The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Dream Garages! (Post dem pics!)

On Tuesday I climbed into the attic and started work on my dream garage - or as much of a dream garage as I can get out of our existing garage on a $500 budget. I'd love to see as many pictures and get as many ideas from everyone on their dream garages, and what are "must haves" for a good shop. Post 'em!

Starting with a 3 car garage - 2 bays 18 feet long and 1 bay 26 feet long. The basic plan includes:

1. Raise the ceiling to at 10+ feet over one bay to fit a lift. Then I can park a car on the lift, and back the '54 Chevy 3600 underneath!

2. Vault the ceiling to 16 feet over the other two bays and install some good quality shop lights - not those flourescent pieces of junk. Plus, makes a good rainy day basketball court!

3. Relocating the stairs up to the house slightly to get more wall space - then setting cabinets into back walls of the garage (the house is built on a slope)

4. Electricity, air compressor, and beer tap drops throughout the shop. Move the air compressor to under the house with a large auxilliary tank to save room! Beer will be supplied through the wall from the refrigerated keg in the wine cellar.

(Reality/humor check: I have neither a refrigerated keg on tap, nor a wine cellar at this time. A guy can dream...)

5. Pre-wired speakers and TV cable drop, just in case the game/race is on while I'm workin' on Daisy. (Daisy is the truck!)

6. Curtain (plastic sheeting on a track) between 2 of the bays, so I can keep dust and junk out of the "clean" side when sanding, painting, etc.

So did I miss any "must haves" for a good shop? Send in them pictures if you got 'em...

-Boyo

Boyo, I'm working on my shops/gararge all the time- just cann't get the Sleeper55 doing to much at one time. On one end I have the 40'x40' shop for engine,brakes and mechanic work. On the other end 60'x40' shop for sanding and painting booths. In the middle ( now pay close attention here)(this is MY room) I have a 30'x40' rec room with pool table, tv, wet bar and lounge chair. When Sleeper55 gets one job done it isn't to far for her to walk through MY rec room to get to another. The hard part is she says I hafeto pour my own drinks.LOL In there also is a 10'x40' compressor and wet bar storage room. this dream shop is actually becoming a reality (maybe not the my not working part). I move plenty quick when I see the "crow bar" acoming.

Didn't think about the pool table - have to figure out a place for that! I'm giving serious thought to adding a few more bays under the house (same level as the garage), there'd be room for it there. I'm sure if I called it a wine cellar, Katie might approve.

This morning I got the lumber delivery and carried it all up the the garage attic. In total about 70 sticks of lumber, including a couple 20 foot 2x10s. I've almost finished framing the floor over one bay, and have all the remaining lumber stacked up there. Eventally (3+ years) we'll turn that attic space into a spare room, so I've built it good 'n strong.

Will be building out the ceiling over the other bays next. The best part is that I can sheetrock both ceilings before taking the existing ceilings down...if I can figure out how to get the sheetrock up there!!! There's only about a 3 foot attic entrance now.

Also probably not a 1 man job, and Katie balked at the idea of helping. I mean, she's only 7 months pregnant, and she's no longer up to haulin' heavies. Go figure!

Yup, havin' fun. Will post pics when done!

-Boyo

well i ain't sure i qualify for a remodel, but i built a 38x40 garage. the guy at the bank said it's worth about 21 thousand bucks, and i got 3 grand in it. all scrounged material except for doors and concrete, and electrical box. everything else was free for the taking.will post some pictures soon. oh by the way, it's called the hillbilly garage thanks to a certain gary perry, who made a comment regarding my method of construction, and it stuck. one thing, i did almost all of the work by myself, and it's taken 2 years to do---so i figure i saved 11 grand a year.

