Garage Layout / Size

[schwalby]

I found a garage forum, probably not a good thing, and it has gotten me thinking about my future garage. Not a future as in the next year or so but at some point future garage type thing.

Question for you guys, which would you prefer. (keep in mind the pics are for a general idea of what I mean and not the actual size, just concept.)

Wide open space, think warehouse. Something that would be 3-5 cars wide and just as deep, wide open space. Walls at 12' or so with a much higher peak. Possibly have a loft at the far end of the building. I would also offset the main door to one side and have the exterior mimic a traditional New England barn.




OR

More of a traditional pole barn style garage. Just a large square footage wise but the space would be broken up so you couldn't easily take a car from bay one and move it to bay 3 without going outside or using wheel dollies. This style would lend itself to have more character. Sorry these pics are much smaller, guess it is harder to get a full interior pic on this type of building. Notice on this the center bay is much taller compared to the side bays.




Not sure if the wide open space would be that much more useful as long as the "individual bays" on the pole barn style were made big enough.

Hope this question made sense.

[smileyfish]

can't see the last 2 pics. me personaly wide open.

[schwalby]

Changed the last two, hopefully you can see them now.

[DOUG]

I think wide open would be best, a ***** to heat though.

Got a link to the forum?

[Frank]

I would think a open floor plan would be the best overall. Ceiling height need to be monitored as Doug said , for heating cost. A lift would be a must so concrete and rebar floors are on the list. Lighting is a funnie thing. you can never have enough. I found the newer T-12 bulbs ,4' lgnth in the shade of Daylight white works best for me, Very little shadow. With a building like that Vs. a Garage you dont have to worry about shelving being in the way , but planning ahead will help also. Then there are the TOOLS ! Get-em now while you can. The biggest Compressor you can afford . The list goes on. Nice Dream Dude. FjR68

[nostaw]

I have 3 rows of 10' industrial florescent fixtures running down my new garage ceiling... they buzz like crazy and it is really annoying, but I have plenty of light. I haven't taken the time to figure out if I can do anything about the noise yet. Think carefully about what kind of lighting you'll want.

Think about if you want water in the building... Some towns' zoning will restrict/prohibit running water in secondary buildings (which would prevent a flush toilet and a sink) so you don't try to sneak a residence in there.

Currently I'm in the market for storage shelving (found some on CL) so I can get all the stuff from my old garage off the floor and make space / organize it in the new garage... I've actually filled up 90% of the floor space in the new building because everything from my old garage is just sitting on the floor (ok, I have 2 cars, 2 trailers, a lawn tractor and a ton of other misc krap in there too)... Definitely plan what kind / how much stuff you want to store in there!

JW

[Frank]

Jon : Are those lights 10' or 8' ? Most of the time the buzz is the ballast in the fixture. Its replaceable . Look at the ends of the tubes ,if there is a black ring around one or both ends,it means most of the gas is gone and its arcing to light and thats the buzz. Talking to an electrician years ago he told me , The biggest reason for florescent light bulb failure is when they are installed they are NOT burned in ! Once you turn them on they should not be turned off for at least one half hour. Burned in , he called it. I did it to my garage lights this time and most of them lasted almost 5-6 yrs. Nice trick. FjR68

[nostaw]

Jon : Are those lights 10' or 8' ? Most of the time the buzz is the ballast in the fixture. Its replaceable . Look at the ends of the tubes ,if there is a black ring around one or both ends,it means most of the gas is gone and its arcing to light and thats the buzz. Talking to an electrician years ago he told me , The biggest reason for florescent light bulb failure is when they are installed they are NOT burned in ! Once you turn them on they should not be turned off for at least one half hour. Burned in , he called it. I did it to my garage lights this time and most of them lasted almost 5-6 yrs. Nice trick. FjR68

I think you're right -- they're 8', not 10'.

I have a box of bulbs the last owners left behind, which I think are good bulbs.... A few are definitely not working anyway, so I'll try swapping some of the buzzing ones out and leaving them on. Good tip!!

JW

[SidewaysTim]

Ceiling height need to be monitored as Doug said , for heating cost. FjR68

What about radiant in-floor heating with ceiling fans and a supplemental conventional heater?

[schwalby]

Ceiling height need to be monitored as Doug said , for heating cost. FjR68

What about radiant in-floor heating with ceiling fans and a supplemental conventional heater?

I have considered it, and most likely will go that route.

One of the ideas I am playing with is there will be a "bay" running the length of the building and its ceiling will be a couple of feet higher then the garage door, basically just enough for the door when open, be it a traditional door or a roll up door. The door will be in the 16' tall range. Then either side of this bay the ceiling will be lower, one side which would be set up for a lift would have a ceiling height of about 14' and the other side a ceiling of about 10' or so. This will help box in the area so less will be heated, it also will make it feel less like a giant warehouse but still have the wide open space.

I am working on some sketches that I will probably post at some point for more feedback.

[DOUG]

Link to garage forum please...

[schwalby]

Link to garage forum please...

NO!! :p


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

[nostaw]

Checked on the light bulbs... Definitely arcing, like Frank said, causing most of the noise. When I removed the ones which aren't working I could hear the buzz drop some, but a lot of the bulbs that are left make a lot of noise and probably need replacing.

I have 30 fixtures w/ 2x 96T12 bulbs each, arranged in 5 rows of 6 fixtures. I took out ~14 bulbs that didn't work today. I bought a box of new ones, and I think between that and the ones I have I have about 20 bulbs I can install tomorrow, and burn in the new ones while I give the WK an oil change.

JW

[schwalby]

I wanted to update this with a rough, and I mean really rough sketch of what I have come up with. I do have a few columns in the design but they are not along the center line of the building. One is next to a future lift so the post of the lift would causes an interference anyways. The others are on the other side but I was planning on making that side more for benches and work areas so having a column at the corner of the bathroom and another 14' or so feet away won't really cause any issues either.

I know this is a dream but the plan is to build this with a small apartment above the garage so this would be built first and then a house later. Even better part is I have told the last 3 woman I have dated about this dream and all of them thought it was really cool and would love to have it to. I love 4 wheeling woman

If anyone wants I have a Jeep I can stick on the plan to show scale a little better