Well, the time has finally come for me to start my journey to home ownership. I'm excited. To all of you who own homes/townhomes, or anyone with a garage, can you give some suggestions or things to look to in a house for the car enthusiast? That is pretty openended, so here is an example of what I'm interested:

1. If I ever plan on installing a lift, make sure you have X amount of concrete and X' tall ceiling.

2. If a two car garage, make sure you have X' length, because a pickup truck, plus tools will mandate that long.

3. Bathrooms close the the garage for cleaing up make life easier.

4. Get as much driveway as you can afford/find.

Basically, what are things you would look for if you were buying a home in the next few months. Things that you realized after you bought your home.

Would it be better to hold out and try to find a house with a "big" 2 (or maybe 3?) car garage, or look for a big backyard (read: room for a second garage/building/shop) coupled with a 2 car garage with no extra room.

I've told my fiancee that we will find her big closets and a nice kitchen as long as we get the garage right .

TIA!
Ryan

 

You pretty much have everything covered. When we were house hunting the garage was a major point for me. I found a 4-car garage (If I squeeze them in). With my work bench and tools it is now a 3-car garage. But even that is not enough room. My wife has already mandated that the next house has a 2-3 car attached garage and room for a pole barn for my workshop. When I am tearing into a project there is realistically not room for her to pull into the garage. Depends how much your fiancee wants a garage parking space.

Keep looking and you will find a house that should satisfy or could satisfy your requirements. Good luck!

 

At our previous house, I complete fillied up a 2-car garage, making my wife park outside because of my projects...

When our next house search started, I knew I wanted a shop out back. My zone. My area. My domain. Our house has a 2 car garage, that's big enough for, well, 2 cars and some shelves. My wife parks in there, and her garage 'stuff' lines the walls (Christmas, party decorations, etc). I get a parking spot, that's it. Currently my 98Z is parked in there.

My shop is my shop. No wifely stuff permitted. It's a 30x30 whose ceilings peak at just over 11 feet (inside height). It's just enough to fit 2 cars in side by side, or 3 with my lift - along with storing all my parts, tools, and junk.

Having a garage for the wife is, honestly, pretty important IMO. Keeps her vehicle cool (getting the kids in and out of a hot car is no fun at all). Keeps the occasional ice off her vehicle. This is one of those things that has, honestly, helped my marriage along the way. She has her space, I have mine.

The shop was the most important aspect of our house search. And by finding the shop already built, I figure we saved a lot of money. Houses in our neighborhood without shops were selling for ~$72 sq ft; we got our house for ~$74 sq ft. I figure that 'by the numbers', this $25k+ shop cost me $5k since we bought it with the house - plus, it's financing is rolled in to the mortgage. My neighbor next door just built a shop within the last month, he put $25k in to it, and it's smaller than mine (it's like a 24x30 or something like that).

 

We've looked around and seen a few 3car garaged houses that are on the top side of our budget. A friend of mine has a smaller "starter" home kind of place and the garage is just enough room to fit two cars, a tool box, a bookcase for cleaning products/oil, and a smaller aircompressor in the front. That's it.

This brings me to my next question to which I I think I know the answer: Buying a little more, or buying a lot large enough to build onto. Andrew answered that, I think.

All input is welcomed.
Ryan

 

Ryan, I highly recommend taking your time and finding a house with a shop already built. That way you can roll paying for it all in to your mortgage payment. Otherwise you get to jump through the hoops of financing a shop.

I love my shop. My wife and I joke that the shop and our king size bed are the 2 things that have had the most positive influence on our marriage (going from a double bed to a king, and from a 2-car narrow to a 2-car and a shop ). We like our space.

It took us 6 months before we found our house. Don't get in a hurry.

Now, if only the house down the street from us had been for sale... the one with the 40x80 shop... that sucker would have been MINE. Sadly, that house hasn't come up for sale. But if it does....

"honey, we're moving..."