Boyo and Kool,
congratulations on the new shops.I know how you feel as I built a new 36x40 shop last fall. I still don't know why I waited so long to do this as I have wanted one forever. After I bought this c.o.e. I decided not to take off one bolt until it was setting in a shop at the house.I was given all the red iron and metal so all I had to buy was the concrete which we poured ourself and had a welder friend fit it up on the slab.One good idea he sugested was,we welded a 6" H beam down the center of the 12" steel beams and I have a trolly and 2 ton chain hoist that runs the entire 36' to back of shop.I put straps through cab of c.o.e. and put it off and on new chassie by myself.I have 16' eve height and thought it was to tall at first but now love it,if you have room don't think you can get to high.We used 4 ea 20' sky lights and most days you don't need any lights.The only stupid thing I did was not put any polly under concrete and I know better but ordered concrete and poured anyway.One thing done right was not let anything touch slab for 60 days then etched and painted floor with concrete paint.When you don't feel like working on truck you can sit in chair and drink coffee and kick your a** for not doing it 30 yrs earler.Anyway it's a good place for grandkids to ride bicycles and roller blade on.Would like to send pictures and when someone tells Kool how, maybe I can also learn.
ps. The floor paint works great,motor oil,hyd oil
etc wipes up easily and looks like a dealership floor...........J.D.Poole

What kind of paint did you use on the floor? 60 days huh? I am waiting till no fear of another freeze . . . probably right after first week of April, can't imagine waiting 60 days after that! 2 inches of sand, layer of poly, 2 inches of styrofoam with grooves for wirsbo tubing, topped with 6 inch wire mesh. Can't wait to see that gray concrete finish! I shoulda busted my butt and did this last fall . . . always something else taking priority. My wife is having kittens now over the fact that her parking spot is still full of truck parts, tools, and all manner of "junk" (her word, certainly not mine)

Yup! That's the ticket - exactly the kind of garage I want. Thanks for the pics, that has reminded me that I haven't planned for enough counter space.

Do you have any sort of vacuum system for the woodworking equipment? I find my ShopVac hooked up to the table saw eliminates 99% of the dust, just wondering what other folks use.

Hmm, better get one of those calendars, too. (Obviously, I mean the one with the Austin-Healey picture...)

Hit my first official "snag" in this project, was putting in supports for the main beam over 2 of the bays and discovered I'd have to move some water piping. I asked my wife how long she can live without the washing machine - as it turns out we use it quite often. Who knew?

So, attic work stopped for now and the water heater and pipes get moved sooner than planned. Oh well! Had to get done sooner or later, but I was enjoying the hammer swinging and need to get the attic work done before it gets warm.

Wish our digital camera were back from the shop, I'd take some pics. Soon, very soooooooon....

-Boyo

Garage Hell,
That looks more like one of our Hospitals down here.Lol. Mine has never looked that clean and organized.Beautiful little truck there 53........

Bill, I think there might be a gum wrapper on the floor, make sure you pick it up.You must have stole the New Yankee Workshop from Norm.I could never have something that nice, too much guilt.I'm only happy working in a unheated, drafty,underlit, 100 year old barn. Old Barn

Bill when you comin to visit!!!!!! I cant find a thing.LOL This is what happens when you screw up your back. Everything was layed out all over the place.I am real lucky to have some great neighbors that stop over at nite to move stuff around for me(well the beer in the fridge dont hurt).I just had to take this pix as i dont think i ever saw it this bad. I see we have the same taste in..........heaters. web page

Phat your pics don't show. I get this message. Anybody else get this?
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My garage is more in the 'work in progress' stage.
I do have two garages, which is a plus, but only one is accessible right now. It's a detached 36' by 30' w/three full size overhead doors - one on the side and two in the front. Its a truss roof with no posts anywhere in the whole span. I can get quite a bit in it and still have a fair amount of room. The other garage is a two car under that's heated and right off the workshop. That's good but it's under the master bedroom which limits noise making activities to daylight hours. I am using that one for storage right now.

far from my dream shop, but it'll have to do for now.

Shop-1
Shop-2
Shop-3
Shop-4

Hey 53 4me, you mentioned that you have a steel beam in the center? I have an existing garage 30' x 30' that I want to raise the roof, so I'm thinking of putting an I-beam in the center to support the floor joist. I was thinking of using .250" thick x 3"w x 6"h. I think that should hold the upper deck that I'll be using for storage for the wife's craft material and my spare fenders, hood and all. I even plan to install a "dumb" waiter using a 440lb electric hoist (that they sell in Northern Tools) to get the big bulky parts up there. What do you guys think, that I-beam going to be strong enough?

