Garage & Car Barn Thread

[Paul Dobbin]

Add #7  Close to home.  I can go for 5 seconds or 5 hours and I'm still @ home and can be found

and checked on periodically or if I'm to quiet.  Our gas golf cart can be there in a flash,  (Seen in the Christmas picture)

[auburnseeker]

56 minutes ago, alsancle said:

The one advantage to Ron's approach in my case is that almost every dollar that goes in to a barn is lost.   If the Barn starts to get too big it goes from being zero return to negative return as it would negatively impact the house too.   In theory,  a warehouse condo would maintain its value. Hopefully.

I imagine the negative value off a barn would depend on the area you are in and whether you build a Pole barn,  or what could easily be turned into living space or storage in an area where storage is a premium.  We are right off Lake George so a place big enough to hold good sized boats is very desirable to have as well as storage for the camper/ RV.  I told the wife if I kicked the bucket she could rent out the storage space in the "barn" and probably get more than enough to cover the High NY state property taxes.  Maybe even put a couple grand in her pocket. 

I tired to position it so it's obscured and not the first thing you see when you come up the drive.  With more and more man caves being desired,  seems like any kind of garage on the property ion good shape would be a bonus,  unless it's real unsightly.  The guys with money for toys are probably the guys now a days that have money to buy a house with a garage as well. 

Atleast I hope if the time ever comes that we need to sell. 

[Jim Bollman]

This is the barn I designed (what it looked like) then hired a builder to draw up and make it work. This is my old place and was built around 1982. The builder roughed in bare framing and put the roof on and I did the rest. I didn't think about clear span at the time but it is on my list of things I would do if I built it today. It would have been easy to make the center section clear span, adding the wings would be tougher. It is 48'X30'. If I was to built it today I would make it at least 36' deep so I could put 2 cars end to end, deeper if money and space allowed. I would make the center clear span and I would build the whole thing about 2 foot taller for a lift. Lifts were very expensive in the early 80s, never thought of it.

 

Some of the features I would do the same. I have an overhead door between the center area and the shop area on the right. This allows moving big projects and cars into the shop area without having the heat loss of an overhead door to the outside in the shop. I made the most of the angle walls upstairs by putting in extra deep shelves in the lower part of the wall and making them shallower as I went up I had lots of usable storage on shelves. I put a 4'X6' trap door in the floor so I could use a front end loader to move things upstairs. The trap door was a life saver since I was 20-30 years older when I needed to move stuff down from up there than when it went up.

 

Since I downsized when we moved I decided to make do with my smaller but very nice drive in basement shop at our new place with a free standing metal partially enclosed carport for overflow and an attached carport covering the entrance to my drive in basement.

 

 

[Hans1]

I have enjoyed the input from everyone on their efforts, there are many good ideas expressed. I keep looking for ideas on placement of equipment,  I am now planning to have some of my small woodworking on upper floor of garage, an idea I got in this  thread.

Thanks to you all.

 /////////////////////////

Now just my Ideas to be helpful on barn garage design. Go with 6" floor with re rod in area for hoist, rest can be 4" if you want.   If floor plan is not limited by code go 40' by 64' that way posts come out even distances.

Two post hoist is more useful for me.    I can remove wheels. brakes, axles, exhaust and Trans etc. 

/////////////////////

I continue to improve my  buildings as I go.

My work building is stick built on 3 rows of block and is 30' by 40' . Main floor is 12' + high.  Gambrel roof, upstairs room is  17' by 40' with 8' ceiling. Main floor is dry walled and insulated with  Cellulose insulation (side walls and ceiling).  6" floor with fiberglass embedded and re-rod. 200 amp electrical with outlets every 9'.  12' by 12' door and service door on south end facing my home. stair way is dog leg at rear  corner of garage with 5'  wide treads,  lots of room to move stuff up and down. My current action is to add windows at each end of upper room for summer ventilation and light.

Two post 10,000 lb hoist, no worries about floor cracking. Hoist is inset to rear of main floor along side wall.  I can store car on hoist and under it too. I can park a car  between hoist and door or  can work in front of hoist area if I choose. Angled hoist a little to have a cleaner shot to and from hoist  thru door. Room for two cars alongside hoist  area toward door if needed.

Just replaced old fluorescent lights with LED's from Costco, much brighter.

 

My storage pole barn is 40' by 64' by 12' high, with HD trusses to have an upper room 64' by 18' , but no floor needed yet. 

Two 12' by 12' doors on one end and one 12' by 12'  door in center of south long side with a service door. I can see all doors from my house..

Lucite panels 2' by 64' just under overhang on south side for light, (even moonlight is often good enough to get thru without turning on lights)

When I had this one built I added 8 mil plastic sheeting under all concrete,  No moisture issues thru floor, none in garage building either. This building will have my dirty work stored and operated outside, (sandblasting cabinet and polishing equipment )

I really enjoy having everything all on my property.  In the past I had to travel to get parts in rented places and to bring stuff home to work.