 

Camaroholic said it best. Try to find a house with a shop already there. It's a big expense to add one later. I just bought my first house about 2 1/2 years ago. It has a single car garage attached that my girlfriend parks in (my daily driver stays outside). But I have a 30x30 detached also. But I'm blessed with a VERY high ceiling (14-16ft maybe). It's big enough for one MAJOR project...any more than that and it becomes too cluttered. Once I finish school and get a decent paying job (and bank enough cabbage) I'm going to build a house and have an 80x100 shop

 

i would say definatley get a house with two garages wether it be to seperate garages or a garage and a shop. I have a garage and a shop that still isnt finished bieng built. its nice having the garage at the house cause my mom can pull in when its pouring rain and its just so much easier for that kind of thing.

and if you only get a 2 car garage be prepared for you fiance to complain about not bieng able to have a garage. I know my mom did for 17 years before she could finally park in there which was when we moved everything from the house garage out back to the shop. Well parking a car in the garage lasted all of 7 months cause now its full again. lets just say my family is some serious pack rats well my dads side atleast i guess thats where i get that from.

We still have not finished our shop yet either from my other post were so close now my dad and i just need to take a week off and finish it thats all the time we would need. here is my thread on that shop. https://ls1tech.com/forums/multimedia-exchange/391541-my-dream-garage.html

I like the setup i have at home and may end up with it when my dad decides to retire. but i really want a U shaped garage at the house that will be a 6 car garage but have room in the corners for all the tools and whatever else. Ive already told my girlfriend that when we build the house we want to live in that i want that garage she can build the rest how she wants thats all i care about. Oh ill take the king size bed too so she will stop punching me at night.

all you guys spending $25000 for your shop must have some crazy shops mine is 40x20 with a 10' over hang and i think our total is at about $15000 if that. I guess if you count tools it would be correct.

Good luck with your search im sure the house you want is out there just take your time and find it.

 

Buy the house, then add the garage later.

 

Biggest thing I would say, is no posts in the garage. Go for archetectual (sp) beams.

 

I am building a 30x32 with the the truses that go with the pitch of the roof. That way I can put a lift on the one side. Find yourself a good contrator. They can be very helpful.

 

When my wife and I were house shopping a couple of years ago I wouldn't even consider a place without a 3 car garage or room to add a shop. (If you buy in a subdivision, make sure to check the codes / covenants to see if outbuildings are allowed.)

It seems like a lot of the newer "vinyl village" homes have tiny garages. If you go for the attached garage with no shop, try to make sure you've got at least 24 feet deep and watch out for houses with the heater / water heater at the back of the garage, which cuts down on space. My three car garage is 32 X 24, and I had room between the front of my 94Z and my workbench to get the engine hoist in and out + room to re-build the engine with two other cars in there. Of course, you want the garage to be insulated. For light, add at least 2 4 foot flourescent fixtures for every 1 car space. I also made sure mine hade enough remaining spaces on the fuse box to wire in 220 for air compressor, welder, etc.

 

My next door neighbor just built a shop. I think it's a 24x30 or something of that size. Not as big as mine, but not small either.

I think the shop itself was about $8k-$10k. However, once you get a slab poured, driveway extended and curved in to the shop area, shop assembled, electrical conduit run and breaker panel / service installed... all that stuff adds up. I think he had $2k+ in getting the trench dug, conduit, and service alone - and that was only for 120V service. If you do some of it yourself, you can save money - but it takes time (which he didn't have as much of).

So, figure $8k-$10k/shop, $6k/slab (with site prep, forms, conduit underneath, etc), $4k/driveway, 2k/electrical, plus assembling the shop... $25k isn't out of reach.

 

yeah thats true camaroholic if you pay some one to do the work you could get up to $25000. I think our slab total was 4k then 8k for the builinding, 2k for the A/C unit and then 2000 for the paint, drywall, electrical,insulation. we have done all the work except the electrical, install of the A/C and paid a guy a couple $100 to mud the drywall. and the elertician and A/C guys are friends of my dad so they charged less.

So you can save quite a bit of money if you do the majority of the work yourself but it will take a while probably. My shop is going on 3 years now and its still not done its done enough but not completed the way we want it to be.