In my shop there are two W 32 x 16 steel beams. The weight of the beam is 32 lbs per foot, the beam height is 16 inches. The span between the beams is made by 2 x 8 's.

The engineer said I could use one beam in the center. That would have had to be a W 18 x 36, the span would have been made with 2 x 10's. It was cheaper and took up less space to use two beams.

I did not leave anything to chance, I let the engineer do the math and sign the plan. If you are going to shoot from the hip on the beam size, go heavier to be safe..

A 10" high beam, 8" wide will hold about 700 lbs a foot. That's enough for a 2 story building. (supporting 2 stories) A 30 footer should be under $500. at the right place. Probably 350-400 or so. You'll need more than manpower to get that puppy in place though.

web page Way too full and never enough room. But it is warm.

Hey K10, with those measurements couldn't I divide it in half to 5" x 4" wide to support a one story? Just a thought .

Seon, a good rule of thumb to follow is: Don't guess!!! Strength of beams has more to do with the web thickness and height than anything else. If you go with half the height, you cut the strength by a factor of 4 or more.

If you plan on supporting the beam only on the ends, you design for DEFLECTION that you can tolerate, not the bearing capacity of the beam. Sure, you can load a beam at 700 lbs per foot, but on a 20 foot span you will get 3 inches of sag in the middle. No good for actual building a floor on.

If you tell me your support, your span, and what kind of load you want to put on it, I'll tell you what size beam you should get and how much it will sag between supports. In the end, if you are going to build with a permit, you are going to have to get a structural engineer to stamp a drawing anyway to get it to fly with the inspector. Also, when fire hits, steel beams tend to turn to butter and lose a lot of strength. Just something to keep in mind.

Ken,
good advise on the structural beams,on the floor paint I used a product called HOT-TRAX that I got at Lowes'. It is a water based latex but has worked rather well,but concrete needs to cure 60 days. If any moisture is still in concrete and you paint or seal it, moisture is trapped and floor will blister.If you are going to paint floor be sure not to let finishers trowel too smooth or what we call a burnt finish as you have to etch with acid before painting.I choose the cheap paint so I can re-finish it several times for the cost of the epoxy.Good luck with the shop..............J.D.
The only inspectors I have to deal with are my contractor friends coming by and seeing some of their material being used on my shop lol......J.D.

OK, thought since my digital camera is on the blink I'd share my plans. Missing an overhead shot right now, but hope you get the idea here.

Sketch 1: Here's where I started - the central main beam exists today, and the ceiling is currently below it. These sketches show the left 2 bays vaulted, and the right bay raised to 10'. Dual cabinets are sunk into each back wall. OK, so ignore the brickwork!!! That would've cost too much, been too much work, and looked goofy.

Sketch 2: Dude descending a staircase. Originally the water heater is in the leftmost corner of the garage, and the stairs are a straight shot down. This picture shows where these things will be moved to give the bays extra room. Note the central beam, could be a head-banger so I need to do a mockup to see what works.

Sketch 3: Next cut at the rear main wall, combining the two 4' wide cabinets into one 8' wide cabinet. Gee, don't those look like doors from an old fashioned brick garage that you could drive through? Coincidence? Hmm, wonder if there's enough room under the house to park another car...

Sketch 4: Side view and structural view of bays 1+2. Boyo playin' ball! So it's not a regulation height hoop (only 9ft) but it'll do nicely. Note the rough lumber calculations, this is the final plan.

Sketch 5: Bay 3 ceiling structural diagram, lumber and cost calculations. Compare the "modified" to "original", noting (4) where the corner is angled to match the roof.

Sketch 6: And finally the left and right walls showing the workbench, a new window with worklight, tool storage, etc. The large squares on each wall are where the air compressor drops and drains will come out of the wall. The small squares are 220v, 110v, and switches to turn on the compressor and work lights.

