We are in the early stages of designing our new retirement home. Last child (#7) is leaving and we are going to downsize the house and upsize the garage! I plan on having room for 6 cars and a lift. I am open to any and all ideas on what I should consider. I am also looking for any plans or pics of good outbuildings. I do plan on a bathroom, full utilities, will have a compressor room, and possible a room to pain in. Thanks in advance!
How about a bunk room so we all can come and hang out in your super sized garage?? The only thought I have is some sort of an organized parts storage area with lots of heavy duty shelving to store the bits and pieces. The last thing you will want with a fancy new garage is to have stuff scattered all over the floor making your 6 car space a 2 car parking and 4 spaces of clutter.
Dennis, I get a lot of compliments on my Carriage house. It is a 5 car but you could lengthen any arm or put a bump-out on the back as on the front. It is basically a 24x48 with bump-out. It has a functional attic for storage....which collects everything and lets the garage remain uncluttered. My builder and I sketched this out on a napkin over beers that the Hooters waitress kindly supplied.
Dream Garage Obviously you'll be wanting a sink & toilet , also sealed concrete floors are good as is drainage .
I'd have a layout of 1/2" pipe and multiple drops for air lines. At least one floor drain. I have as many wall cabinets as needed to keep stuff off of the floor, floor space is always a premium. I have an old lateral file cabinet I use as a tool box, 5 nice and wide big slide out drawers with drop down doors. Work great and cheaper/thinner then tool boxes. For doors I'd use sliding doors so when open the don't interfer with lighting, and any overhead lines. And they look neater than rollup to me... Have fun and dig your old place!
..and then there's the house! Sounds like you might even see the house for the garage! With that in mind, the outside design probably is the most important. Not sure a huge metal stucture will be as inviting for the Mrs. Who knows~ Flashlight's getup looks like a winner! I'll never forget moving my truck, by hand, 8 feet to the passenger side so I could build my garage around it! Positioning those 20' 2X10s over the top of it made my shorts bunch up, but in the end, it all worked out. Good luck and have fun with it!
A jukebox, 2 pinball machines, antique gas pump made into a fridge for those tasty beverages, flt screen t.v, old road signs. That should fill up one garage bay. Bobby
Being in a colder climate, I'm sure a fan of heat tubes in the concrete floor. Nice and warm when you lay down on it; you can open a big door and let the heat out and it's nice and toasty within a couple minutes of shutting it again. Don't scrimp on insulation in the walls and attic. Don't scrimp on lights, either...everything is so much easier and better when you can see what you're doing without shadows. A paintbooth of some sort would certainly be nice for most people like us, but that takes a bit of money and quite a bit of space, but is sure invaluable. Put in enough 230 outlets to relocate a welder in numerous places, 'cause you never know where you're going to be wanting it. Make sure you run at least a couple full 20 amp 120V circuits, as many pressure washers take the full 20 and will trip anything less. The 15 amp outlet configurations won't work on those, either. My first shop design was built in 2001; probably $85000 invested in it. I added another 50x50 to it in 2003, probably another $120K worth. Then got serious and built a 60'x160' one for building lots of stuff in 2007, along with some office space. Planned on getting that done for an $800K investment...that ended up about exactly 50% of what it ended up. Point is...plan on costs running more than you expect...seems like they always do. But hey, what's more important than a good playhouse??? Some of the best times in life are going to be spent in there...
Being an older fella (50+) I have owned 3 homes and have built (4) "hobby" buildings. Attached garages are great for finished projects, but IMO, doing dirty work in an attached garage with finished cars and daily drivers in close proximity is a big problem. Dirty work: grinding, welding, sanding bondo, painting, sandblasting, etc. An unattached shop for the projects is great. I have a 30 x 40 x 14 unattached with a 2 post Rotary lift. Our attached garage is 3 cars wide and 2 cars deep = 6 cars. It's nice to be able to paint, primer, grind, etc. and not worry about the overspray getting onto the other rides, and the smell getting into the house. Unattached Shop Attached Garage
Garage design Please remember to check building codes-especially about including a bathroom--many cities have strict requirements when doing so. Make a friend in the inspection dept and ask him for advice before every step in tne process-- it will save HUGE headaches.
Localities differ, but I'm planning on building a garage/workshop next year and the building permit application package alone is 53 pages. I'll even need to write a storm water management plan. Be careful and check into your county's requirements.