Retirement is great!

[CatBird]

Building two garages on our land in Georgia. Two metal buildings. One as a display for about 14 cars it is 80x100 feet. 14-foot eaves and 16-foot gable. Red iron skeleton. Skinned out in metal. Clear space.

I will have FOUR Commercial 2000 rollup doors on one side, three doors 12wx10h and 12x12 and another 12x12  door on the far side so to drive through one side and straight our the far side. The four doors on one side should make it easier to bring cars straight in with minimal turning radius.

 

Pad is 5" high-pressure concrete with fiberglass reinforcement and rebars. Of course much thicker at support attachments over hard red clay ground. 4" insulation walls and roof.  Nucor Building systems.

The secondary work area and modern car parking. The building will be 30 feet by 60 feet, also 14' eaves and 16' gable. This building will have four 12x10 roll-up doors on one side. Same other specs. Both buildings will have commercial walk through doors.

 

Buildings will be burnt slate color with evergreen doors and trim. Similar to the building below except the colors in mine will be reversed - building reddish brown and doors evergreen and my roll-up dors will be in the sides of the buildings. The red iron structure is also as an example, but ours will be similar, but to our size footprints. The CAD drawings are our exact structures.

Basic blank boxes that I can modify as desired, windows, skylights, awnings, etc. 

My plans have been approved and permitted will begin as soon as the concrete guy can get here. Buildings are to be delivered May 11 or 18th.

 

Edited April 8, 2018 by CatBird (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

I know the wife wouldn't have gone for that.  She complains about the size as it is.  If it looked like Fort Knox or any more industrial I would have been required to build a permanent suite in it for myself. 

[Buick35]

I live close to historic Cocoa Village in Florida and I noticed that one of the old buildings downtown has an old style Buick logo sculptured on the top front of the outside wall,not real noticeable. It must have been an old garage or dealership. It would be fun to find out. I also have a volume set from the 20's and one volume has garage plans if you wanted to borrow it. Greg.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Buick35
Spelling (see edit history)

[CatBird]

1 hour ago, auburnseeker said:

I know the wife wouldn't have gone for that.  She complains about the size as it is.  If it looked like Fort Knox or any more industrial I would have been required to build a permanent suite in it for myself. 

 
I am fortunate to have a wife who loves the old cars. I told her she can buy as many shoes as many tools I buy. It works out! This is us with our 1920 Cadillac. She only said the new buildings must have bathrooms. I agree.

 

[auburnseeker]

My wife doesn't mind my old cars,  even finances them in the short term for me,  but doesn't want her house looking like an industrial park. 

I can't say as I blame her. 

A big tin shed right next to the house really would have made it look terrible up here. 

 

[CatBird]

17 hours ago, auburnseeker said:

My wife doesn't mind my old cars,  even finances them in the short term for me,  but doesn't want her house looking like an industrial park. 

I can't say as I blame her. 

A big tin shed right next to the house really would have made it look terrible up here. 

 

 

I would also agree with you and your wife.

However, we have seven acres of land and the buildings are not close to the house. The house is a brown two-story log cabin (It was the Multipurpose building for Gables Academy) about 4,000 sqft, 28 feet tall. We live there. Same brown as the buildings, but hard to see each other through the trees. The "Storage Building" is nearly 2,000 sqft and was the dormitory for the teachers and was the cafeteria for the school. We are using half of it for storage and the rest will be guest rooms, and you are welcome to visit!

Our house and Plat showing the buildings, cabin, and lake. We are one-mile walk from Stone Mountain Park.
 

Edited April 8, 2018 by CatBird (see edit history)

[jeff_a]

I  like your log house. I built a 1,300 square foot one for myself in Wyoming once.

 

Once I read about an old boy who had a nice arrangement with his wife and vintage cars. He was starting to get some resistance from her when he would buy another antique, so he said every time he got another one she was welcome to buy a major piece of jewelry - as long as it didn't cost more than the Pierce-Arrow, Locomobile, and so on. She was an astute buyer, getting things like estate jewelry, Patek Philippe watches, etc. As time passed, her jewelry became more valuable than all the cars! I would have told her to buy Lalique radiator mascots.

[auburnseeker]

Catbird,  thats a nice setup,  I wish we had waterfront.   Might put a small pond in,  but have to buy a few acres behind us to do so which may come up available and I need to secure at some point to maintain our privacy buffer.  

Our house being on a hill,  made positioning the garage really limited as the driveway starts on one end of the property and bisects it all the way to almost the other end where the house is,  so hard to hide a 32 foot tall 4320 square foot building.  Except in one spot,  sort of. 

[alsancle]

I vacillate between wanting something I can stick 10 cars in (I'm not sure what is a worse idea,  the 10 cars or the barn that big)  and building something smaller and appropriate for my lot that will only 3 or maybe 4 cars.

