The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Garage - What shall I build?

If you have a tall ceiling a regular paneled garage door can lift vertically up the wall above the door, it need not turn and go horizontal (as with a low ceiling) blocking light and interfering with a lift.
I have an insulated door that does this, still probably not cheap but a good solution isn't always.

Swing out doors I built for my garage. Three bullet hinges per side. Sub structure is 2 x 2 tubing with some strap and plating thrown in.

http://www.bunchobikes.com/mygaragedoor.jpg

Some of the inside structure.

http://www.bunchobikes.com/1952suburban164.jpg

I visited a metal building supplier near my home a month ago. I took a short video to show my wife. I just reviewed the video and it clearly shows the roll up doors are similar to THIS PICTURE. I think they will be really loud when going up and down. I also heard that they don't seal very well. I'd rather have swinging doors. They would be quiet.

I drool at the thought of a bigger garage than 22X26 but I doubt that will happen. THIS PICTURE is probably pretty close to what I'll end up with (side walk-in door and 2 windows added). Sorry if some of you cringe or become nauseated at the sight of such a small garage.

Chain drives are loud. My previous picture of the shop with the electric doors, very quiet. And they seal great, whether they were chain lift or electric motor lift. They usually sit in a side track that has seals, and the bottom of the door has a rubber bulb seal. The top is sealed to the building.

Your size is slightly bigger than my garage. Always better than working outdoors in crappy weather. You just need to get creative with storage! In my previous garage picture, there is actually 4 balloon tire bikes hanging right above the door. I just have them tied up horizontally.

Jay, we do the best we can. A new shop is quite a treat, don't care how big it is. Unless the rollup doors that come with the kit limit you in some primary use (ie lift) I would keep them and change later. Dad has them on his shop, manual chain drive works well, seal great and look good. I know you are handy with a welder, but those swing out doors will consume much more more time than you would guess to look as "clean" as the package doors. Good luck !

Jay, a thought for the future. If you can do 14' (or 12') side walls, you gain mucho lift clearance, overhead shelving possibilities and most importantly....the option at some future date of adding 12' additions on either or both sides.

In my thinking the future possibility of expanding would be a major item to ponder.

I've got suspended sliding doors on one end of my shop, and I'm planning to add a piece of angle iron on the floor with the V shape pointing up and some V-groove rollers to guide the bottom of the doors. A good wind turns them into sails when they're only suspended from the top. The other end of the shop is going to get a roll-up accordion door. Two of the school shops I ran for 20-something years had them, and they're absolutely the best way to go. No overhead interference, and they last forever with minimum maintenance.
Jerry

I designed my current garage. 30 x 32 to do a lot of restoration work.
Important details: height is important!
I have a 2 post lift so I made it 16 feet to the rafters - lift extended so you can walk under it and a VW bus or pickup with a cap on top.
Main door height 12 ft high - truck or backhoe fits through the door.
Main door as wide as possible Mine is 20 ft wide (2 full bays)so much easier to drive things and reposition them if you don't have doors with posts in between.
Because of the height I was able to put a storage loft above the third bay (assembly bay off to the side, not drive in) 10ft bay height and 6 ft loft height. Very handy.
Lots of 8ft lights. Lots of wall outlets wall outlets, chest high, all around the walls.

Jim,
I think 10' walls might be all I can do in my small back yard. The idea of a lift is fading fast.

Pour the pad oversize and put your lift outside the door.

Jay, Martin is on the money. I just paid $115 a yd for 26 yards of concrete so for a couple hundred dollars extra you can't go wrong while the "finishers" are there.....and until you actually put a lift up it'll still be handy.

Martin is spot on. I have visited several shops over the past year and there are quite a few that operate lifts outside. I've had the same idea for sometime now. Maybe, just maybe, next spring if I can find a good buy.

