Tools & Fabrication - Its time to build my garage need input on sizing

We have 6 acres that we purchased last year, our new home is framed/under roof now its time for the subs to come in to finish the HVAC/Plumbing ect. We're going to build a steel building and I'm at a toss up on sizing. I can either get a 40 x 40 with 2 10' doors or a 40 x 50 with 2 10' doors. I know everyone is going to say bigger is always better but I don't want to overbuy. The only thing my shop is going to be used for is building and maintaining my drag radial mustang. The only concrete plans are a single lift on the left side and a seperate room to build engines. Its roughly 2500 more for the 40x50 by the time you figure the extra money for the concrete. Any input would be welcome.

40 x 40 is very big for 1 car, 1 lift, and a room for engines.

Even with welding area, work bench, storage area, room for building engines, throw a bathroom in there and still got tons of room. I think 40x40 would be more thne big enough but an extra 400Sqf for 2500 bucks sounds pretty cheap for the extra room. Im sure you could find some buddies to give you a 100 bucks a month to store there cars in the winter, and make your money back.

I just have a garage attached to the house, that we added 25 ft on the back. So its 27 wide by 50 deep, and its not big enough.

Good luck with what ever you do.

Chris

I think you are better going bigger to like a 40x30 with 15 ft ceilings. Have 2 cars parked on one side and then a lift with a ton of tools on the other. In your case you can still have an engine room, 1 car and big roll up door

Sorry i meant 40x 50. I have a 40x 60 and I use the room

Right now I am leaning towards the 40x50 with 12' walls with some of the same reasoning...I need a welding area, engine assembly area, lift, storage area(Cherry picker) Mock blocks, wheels/tires/ect. I'm in a 3 car garage now and have 0 room. The wall space is packed with drill press, couple bandsaws, chop saw, mig and tig welder, notching station, 2 work benches, parts washer, 2 big storage shelve systems, air compressor, 2 tool boxes, hyd press. I'm pretty sure the 40x50 will be as crowded as my 3 car garage before its all over with.

i would go with biggest you can afford. it doesn't matter how big it is you will use the space. i have 30x50 and wish i could have built 40x60 but township did not permit me to. i am jam packed now.

I agree, go as big as you can afford. My 30x30 is now laid out like one of these:

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=157165&stc=1&d=1229397070

The working space moves around the shop. :lol:

mine is 30x50 and i'm with camaroholic, with the lathe, milling machine, welders, welding table, sandblast cabinet and a welding area i pretty much lose half of it.

put the car, silverado, and 2 4-wheelers in there and it's full.

too big isn't big enough.

The bigger the better in most cases. The only downfall going too big is the expense it will take to keep warm in the cold months. Try and get a copy of autocad and do some floor layouts. You should be able to find it on the net somewhere and it's easy to use.

I ended up ordering a 40x50 Steel Building package. Should be here in a couple weeks. I've got a local engineer that is going to work on the foundation drawings. I think it will be big enough for what I am doing. Thanks guys.

That'll be a great size. :) It'll look so huge when new, but in 3 years it'll be completely full, I guarantee it! :lol:

I ended up ordering a 40x50 Steel Building package. Should be here in a couple weeks. I've got a local engineer that is going to work on the foundation drawings. I think it will be big enough for what I am doing. Thanks guys.

Should work great for ya. :D If you have wood/metal/storage/project sectioned areas you will realize how small it really is. lol....my dad and I have a 40x60 shop and still seems like not enough room... :bang:

POST UP SOME PICS when its done we want to see it! :D

Go as big as you can afford to. I rent out a garage/warehouse space in an industrial park near my house with a friend of mine. Its roughly 23 feet wide by 79 feet long. (yes its an odd size, kinda narrow and really deep) It was huge at first, But with 5 cars, all our tools, parts you run out of room fast. So just my advice I would say go as big as possible.

Hey Phil

Did you account the the space the wife is going to occupy? :lol: :lol:

:lol: She has a 3 car garage for all her stuff.

Did you leave space in there for my weekend apartment:D

Big as you can or you'll kick yourself in the future.

I would also look into a heating system while your building.Maybe run tubing in the floor for a glycol system and in the future put in a waste oil burner to burn the old oil out of your/friends cars.Nothing beats a warm garage in the winter.:nod:

Go for the bigger one, especially for just $2500 more.

Did you leave space in there for my weekend apartment:D

Man, I've got a nice sized master bedroom/Bathroom competely furnished with a big screen and internet access setup for you and Angie. Studs are up, we're running the electric this week, plumber was in last week finished the rough in for the bathroom, insulation and drywall will be next week.

The shop will have a seperate engine room for assembly and seperate bay for the your camaro. Not many people get your type of treatment.

Big as you can or you'll kick yourself in the future.

I would also look into a heating system while your building.Maybe run tubing in the floor for a glycol system and in the future put in a waste oil burner to burn the old oil out of your/friends cars.Nothing beats a warm garage in the winter.:nod:

:nod: Thanks for the tip. How much do you know about the waste oil burners and the glycol system?

