Dream Garage - help me plan it

So I know there is the article series going on in GRM right now, and I am following along.

I am building my dream detached garage (wife and I have gone back and forth with the local zoning authority QUITE a bit lately and have settled on detached), and therefore am planning what I want.

The space I have is next to my house. The setback + distance from house limitations will corral me to a 30ft wide by 50 ft long space in my side/back yard. Zoning limits me to 15 ft tall at the tallest point. Zoning also limits the max SQFT of the building to 5% of my lot, which works out to 850 SQFT (nowhere near 30x50 unfortunately!). I'll probably shoot for 840 SQFT or less just to make sure a small error in final dimensions does not push us into a squabble with the local zoning authority.

While I could probably build it myself with my buddies, at this point I plan to sub out almost all of the work, but I won't be afraid to jump in and handle one piece or another if there is significant savings/time on a specific part.

I'm thinking one main car work bay, room to store a car or two in addition to the main work bay, and then lots of room for working, benches, rolling tables, floor mounted tools, etc. The main work bay would have a 2-post lift, but also have space for alignment and corner weighting work. I rarely do significant body work, but might give it a try. I would like to have flexible space that can be used for woodworking too, and since sawdust and car work do not readily mix I might work up a separation solution. Not planning to store daily drivers inside this space, nor yard tools and kids outdoor toys (those will go in the existing attached garage).

Loft space might be an option for woodwork, coffee breaks, beers with buddies, etc.

What would you do?

• width x length?
• overhead doors, 'human' doors, windows?
• interior wall finishes?
• electrical is a given, probably even 240V service, would you plumb cold water or a floor drain?
• HVAC? I live in Chicagoland so probably need both some heat and some AC. Don't need 70 deg inside all year, but if the HVAC could keep me between 50 and 80 or so that would be huge. High quality insulation is a given. I love passive temperature control techniques.
• Roof trusses: Standard? Scissor to get a bit more height for a loft option?
• Design/materials/construction: I'm going to be stick built and concrete floor/footing, but anything else is up for discussion.
• Cost is always a consideration, but the point is to make a space where I can do what I love. This is a big tool purchase and I view it like that. The space should be built to be used.

Go!

Make it as wide as possible, then add length until you reach your max dimensions. Unless you plan on collecting late-70's full-size sedans, or have a crew-cab dually pickup.

The depth and width depends on your vehicles. If you were to ask this question over on the Garage Journal forum, you would get a hundred responses from guys who drive extended cab dually trucks to make it at least 30 feet deep. However, if you have normal vehicles 24 feet deep can work just fine and then you have more width for more vehicles. :) Sit down with a pencil and paper, draw a plan of the whole site, and spend some time trying out different layouts to see what fits your needs best.

As for roof trusses, also do an elevation drawing of the building and look at what your 15 foot max height does for you. If you want a lift i the garage, you'll probably need trusses with an elevated middle part (scissor trusses are just one possibility, there are other configurations that may work better. If you want you can make part of the garage with one style truss and then use something else for the rest; personally I like storage trusses so you can gain attic space for more storage - remember that regular W trusses aren't meant for any storage weight. The attic space could also be used for hanging out and drinking beer, but that depends on how much headroom you can get within the height limitations.

Installing a 240vac subpanel is a good idea, but the capacity will depend on what your existing service is - some people will say go for a 100 amp sub, but that's overkill for 90% of hobby garages. Since you're in Chicagoland I assume local codes require everything to be in conduit.

I like windows for natural light, but on the other hand they create a security issue. It all depends on your preferences and the crime situation in your local 'hood.

If you haven't been to the garage journal board, check it out but remember there are all kinds of people there with all kinds of answers that may or may not fit your needs.

The height restriction is a bit odd. Is that measured on the exterior of the building? I.e. could you have a floor inside that is below ground level outside? Your question about roof trusses is what leads me to this query, because if you put a truck or SUV up on a 2 post lift, and take it up so a six foot man can work underneath without Quasimodo-ing, there's not a lot of fifteen feet left for trusses, or even a sloped roof at all....

My build is documented HERE on my own web site, as well as HERE on Garage Journal where there is more input and discussion.