My garage already existed when we moved here. Had a 3 foot pad from the door out. Totally worthless other than helping keep weeds away from the overhead doors. So after 21 years I finally had a proper 4 car pad poured in front of the garage and then some. My 4 post drive on lift sets in place just beside the second door (so it would be in spot #3). It's been living outside for about 10 months with no problems. Used it yesterday to change the oil on the wife's 2016 Dodge Durango.

My friend has an outdoor 4 poster and now he put a roof on it and it goes up with the truck keeps it cool and dry and has good alround access good if you want to water blast something

With a wide enough garage the roof maybe be
high enough to have clearance for a lift. Talk
with the lift manufacturer and builder to see
what is needed to fit a lift. Two post lift
or go home.

Size. Never big enough. Never say you will
never own a fire truck or big bolt or will
only just own one car or truck at a time.

Figure a 14' width and 30' depth for each bay.
Plan on 2 bay minimum for where do you put the
body when you take it off the frame.

Last I can not afford as much garage as I want.
My house has an original 12 x 20 garage. My dad
added a second 12 x 28 garage along side the
original and a door opening was made to go from
one to the other. No lift but it has a LNG
hot air furnace.

Also have a 10' door height. My son's 46 2 ton
would fit in my big garage only if the garage
when built had a door high enough. Jeffrey

That's a good about an outside lift, weather limited though.
If you poured the pad extension behind the garage, put the lift there and put another overhead door in the back wall, you wouldn't have to look at it, drive over or under it every time you went in and out of the garage or listen to the wife complain about it.
I made the middle bay of mine drive through and it has been amazingly useful.

I confirmed the following about zoning in my residential neighborhood.

Max size is 600 SqFt
Max height is 40 feet.
I will plan on something near 24 X 26 and pour double that for the concrete.
Polished concrete inside the building.
Standard roll up doors (but not the overhead kind).
One side might get a 13 foot wall. That means a lift too!

The only question you'll have soon is, "Why did I wait so long"!!

Making the decision to do something (I've discovered) is the toughest part....Congratulations!!

Just talked to a lift retailer. Asymmetric 2 post is 135" wide. Needs 4" of concrete. Reinforce concrete with mesh instead of rebar. Needs 12 foot walls but might go 13 ft anyway.

Really, the delay was because I was initially given incorrect info from the town office on setback. They said 20 feet from rear property line. Can't do that and make anything look right.
New investigation shows about 5 feet from rear property line. I can live with that. Full steam ahead. With planning.

13' may be a special order. Most mfg use even numbers for their standard measurement. Might check with your choice company.

True, however some company's buy coils of metal, then roll it and shear it to length. Sorta cutting out the middle man at the siding store.

Hopefully that'll be the case here. If not, still shouldn't be much of a challenge for them to get metal sheared to any length.

Jay, that's great news. Just let me know when the party is going to be. I want to be there! (Will be in Columbia tomorrow but time will not permit a visit...this time)

Tomorrow is set aside for putting up stakes with string to see how much back yard I'll lose. I'll take pics because it'll be fun to see how things progress.

I drove a few stakes in the ground and stretched out some string and then took pictures. The tan tent is about 9ft at the peek. If you look closely at the first pic, you can see the tip of the tape measure is at 13 feet. I'll probably only have 12 foot walls though.
The black trailer, tan tent and small shed will all get a new home after the garage is built.

After taking pics, I came in the house and did some freehand drawing.

I have 82 feet of yard behind the house. The garage will start about 10 feet from the rear and right property lines. I'm thinking 22 deep and 26 wide. The area outlined in green would get cement.

The tip of tape measure is 13 feet.

This is my favorite version. 12 foot walls.

This one is 26 deep and 22 wide with 13' walls. It shows the cement area. I prefer the 26 wide but this layout would give me a better layout for tool boxes.

Cement area. This is probably what I'll end up with. View from 10 feet to the right of the rear corner of house.

I think you mean concrete.
My grandfather was a concrete engineer and would explain:
"Cement is to concrete as flour is to bread."

