Who has built a detached garage?

[AllenV]

What I did is build a 40x26x12ft stick building with a stucco exterior matching our home and southwest neighborhood. The floors are 6" fiber reinforced concrete with parts that are 8" thick under the two-post lift. Floors are standard commercial vinyl tile. Lighting is LED replacement units in the original 4 ft fluorescent fixtures.

2x6 framing in walls. Lots of insulation. Package heating/cooling unit on roof. Recently added 6.6KW of solar on the roof. This ties in to the buried power lines that connect the shop sub-panel to the house main panel.

The north-face clerestory windows have proven to be a very nice feature as they bring in plenty of natural light and don't cause much heat loss in winter.

As the pictures illustrate, plan the size for needs and available space. My shop is 25 feet deep inside, and I placed the two-post lift to fit a planned Ford F-250 extended cab short bed. The idea was to have the bumper just clear the garage door on the lift. THEN I went and bought an F-250 CREW-cab short bed. Hmmm... see the pictures. I can't close the garage door with the truck on the lift. IF I had placed the lift 6" further forward the truck would fit.

Otherwise it is awesome. Basically a 4-car garage with two work bays. The rest is for tools and benches. Lots of 20A quad 120VAC outlets placed 4 ft above the floor to sit above benches. One 240 VAC 30A outlet on each wall for lathe, mill, welders. The lift is hardwired 240VAC to the ceiling.

 

[gi_984]

Lot of good info from everyone. Folks can pick up nuggets from each other that are applicable to them.
So few updates on mine so far:
County permit only. Inspector came by to look at proposed site and sketch. No issues.
50% deposit given to designer. Need to finalize wish list of features to give them.
Not my first shop. So between past experience and what others have shared should be nice upgrade. Only limited by funds.
Will not be putting in a vehicle lift. Have access to another location with lift if needed. Focus will be machining.
Thanks again for everyone's participation and feedback. It helps everyone.

 

[gi_984]

Inferno, interested in the type of truss you mentioned. Would be nice to have a vaulted ceiling and still have insulation. How did you insulate the ceiling, spray foam or blown in? And which style truss?
Found this buying guide from Menards:

Roof Truss Buying Guide at Menards®

Your guide to choosing the right truss for your building project. Learn all of the terminology, designs, and uses for trusses.

www.menards.com

 

[Inferno]

Inferno, interested in the type of truss you mentioned. Would be nice to have a vaulted ceiling and still have insulation. How did you insulate the ceiling, spray foam or blown in? And which style truss?
Found this buying guide from Menards:

Roof Truss Buying Guide at Menards®

Your guide to choosing the right truss for your building project. Learn all of the terminology, designs, and uses for trusses.

www.menards.com

Looking at your Menards link, I had Standard Scissor.
To insulate, I had poly blow in.

At one point I had to make some ceiling changes in my master bath that was close to the edge of the house. That was the only drawback. I had to go up in the insulation and squeeze as tight as I could between the ceiling drywall and the roof sheathing.

 

[tjb]

Will not be putting in a vehicle lift.

May not be practical for your operation or purposes, but when we did the grading for my shop, we dug out a section for a pit. It's approximately 3' wide, 8' long and 5' deep (you want to be at least eye-level to the floor around you when standing in the pit). We ran underground cable for electricity (an outlet and lighting on the walls) and pipe for compressed air. The floor is concrete, the walls are cinder block faced with plaster. Years later, I added a lift in the next bay over, but for oil changes and minor servicing operations, I prefer the pit. There are only two negatives to it: 1 - I ALWAYS keep a vehicle parked over it for obvious safety reasons. 2 - It uses up floor space, but if your shop is large enough, that's not much more than a nuisance. The cost was pretty nominal during the grading stage. If I had to give up one or the other (lift or pit), that'd be a tough call. For most applications, I think I'd rather have the pit than the lift. Worth considering if that's practical while you're at this stage.

Regards

 

[gi_984]

Inferno, thanks for the clarification. I had traditional trusses at my old shop. Did pink fiberglass rolls with the brown paper backing in the walls. 5/8 Sheetrock all around plus ceiling. Blew in pink fiberglass. Went to R-60. Added insulation to house (R-60 also) at same time since I had the blower.Agreed it was a bit challenging to get all the way to corners/edges. I imagine the scissors style truss will be even more so.

 

[GL]

I think they call the truss style you can have room above “storage trusses”. They have an open area built into the system. My shop is pole construction with trusses on 4’ centers. Some manufacturers are on 8’. i used metal for the ceiling so it would support insulation without needing to add extra framing to support Sheetrock, also eliminated taping and mudding, plus provides a reflective surface for lights. Had the sheets cut a few inches long to make some overlap and ease installation. Blown in insulation, R29-32. The door into to attic has plywood walls around to make a dam to keep the insulation in. Also made a raised walkway the length of the shop down the middle so you can move around up there without needing to wade through the insulation. Plus lights on a switch near the door. All the wiring done before the ceiling went in.

Baseboard is 1x3 with vertical slots where the mounting screws go so, in theory, they move when the building settles instead of buckling the wall. Wall boards installed 7/16 off the concrete for same reason. Baseboard sits on the concrete to keep sparks out.

 

[pontiac428]

My big shop on a tiny lot. 24' was the largest joist I could get for the second level, so that's how wide I went.