New garage/shop project

[Leland Pate]

The wife and I just bought a house and are in the process of moving in as we speak.

While this house has a nice deep 3 car garage, we need more space. My wife dreams of the garage just being... well, a garage. And I also suppose she dreams of someday actually parking in it.
Add to this, the Nazi-ass POA that requires any RV to be stored in a fully enclosed garage. The shop must also have the same stucco and tiled roof found on our house. So, when we went into escrow on this place, I made it clear that a detached shop/garage was a priority.


Today I had a garage builder/contractor come out and look at my space and work on some figures.

We are thinking of a 38'x30' three bay garage/shop with a 12'x14' RV door and a 16'x8' double car door.

I'm really thinking I want the tall 14' door to have a twin on the back side (pull through) so I can still have access to the rest of the lot once the shop goes up. What I'm really wrestling with is whether to jump for radiant floor heating. Can anyone give me feedback either way on radiant heating?

What else should I be considering while we're still in the early design stages?

[Mark Henry]

In floor is nice if your planning to be under a vehicle on jackstands, my advice is to install a direct vent furnace and use the money you saved to buy a lift.

[pete3799]

I did radiant in my garage (28'x56')and love it. I heat it with an on demand gas water heater.
Cost around $1K to heat it for the year (propane is 2.99 gal. here).
Keep the floor set at 60* and the garage stays around 50-55 depending on outside temp.

Heater is on the wall to the right of the truck.

[froggert]

does it get that cold in reno?

is there any chance at all that you'll get a bigger rv in the future?

if you're going to put in a 2-post lift, make sure you know where the lines are run underneath. better yet, plan ahead and keep some space free for the bolts.

can you put a bathroom in there? and how big will the walk-in beer fridge be?

[Jim Bremner]

50-55 degrees is jacket weather here, Might need gloves!


Check the cost with your concrete guy I added 1" of flooe thickness for $200 on a standard 20x22' garage.

Also think of will you ever need 220? 440? what about a thicker pad for a big lathe?

I wanted to but didn't add hard points so that I could jig up a lotus 7

[onewhippedpuppy]

Color me jealous, that sounds awesome. Big stuff I would consider while planning:

Electrical power requirements, what and where?
Lighting - how many, different switched zones, what kind, skylights?
Windows - how many, what kind?
Garage doors - windows, insulated, high lift vs conventional?
Lift type desired, any extra support or electrical requirements?
Desired shelving and cabinets?
Plumbing for sink or 1/2 bath?
Wire for cable or satellite?
Additional entry/side doors?
Exterior lighting?
Heat or A/C?

I'm doing a 3rd garage addition, so this is some of the stuff that I've been working through. Some of this stuff is down the road but worth thinking about, my doors and window were at least a month lead time.

[iplagolf]

How about a pit instead of a lift? You can get under any sized vehicle and not worry about weight or overhead clearance. Second on your electrical outlets, I placed them every four feet around the interior walls in pairs. One two feet from the floor and the other right above it at five feet. If you ever need to place a shelve or work bench you have power above and below it. Worked out great in my garage.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by iplagolf

How about a pit instead of a lift? You can get under any sized vehicle and not worry about weight or overhead clearance. Second on your electrical outlets, I placed them every four feet around the interior walls in pairs. One two feet from the floor and the other right above it at five feet. If you ever need to place a shelve or work bench you have power above and below it. Worked out great in my garage.

Most cities go ballistic when you say you want a pit. The fumes can accumulate down there and they sometimes get a lot of oil and antifreeze right into the groundwater. One of my friends went through the pain of submitting his plans to the city. They flat rejected a "grease pit" so he changed a few things and called it a tornado shelter. It went right through approval and he now services his vehicles from a tornado shelter

[MBAtarga]

Leland - check out garagejournal forums. You'll have weeks worth of reading for shop ideas.

[Andy911sc]

my dad is finally adding a furnace to our shop/garage. Got a high efficiency furnace from the dent and scratch pile for 700 (orig: 1400) and paying a guy on the side for installation&materials at another 1200. It helps to know someone in the business. Can't wait for heat as the winter is starting. No more propane portables up our a$$es anymore.

[Leland Pate]

Lots of good info here, thanks.

The layout will look similar to the existing 3 car garage except the single door will be 12' wide and 14' tall and the 16' door will be a foot taller than this 7' door that the FJ40 won't even fit under.




And here's where we're going to put it:




It does get cold here in Reno so shop heat is a must.
I should also note that the shop will likely be used more for gunsmithing and storage and actual wrenching. I'm not planning on a 2 post lift (although I'll certainly have the ceiling height for one. We are thinking about adding an office/spare guest room behind the work space at some point in the future. Here's a 'to-scale' drawing I did a couple nights ago that more/less show what I'm thinking:

[911boost]

Hey Leland,

I have installed radiant heat a few times. Make sure you use a manifold and a few zones, so that if you develop a leak you can shut that zone down and stil run the other zones (which may be common knowledge and I am sure the contractor would mention it).

Looks good, the pull through idea is good. My Grandparents had that at their house in Iowa so they could keep the RV behind the garage. My RV is 12'8" high so I would think 14' high would be good enough.

If you are going to be 'smithing in there, knowing what you do on the side, make sure to have the proper kind of windows for security and doors...

Bill

[asphaltgambler]

Originally Posted by pete3799

I did radiant in my garage (28'x56')and love it. I heat it with an on demand gas water heater.
Cost around $1K to heat it for the year (propane is 2.99 gal. here).
Keep the floor set at 60* and the garage stays around 50-55 depending on outside temp.

Heater is on the wall to the right of the truck.

Don't know about you guys, but that's the biggest-@ss pick-up I've ever seen..........

[schamp]

If you have the room build the office so you can store stuff on top.

[Mark Henry]

Looking at what you want it to do I'd forget in-floor heat.
With a DV furnace you can keep the heat low and when you use the shop you can be up to temp in less than 30 minutes.

Does it go below -8*C (17F)? If not you are small enough to get away with a ductless mini-split heat pump.

[rfuerst911sc]

You might want to consider framing a recess in the concrete for a scissor lift before you pour. Only has to be roughly 4' x 8' by about 6 " deep. Just a thought.