I strongly STRONGLY hang suggest around Garage Journal to arm yourself with information to help you make your decisions.

I have scissor trusses, a 2-post hoist, maximum height, and maximum size, heated (because Canada), but no AC. Windows up high only facing north. Big barn fan for venting fumes. Increased the service to the property so I could run 100A to the shop.

Water would have been nice, but had a whole slew of costly unpleasants that would have gone along with it.

I have a little bad news for you- you don't have enough space.

You are basically describing the shop I have. But mine is 1200 SF.

You won't be able to have all those separate spaces in 840 SF.

The height restriction is gonna hurt your lift. You need about 14' of height in the center for a lift.

You probably need to build this with a structural ridge beam (probably steel) so you don't have to use trusses. The scissor truss webs will eat into your height too much for the lift.

Any chance of doing a steel building? They are cheaper, have larger spans, and lower pitch (which means you can have taller exterior walls, therefore more interior volume).

Can you approach from the 50' direction, or does it have to be from the 30' side?

In reply to travellering:

The height restriction is odd to me too. It's worded like 'accessory building can be as tall as the main building (house) or 15 feet tall, whichever is shorter'. Luckily our main garage is 16 feet tall.

It's also bs because many houses in our neighborhood have garages that are clearly taller than 15 ft, but they either predate the ordinance, or they filed for an exemption. The city says we can do that if we like, but there has to be some sort of logical 'need'. I'd rather not mess with it at this point.

In reply to SVreX:

Getting rid of trusses altogether would be a big help. I've considered a flat roof too, but those seem to just be asking for water problems.

Approach unfortunately has to come from the 30ft side. The 50 ft side is samwiched between my house and the side of our yard, which is a fence to our neighbors yard.

No steel buildings here, again thanks to zoning rules.

And yes, I agree it will not be large enough!

Re approach from 30ft or 50ft side, I forgot to mention the roof could go either way, so whatever is the shorter span will end up with the "trusses" to maximize wall height and minimize building height.

In reply to SkinnyG:

Nice work!! Looks great! What is your final sqft?

I love the polished concrete floors.

SVreX wrote: The height restriction is gonna hurt your lift. You need about 14' of height in the center for a lift.

Two post lifts require a lot of headroom, but it will depend on the type of lift, and the type of car. My garage has just under 10 feet of clearance under the trusses, and there's a four post lift in there with a Cobra kit car on top and my e30 below it.

In reply to stuart in mn:

14' assumes a pitched ceiling (scissor trusses), and a vehicle taller than a Cobra.

Robbie wrote: In reply to SkinnyG: Nice work!! Looks great! What is your final sqft? I love the polished concrete floors.

Plan says 1065 SF.

RVs stored in residential areas are often considered unsightly. Could you possibly get a variance so as to have a door tall enough to house "your RV"?

So your limited to 28x30? With that limitation I would be building a three car garage, one 16' double door and one single to the one side. Shop equipment in the front of the single stall.

Or, for a more economical build, go with 24' wide and 35' deep, put an oversized 18' double door on the front and a single door into the lawn in the side of the back.

Can you put a basement under it?

The sweet spot for HVAC right now seems to be a single zone minisplit heat pump. I'll be installing one in my 30x40 shop next month.

Our rules were "16-1/2 feet measured from the center of the back property line." Why? Dunno. Just rules.

Because my property has a 3' elevation change along the length of the shop, I was able to have 11' walls, with 13.5' at the peak of the vaulted ceiling. Mosts hoists call for 12' ceiling minimum.

In reply to Robbie:

Height restrictions are very common in cities. You might be shocked at how easy it is to get the variance. How is your building department to work with? Our small suburb (15k people, suburban to Columbus which is 800k+) is really nice to work with and they will help you figure out what will pass and how to help it pass. They'll do courtesy inspections for free, actually come out to your house and look at your planned job with you and let you know what challenges they see / what permits you'll need. Maybe your little town offers that?

The mere existence of other garages in your neighborhood that exceed the height restriction can be a good argument in favor of granting the variance. I do like the RV argument, too!

While you were meeting with them you could ask about likelihood of a size variance passing, too. You said "dream garage," why not make it everything it could be? You only need to build it once...

