Garage/Shop Design - Any Input?

[atgreene]

A pit is a fire/explosion hazzard. As for code on a fume lip, it is 6" in Maine last I knew. I just did a house on a slab/frostwall with an attached garage and it had to be a 6" difference.

The bubble wrap is not enough in Maine. I have it and it works ok, but it is nowhere near enough insulation. If you try to heat the snow will melt, run down the roof and build ice dams. Been there, done that.

12' ceilings are nice and well worth it, though.

The dirty room is a great idea.

A warning of flourecent lights, they suck in cold weather. When it's real cold they flicker and don't want to light for nothing. Unless you plan to heat it year round you may want to mix your lighting.

 

[CurlyDave]

However, a couple of houses where we plan to build in a few years have the garage floor at the same level as the house's main floor. I would like to do this to eliminate as many stairs as possible as we get older.

I dealt with this issue by putting a ramp in the garage. Sure, it takes up some space, but since we were building new it was pretty easy to make the garage 4' wider to accommodate the ramp.

I was dealing with the same issue you mention -- getting older. We built our retirement house, and I was not going to be driven out of it by not being able to climb stairs.

If you look around in any established community, you will find a few houses where someone has needed a ramp and had to add it to the front door. In my opinion, this looks like he11, and leaves whoever is using the ramp out in the rain & snow. If you build the ramp into a garage, it doesn't ruin the appearance of the house, and it keeps you out of the weather.

A big plus is that the ramp is also great for moving anything large and heavy into the house.

I know too much about the carcinogenic properties of gasoline and its vapors to want to have my garage at the same level as the house.

 

[ultrarunner]

Never realized the height difference between home and garage.

I owned a lot of homes in CA and the all with slab construction have the garage and house floors on the same level. All the garages also have several screened vents just above the sills.

Tried to put in a pit once and it was an absolute no go from the building dept... I was told they don't even allow them in new service garages... I know some of the oil change places have pits...

Good idea on the ramp...

 

[CATMAN]

Successful Farming Magazine has had some articles about shop design. I remember one farm/shop that installed an above ground hoist and made a plywood top for it and it works like an adjustable (height) bench. They really like it for that purpose, because any project was adjusted to the perfect, comfortable height to work on when they didn't have any vehicle maintanence to perform. They said they should have own one sooner.

A friend, in Iowa, has one and he says it changed everything about vehicle maintanence/repair for him(ex-mechanic) and his family. Says everything is about twice as easy now. No more creepers for the most part.​

 

[alchemysa]

Note to self: Do not smoke while standing in pit removing leaky gas tank from vehicle.

Hey, where did all this pit paranoia come from? I've never heard of a pit exploding. I can imagine its possible... but it sounds like nanny state bureaucrap to me. But I HAVE heard stories about cars falling off hoists.

 

[chefirv]

just finished mine went with 9 ft door 10 feet high
i had the foundation guys make me a box so i could place a exhaust fan in the foundation along w one the wall
this way the fumes are heavy they fall to the floor and get sucked out
espically when welding.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Nothing exceeds like excess. Forgo some "fancy items" in favor of overall size. There is no such thing as a shop/garage/barn that's too big. Whatever you decide on for door size, it'll prove to be just a tick too small at some point. Build it like an airplane hanger.

 

[mjncad]

If you look around in any established community, you will find a few houses where someone has needed a ramp and had to add it to the front door. In my opinion, this looks like he11, and leaves whoever is using the ramp out in the rain & snow. If you build the ramp into a garage, it doesn't ruin the appearance of the house, and it keeps you out of the weather.

I agree with you completely Curly on the appearance of the glommed on ramps. I have yet to see one that looks good. Part of the problem is that most people who need ramps of this nature can't afford to make them look nice.

 

[skargo]

Note to self: Do not smoke while standing in pit removing leaky gas tank from vehicle.

Hey, where did all this pit paranoia come from? I've never heard of a pit exploding. I can imagine its possible... but it sounds like nanny state bureaucrap to me. But I HAVE heard stories about cars falling off hoists.

The only cars that fall off of "hoists" are because they were used improperly, probably the same thing as cars that fall into pits

 

[dfkrug]

The only cars that fall off of "hoists" are because they were used improperly, probably the same thing as cars that fall into pits

Your post made me look for a video I saw on Youtube before and I found it:
YouTube - woman driver unbeliavable

Someone once said that you can make something foolproof, but not dam*
foolproof......