Man, I've got a nice sized master bedroom/Bathroom competely furnished with a big screen and internet access setup for you and Angie. Studs are up, we're running the electric this week, plumber was in last week finished the rough in for the bathroom, insulation and drywall will be next week.

The shop will have a seperate engine room for assembly and seperate bay for the your camaro. Not many people get your type of treatment.

That's what i'm talking about-how about a brass pole?:D

Can't have a brass pole without a stocked bar!!!:chug::D

why didnt think of that.I guess we'll need a big ass stereo and some mirrors on the walls and ceiling

One section will have a Bar with 5-7 stools, pool table, couple flat screen TVs and a pole in the corner with a lounge area.

Umm who was kidding? Thanks man, with our engine troubles behind us its time to kick some ass.

One section will have a Bar with 5-7 stools, pool table, couple flat screen TVs and a pole in the corner with a lounge area.

That shit is better than my house

I ended up ordering a 40x50 Steel Building package. Should be here in a couple weeks. I've got a local engineer that is going to work on the foundation drawings. I think it will be big enough for what I am doing. Thanks guys.

That should be a good size for what your doing. where did you order it from?

Olympia steel buildings. So far we have the site work done, the plans are at the architect getting the engineered foundation drawings prepared. The building should be here in a couple weeks.

:nod: Thanks for the tip. How much do you know about the waste oil burners and the glycol system?


I dont know a hell of alot about the workings of a glycol system as I still havent gotten to insulating my shop or hooking up a hot water heater.

What I did when my shop was built is I bought the infloor tubing and insulated/ ran everything before I poured my floor then I made a system to pressurize the tubing for when it was poured. I did all the work my self and it was easy, just a bit time consuming.
All in all it was only a couple of hundred extra dollars and IMO its worth it because you always can go another route after you pour but you cant ever add the tubes later.

If you do go this route let me know. I have most of the special tools needed, the tie downs and alot of extra lines new in the box. There just sitting here taking up space..

One place that is filled with great ideas and covers anything you'd want to know is garagejournal.com

if you can def consider the heated floors. your body will thank yourself when it is cold outside. i wish i could have done it but was running low on funds at the time. they have waste oil boilers too so you can have free heat too.

good luck with build.

Bigger is Better:eyes: For 2500 more, absolutley!!!

If there's a brass pole I want in too, shit I'll sleep on the floor in the shop.

If your not aware of this place you should have a look around. there are some nice shops and good advice.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

Thanks man, I'll check it out.

Gotta have heat. My cold ass 24 X 24 sucks. :( A friend just did a 30 X40 with a lift. He needs heat now though.

Just an update. We got the house sheet-rocked and we starting painting. The site work on the garage has been done, plans are going to the county for a permit for the foundation. As soon as we get the permit we'll have our buddy take care of the slab/foundation. The building should be here in the next 14 days. I need to get the house 90% done before I break away and start the garage. :(

Good luck man if your doing it by yourself it will take some time just hang in there and hope your wife doesnt get mad at you if the house is not done and your working on the shop.

Well good news is I have some help. My dad, uncle, next door neighbor and wife have been a big help in getting our new house completed. I would have never thought that you could save this much money on a house by doing it yourself and shopping subs.

Garage is getting delivered wednesday, hopefully I'll have some pics before the concrete work starts. Heading over on thursday to get the permit.

Couple pics on the progress on the soon to be garage. Concrete man said it should be done this week weather permitting. Shop will end up 40 x 50.

Are you putting in the radiant floor tubing? Nothing is more efficient or cozy than a toasty warm floor. And, anything you can think of to warm up water can be used to heat. From waste oil burners to a passive solar collector, lots of DIY and/or cheap ways to end up warm.

You can't retrofit this, gotta put the tube in the concrete to make it work. Even if you heat the garage, the floor will be COLD in the winter, and you lie on the garage floor a lot.

Garage is moving, the concrete work was finished today.

Go with the bigger size. Smaller is definitely permanent and you'll freakin hate it if you run out of space. Extra space to work in makes jobs easier and the shop stays clean and organized. When you have to start stacking shit upward to make room that's not good. My shop is 60x120 w/ 24' sidewalls and a 10000lb overhead crane lol. I feel like you should build a shop you could just about get lost in lol. That's just about right. Good luck. Chris

Edit: sorry didn't read all the posts

Concrete is curing....

congrats you will love having a shop big enough to do everything in.

I'll have more pics soon, we have the front and back wall laid out, We should have it up by wednesday weather permitting.

My dad and I worked for a couple hours today, still trying to get settled into the new house.

Had alot of rain today so work was sporatic....The our new garage should be done friday weather permitting....

Some progress pics...
Check out 1704 && 1705
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/drag-racing-tech/774191-25-5-7-49-second-mustang-lsx-build-86.html