop floor.

Shop sounds great, I'm starting to loosen up a little bit. Just out of curiosity do your drains simply run outside the building or do they empty somewhere. I was wanting one drain to have a winter wash bay and am really running into resistance from the builders because of regulations in our county.

[kiler be]

What looks great.
Good luck with the HOA.

[MachGirl04]

I guess I am not a redneck yet, but I wish I was now, because DANG!! I want a garage like that!

[ya_04_mach1]

What if u have a house above ur garage??? I have seen Morton buildings where the top floor is the house. That would be sweet!!!!

[NUMACHI]

Originally Posted by ya_04_mach1

What if u have a house above ur garage??? I have seen Morton buildings where the top floor is the house. That would be sweet!!!!

All you would have to do is install a crane and you could build engines in your living room straight "Punisher" style. lol

[Con's Mach1]

SHHHHOOOT! Aw bauy a redneck any dauy, if my GAR'GE is biggir 'n my house.

[CANXLR8]

Originally Posted by 65fastback2+2

i told the wife if we build a house in 10-15 years.....its gonna be a 6000sq ft garage with a 6000 sq ft house for the second floor lol

FL Mach1 tried that one with me...not so much. At least not where we currently live.

That said, you can add us to the redneck list for having a garage larger than the house.

[mach 2]

FYI-Your only a redneck if your carport is bigger than your doublewide!
Looks great though,
Jeff

[TEXASDSGMACH1]

I see nothing wrong with that and plan to have the same problem in the future. My Dad has about 5000 sqft of shop with a lift plus an oversize 2 car garage. His house is 4200 sqft. Luckily I can store stuff at his place, because with 3 cars and a work truck I don't have room at my house.

[G]

Originally Posted by devous1

I should have a lift picked out before the shop is done. The slab is much thicker in the shop for that reason. I also have two drains set for the shop floor.

Shop sounds great, I'm starting to loosen up a little bit. Just out of curiosity do your drains simply run outside the building or do they empty somewhere. I was wanting one drain to have a winter wash bay and am really running into resistance from the builders because of regulations in our county.

The drains must have traps or they will smell and mine will drain through a pipe into the base of a large planter that separates the garage and shop sides of the driveway. The water will then flow down the driveway and make it's way to a nearby storm drain. This plan (to my surprise) made it through the architectural committee and the LEED coordinator.

I have not seen the drain port intended for the planter but it's the same theory as a dryer vent. Water can flow out but bugs (etc) can't get in. The trap(s) would stop them anyway unless it's a SNAKE!

[devous1]

Thanks for the info G, we're one step closer to starting. Our homeowners ***. approved our plans today. So now we have to get zoning, and a building permit.

[devous1]

Well, we have the foundation walls poured and our concreteguys are back filling to pour the slabs Thurs, or Fri. The framers are supposed to be following the week after.

I have one more question, for those with larger shop areas. Especially anyone running large compressors, lifts, welders etc. Is it most common to run your AC in the walls or run it in conduit? I kind of leaning toward mostly concealed in the walls except some of the light circuits and circuits for larger equipment which might get moved from time to time.

[devous1]

Well the garage is well under way. Our contractor was 2 weeks late getting started and the living area on the 2nd floor was kind of complex to frame because we put in several dormers. It's supposed to rain several days this week so it's going to slow down even more, but hopefully they will start putting on the shingles this week.

My concern is, the whole thing is getting brick along with part of the house that it connects to. The weather here is already starting to dip close to freezing and I'm really getting concerned about laying brick in this weather. Does anyone here have any knowledge.