Pondering building a house for my tractor

[rickmacheske]

Well...the wife has told me that I have make room for her vehicle in the garage this winter. Guess that means that I have to build a new garage for my tractor. There are rules in this neighborhood regarding the type of construction...basically, it has to match the house fairly well which means that I can't put up a steel building or anything like that. What I'm looking for is advice on what people wished they had in their tractor "garage" in order to make it easier or better and any other advice you may have. So far I have the following:
- has to fit the tractor with the longest attachment I have on it (5' bush hog)
- has to house all my attachements and make it easy to get to them...hmmm, thinking about dollies or a crane. If it's a crane I would need to figure out how to pick up each of the attachements safely
- tall enough garage door or doors to fit the ROPS
- don't think I need heat or water
- thinking about 100A subpanel
- want to keep size to a minimum
- it's going to be located so it faces the garage attached to the house set in the woods so the entrance is at the edge of what is currently cleared

 

[rickmacheske]

Couple more pics...

- where the new garage will go
- 'bota in the current garage where the wife wants to park

 

[EddieWalker]

Nice house!!

To match a barn/garage to it is gonna cost you, but in the end, the added value will be well worth it.

You didn't mention who will do the work? If it's you, I'd only use brick as an accent at the front and stay with the siding as much as possible. That's real easy to install compared to the brick. You mess up on the brick and you have a disaster.

100 amp is good. Plan for a welder and air compressor, even if you don't have them yet.

I'd add water for a workshop sink and a spicket for a hose. Two must have features. If you have sewer issues with the sink, just run the line into the woods. It's not gonna hurt anything just washing your hands and it's really one of those things that once you have it, you wonder how you got along without one.

Be sure to have a regular man door. As for the main door, I'm a big fan of roll up doors. They seal well and don't take up any ceiling space. This is really nice for lighting and access to the attic area.

Make sure you have plenty of room on the sides of your tractor to both work on it and store stuff out of the way. Think 2 feet for shelving and six feet for working on each side. More if you want to park anything else in there besides the tractor. ATV?

Same for the back. You want to be able to walk around your tractor and get to it, front and back, with the doors closed. Four feet would be my ideal minimum.

Lighting is very important. Plan on lots of overhead light in case you have to work on it after dark in the middle of winter. Even during the day when it's dark outside, it's nice to have lots of lighting. I put four sets of 8 foot florecent lights in my shop and I'm happy with the results. My shop is 24 feet wide and 30 feet long.

It's a pretty good size, but I also have outside storage and I'm planning on building another storage shed. Bigger would have been better, but we have our limits.

Plan on the future and being able to add on to your building. Maybe a covered area in the back that is out of site. Planning on it now sure will make it easier if you ever decide to build it.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[rickmacheske]

I plan on doing pretty much everything myself. I have done almost everything myself in the past.

I think you're right on the brick. I'll plan on just doing it on what is facing the street and the house. The brick is probably the only thing I will pay someone else to do.

Good point on the welder. I hadn't thought of that. I was going to put my stand up compressor in there and leave my other compressor in the shop in the basement of the house.

I was avoiding the water because of county inspections, etc. They probably would want me to heat it if I put water in it. It freezes out here though not often. My septic system is also way on the other side of the lot plus the house will only be about 100 yards away. I have been meaning to put a utility sink in there.

The doors are interesting. To match the house I would have to put in single doors (2 I would guess) but to make it easiest for a tractor I would probably want to put in a double plus a man door.

I agree with you on the room to work. I was thinking 3' on each side. I wasn't going to put a lot of room in from or back but if I don't have an attachment on it I would definitely have the room. I was thinking that if I had enough space with the hog on it and the FEL down then that would give me a lot of room if the hog was off.

Good point on the lighting.

I was also thinking about having storage space in the attic but put in permanant stairs up to it. I wonder if I could put in something like a dumbwaiter in there....hmmmm. This would also mean that I couldn't use off-the-shelf roof trusses.

Let's see...what will go in there...
Tractor
Finish mower
bush hog
tiller
box blade
spreader
chipper/shredder
The riding mower + stuff that goes with it..
pressure washer in the winter
snow blower during the summer
push lawn mower
gas rototiller
All the new toys that I get when I have more space..

Your shop seems like the perfect size for what I need. 30' wide and 25' deep looks to be ideal and about the same size as my current garage.

 

[EddieWalker]

I like to build things with the demensions based on multiples of four. Framing, siding and finish all seem to work well with minimal waste.

If you have to deal with inspections if you add water, then just run some lines under your foundation to handle it along with a drain. You don't have to hook it up, or even make if visible to the inspector, but having it there is a huge advantage if you want to have it in the future.

I like the idea of permanent stairs if you ahve the room. Just line them up so the end up in the middle of your truss's and be sure to engineer them to support a load. Not to hard to do if you plan it in advance.

Eddie

 

[rox]

I built my husband dollies out of pallets for his equipment. It works really well. If you do the same, place a wheel in the center of the dolly as well as on the corners.

I am sure you have already thought of these-

Electrical outlets outside as well as inside
Electric garage door openers
Floor Drain
Would you paint the floor (?)
You mention you have a full shop in your basement but I would think you would still need at least a workbench in your storage shed.
Alarm System
Would you consider an open overhang that provides like an open shed on one side? Might be nice for firewood storage or another use you have not thought of yet.

Also for outside lighting, when you install an outside light is there any way to get it installed way up high? I once built a home where the patio light was just at the top of the patio door and it didn't throw any light at all. I learned that to provide a big pool of outside light at night, you have to get the light installed up high.

These are my quick thoughts.

 

[rickmacheske]

I think the dollies will be a good idea. I think the crane would probably be too troublesome.

Thanks Rox...some really good things that I haven't thought of yet. Think I'll use the overhang idea for firewood on the west side of the garage. That solves another problem as well.
Rick

 

[GeneD14]

The advice that I would give anyone building a shed for their tractors and implements:
1. Size the shed to handle a bigger tractor and set of implements than you currently own. This doesn't just mean square footage but larger door openings.
2. Put in enough big doors so that you don't have to take out all of the implements to get to the one that you want.

 

[roermo]

Just a thought, beef up the rafters for a jain hoist, they are very handy.
Roger

 

[wushaw]

No matter how big it's gonna be it will eventually be too small.
Some things not on your list or thoughts is workbench with or without wheels. You mentioned workshop in basement, your tools will be needed in two places at once.