Something that I don't think has been mentioned is don't plan on getting your money back if you decide to sell down the road...these kinds of dream garages don't add a lot of value to the property, all the average person cares about with a garage is if it's big enough to store their junk.

A loft to work in is probably going to be out of the question due to the height restrictions, even if you can get a variance for a few more feet. But, a storage loft in part of the building may be doable. That is basically my idea for the shop I hope to build: vaulted ceiling on one side, 8' ceiling with loft above on the other and a pull-down stair for access (or more likely just a ladder from the vaulted area).

Our small village has a building dept, they are who we have been going back and forth with a lot recently.

Getting a variance includes:

• paying $300 application fee
• submitting documentation and 'proof' of your 'logic' - would need to include signed and stamped architectural plans of what you hope to build
• getting published in newspapers (have to announce your plans publicly, so if anyone doesn't like it they can show up at the review meeting and veto the idea)
• going to the (I think quarterly) review meeting to defend

This is a good idea (and the RV part especially) but frankly the village folks don't really seem to want to help. They are friendly but only answer exactly what you ask. They do not ever offer other information that might be helpful.

• We are also being told we cannot pull a building permit (they flatly will not approve it) until we consolidate our two lots into one (the house was built on a double lot 50 years ago, and it has always just paid two tax bills - we will have the pleasure of paying $600 for a consolidation survey, $300 for an application, and going to the state for approval first before that goes to the next village review meeting which is in sept, it will be a tight timeline for us to even hit that). This seems to me to be total BS since the house was just flipped - gutted and renovated - in the six months prior to us buying. How did they let that guy get away with not consolidating the lots? Answer: He wasn't building a garage.

TL;DR = I strongly get the feeling this building department does not like detached garages, nor do they like non-contractors. I'm trying to play exactly by their rules to prevent heartache and delays.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this area has an ordinance that you cannot even park a pickup truck in your driveway if you are not actively loading or unloading. They can and will ticket you if you own a truck and do not have it parked fully inside a garage. Duallies are flat out disallowed. Its because 50 years ago this neighborhood wanted to make itself exclusive from blue collar folks who worked construction and other related jobs, and they have never changed the ordinance. We knew this going in of course, and I prefer vans anyway, but I just mention it to give everyone a little insight to what I am working with.

stuart in mn wrote: Something that I don't think has been mentioned is don't plan on getting your money back if you decide to sell down the road...these kinds of dream garages don't add a lot of value to the property, all the average person cares about with a garage is if it's big enough to store their junk.

Yep, 10-4 good buddy. The wife and I actually treat our houses like this. We do upgrades because we want them, not because the next guy does. We're the ones living here!

But at the same time, I would've paid 50k more for this same house with the garage already done, just because it would have been that much easier. People who want garages are out there, you just have to market better or wait longer.

In reply to Robbie:

Ouch; that stinks. Good luck then, hopefully they don't impede your progress too much.

In reply to dculberson:

Thanks! (I'm crossing my fingers).

So, right now I'm just looking at the menards garage estimator tool. It's pretty neat, but also only gives you basic options.

I built a 22 x 38 (836 total) building with a 4/12 over 2/12 scissor truss spanning the 22ft. 10ft 4 inch walls gives a max height of 14'6" outside and inside about 12'6".

I put a human door on the side wall facing my house at the back of the building. I put two 9 ft wide by 8 ft tall insulated overhead garage doors at the front (on the 22 ft wall). They are not centered, they are both moved to the right side since I hope to put the two post lift behind the left overhead door, and all my car tools would be up against the left wall to be within quick reach when a car is on the lift.

The 22x38 building could be imagined as having four 11x19 areas. the left front would be the car work area with the lift. The left rear (where the people door is) would serve as the workshop area, with benches and flexible space. The two areas on the right would be flex area. Could store two cars in tandem, could roll them out of the garage door on the right to make space for building a wooden canoe. I would probably put HVAC in the middle of the side wall on the right. I may eventually build a low loft in the rear right - mostly for storage, but maybe a couch.

28 x 30 and 30 x 28 I also considered, but then there are like 3 deep spaces rather than 4 shallow ones. I'm mostly attracted to small cars, but I will still have a deep bay if needed.