When I was young, I watched too much Beverly Hillbillies when Jed used to say "Ellie Mae's outside over by the cement pond". LOL!
Yes I mean CONCRETE!

Good planning tools.

I'd go with the 26' wide plan to have some additional room for workbenches, etc. alongside the vehicles.

One comment. Does it rain in the southeast?
Plan on gutters or consider putting the doors on gable end (won't make that much more difference in roof truss span) so you won't get rain running down on the doors at the eaves.

I would go with 24' wide and go with 30' depth.

1 As I said before you will be able to fit a big bolt
in.

2 Have room to have a big bench in front of the truck
or car when working.

3 Room enough to use an engine hoist and keep the
truck or car inside the shop.
Jeffrey

I have a 32' deep garage with standard 24" (?) deep bench cabinets at the "rear" of the high stall. When I park my 18' bed COE in that bay, I cannot get to the bench cabinets. However, I have around 12" clearance at the front, between the door and the frame (I can squeeze through). When I put the front bumper on the frame, I'll lose a inch or two.

I would go that big if I could. Zoning says no bigger than 600SF. That's 24 X 25.

I was looking at lifts. Most lifts need 11.5 feet from outside footplate to outside opposite footplate.
That will barely squeeze into one side if I go 24 X 24. I might need to go 23 deep X 26 wide. (598SF).

For the size building your putting up I'd install one 18'w x 10't door, you'll never regret having it that big. Two side by side doors really limit your movement especially if you plan on putting the trailer inside.

Also, if you can, don't put the door tight to the corner, this limits the room needed to open the truck door that's against the side wall.

Don't forget, the measurements your talking about are outside dimensions, so you'll loose about 1' for the walls.

So you 23x26 is really about 22x25 inside. Put a 16' truck inside you are left with about 2' at the door and 4' at the back wall for tools and bench. Figure about 12' wide bays, 6' wide truck and 3' on each side for open doors and your done!

Mike B

Good idea about the bigger door instead of 2 doors. I'll look into it. Might be easier getting the stuff parked inside.

Just.make sure your door is wider than 16', it's very hard to park two vehicles side by side with a 16' door unless they are VW's...

Mike B

Funny you mentioned 16 feet. The Metal Garage people just sent me an email that says their widest door is 16' and $1700. They suggested framing the door and installing my own as an option for a wider door. I don't have that skill set.

Update: I'm leaning towards one of the all metal garages 24 X 25. The concrete pad for the garage would be poured first. Smooth finish for easy cleanup.
Then have them put up the all metal garage.
Later come back and pour concrete with a "broom finish" for all the outside area so it's not slick and dangerous when it rains.

That plan means some delay as to when I can actually start using the garage because the outside concrete would need to cure before driving on it. That will give me some time to organize the inside. The lift would go in mid summer.

Have the builder frame a 8x18 door and call Home Depot for a price on a Copay garage door with the finish/windows/insulation of you choosing. They are very easy to install or ask them for the cost to install for you.

Mike B

I would try to stay within the standard size door, 9x7, 9x8,
8x7, 8x8, or 16x7. Going larger than these sizes will cost a lot more. First number is the width second is the height. I do agree with the one door aspect. A 24' garage width
leaves basically 4' on each side. I would install a 36" personnel front or side as desired. Just my thoughts. Have fun and good luck
Dan

I'm so glad I'm taking time to get info about this project. I just learned something that bothers me somewhat. All the metal garage builders show pictures of the outside of their buildings, but rarely show the inside. It appears to be that ALL these metal garages have a diagonal brace where the roof meets the wall. I guess I could call it a brace at the eaves. I am afraid this will limit the use of a lift since I barely have room for a lift anyway.

THIS VIDEO on YouTube shows what I was thinking of building, but now I am more inclined to build something more like THIS SECOND VIDEO. But mine would be bigger than the second video.