There's the plan so far... Raising the ceiling is underway, and the window will probably be next/soon, followed by moving the water heater and stairs. See ya!

-Boyo

Suggestion: I put up a new horsebarn two years ago and did the wiring myself. 53 4 me did the plumbing and let me tell you; this guy can plumb! He definitely knows his stuff.

One of the things I didn't want was to see a light left on in the barn so I located at least one switch to every light fixture in the whole barn next to the door that leads up to the house. The idea was to avoid having to run all over the barn turning off lights. I used three ways and single poles where appropriate and it has paid off in spades. Now as you close up for the night, you can kill every light in the place from the door. If you have to run back down because someone did leave a light on, you need only get to the door to turn it off.
Rats nest?

Ken, thanks for your offer. I currently have an existing 28'x36'x 11' (bottom of the trusses) high. I want to to raise the roof and store the wife's craft supplies and misc truck/car parts i.e. fenders, hood, etc. My plan is to place an I-beam in the center of the 28' making two sections of 14' but going 20' long. This beam will be placed inside the existing walls about 9' high, supported with 4' x 4' x .250" thick square tubing on each end. Planned to use 2" x 6" x 14' floor joist x 24" apart and 3/4" x 4' x 8 T/G sheathing for the floor. I'll remove the existing trusses and replace it with a "Dutch" type roof, 6-7 feet high. I went to Home Depot and they suggested a laminated type beam about 12"h x 8"w x 20' long, but I'd feel better using steel rather than wood. No building inspector involved. With that, I thought that 8" h x4" w x '250" thich I-beem shoud work. Your advice greatly appreciated.

Kook . . . plumbing? Horsebarn? do you stable the leapin lipozard horses that use toilets? Must be some septic system to handle all those solids! Real horses poop on the ground!

Seon, so your saying a single beam, supported on ends, 20 feet long, with distributed load of 2x6's on 24" centers with 3/4 T&G waferboard on top. What load do you want to carry on top of the deck? 80 lbs/sqare foot? more? less?

My dream garage, I saw it on tv, was in a commercial think it was castrol,penzoil.Two guys come over to see their buddy and the wife let's them in a lttle door but it opens into a huge shop. Roof opened up so a helicopter could airlift supplies. That sure is one lucky guy. :rolleyes:

Ken, about 80 lbs is about right. Thanks

Here are some photos of my shop that I waited 30 years to finally build.

I did the basic design and then had a structural engineer add his two cents worth for the glulam beam down the center, the footings and floor and the steel brackets and fasteners needed in the wall with the big doors. All that door doesn't leave enough wall to keep it from racking without the extra support.

The area over the low side has a floor in it with lighting and access via a set of pull down stairs. I managed to fill it up with 'good stuff' in a matter of days.

I did all of the wiring (including the service upgrade and feeder to the shop panel), insulation, drywall, painting and finishing work with the help of my wife, son and any one else looking for free beer. Funny how buddies stopped dropping by 'to see how I was doing' after I put them to work a couple of times.

Shop Pics

OleBlue - cant see your pics. Says that I'm not the owner of the album...

59Apache38

Try the pics again. I relinked them to the community page so they should show up now

Thanks for the feedback!

Olblue,I've got a 20x20 garage and a small carport thats it. Hell you're shop is bigger than my house.1100sq.ft. I wish I could have a shop that big but don't have a big enough piece of land for it.
Looks like a very comfy place to work .

Tommy,

I spent a lot of time working out in the cold, the heat, the wet... so I especially enjoy the time I spend in the shop.

I think the most miserable mechanic job I did outside was when I changed the timing set in my '62 Corvette. It was about 15 degrees, the wind was blowing 20-30 miles an hour and I'm working in a driveway. I ended up putting old blankets over the front fenders down to the ground for wind breaks. Still ended up working 15 minutes and then going in and thawing out for 30 minutes. The best part? That didn't fix the problem. Turned out to be a bad condensor that I had just installed the week before! I just know Murphy was a mechanic.