 

I love the look of this,  but it would only hold 2 or 3 cars.   I guess I could bump the dimensions on the length.   Just a loft,  not real storage upstairs either.   But it would look GREAT sitting in my back yard.

 

https://www.yankeebarnhomes.com/post-and-beam-project/24x36-sutton-barn/

 

[Joe in Canada]

A club member has a garage and is very proportionate to the buildings on his property. He has a hydraulic ramp into a basement where he can store or work on cars in the basement.  I agree with Alsancle on size unless you are building a museum. Another issue is if you have all your cars in one large building instead of a group of smaller ones. You can loose them all in a fire if stored in one building. Yankee barn homes design is very similar to  the CCCA museum building design. 

Edited May 19, 2018 by Joe in Canada (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

If you live in the northeast and plan to heat that building,  which is how storage in the Northeast should be,  you will lose much of the interior post and beam style with all the insulation needed.  One reason I didn't go post and beam or Geobarn.  I like the idea of scattering the cars amongst multiple buildings,  but again north east and the heating issue creates a problem again. 

[alsancle]

Isn't there an exterior installation layer then can put on post and beam construction so that you don't lose the appeal?   Otherwise, you are correct, not good for north east.

[CatBird]

My wife fell in love with a 1903 Columbus Folding Top Runabout and insisted we get it! Picture at our country home.
 

Edited May 19, 2018 by CatBird (see edit history)

[CatBird]

But back to building our garage. Unloading the buildings. Mud and had to use a small Bobcat at the last minute. Lull got canceled. But we made it work! Amazing video unloading to 40 foot long beams balanced on a skid steer forks at one time and placing them between two trees! 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk7zBhIU2Yg

 

[alsancle]

That reminds me of Hershey in the good ole days.

[auburnseeker]

Looks like you should have bought 100 tons of gravel.  

Atleast you had a little easier access for the driver.  My 64 foot trusses had to be backed in from our driveway around the shed then around the new building foundation.  

I think we had a couple of inches to spare,  once we cut the trees out from behind his front bumper. 

I have 100 ton of gravel,  inside my building. 

[CatBird]

1 hour ago, alsancle said:

That reminds me of Hershey in the good ole days.

 

 The little old 1903 Columbus did roll through the Sotheby's blocks in 2015. Weirdly enough it was number 236 and our Pierce was number 233. I wonder whatever cars were nearby that we should be looking for? <grin> at the coincidence of us buying two cars in 2018 that were near each other

58 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

Looks like you should have bought 100 tons of gravel.  

Atleast you had a little easier access for the driver.  My 64 foot trusses had to be backed in from our driveway around the shed then around the new building foundation.  

I think we had a couple of inches to spare,  once we cut the trees out from behind his front bumper. 

I have 100 ton of gravel,  inside my building. 

3

 

Looks like you had the same truck deliver your goods! I love your view! Mountains. Though we are in Stone Mountain Village, less than a mile from the Mountain, we have tall trees blocking our view. May make a cupola on the top of the building and see if we can see anything. 

 

The 300 tons are clay and just to level the site and make the water runoff properly. The cement contractor said I needed to have 110 tons of gravel. <grin> not sure about the amount. It is his call. We had some soft brown dirt that needed to be stabilized. Also, we are within the boundary of our lake.  We are also having a 48" concrete apron around the perimeter and will tie into some concrete drives and parking. 

 

The contractor is adhering to a contract we signed and the engineers will be watching as well. There are no "cost plus" on this. Whatever gravel needed, he will do. We are also within the purvue of the City and inspectors, code and engineers are watching.

 

The cement guy is very honest, but I told him I make a few core samples to be sure the thickness of the slab. Our span is 80 feet across by 100 feet deep for the main building. The four car garage is smaller, 60x30. 14-foot eaves.

 

I appreciate your input. Please keep responding. I might, very well might, miss something.

Edited May 19, 2018 by CatBird (see edit history)

[CatBird]

I am trying to wrap my head around the gravel, AuburnSeeker. What is your floor SQFT space and what sub-strata? I am trying to take your advice. How much gravel should we add?

I noticed that the cement contractor has two loads of 57 gravel for our 60x30 bldg. It is 1800 SQFT. 40 tons. So, 8,000 sqft (larger building) should compute to ??? (mind too fuzzy to contemplate, tomorrow is another day...)

[auburnseeker]

I have about 4300 Square feet.  That 100 tons was 4 inches of Shoulder mix which is 1 minus and dust which helps in compaction. My floor to get my CO is suppose to be 6 inches of gravel,  but I don't think they will be that fussy.  Besides at the height I have it graded to,  it allows me for 2 inches of foam insulation for a heated floor and 6 inches of concrete to give me a 16 foot ceiling.  That includes 2 extra inches to account for 2 inches of foam on the ceiling.  I want it to be really energy efficient.  when I'm done.  I'm thinking 8 inches of Roxul in the ceiling and 2 inches of foam with 12 inches of roxul in the ceiling and 2 inches of foam. 

 

 

 

 

[alsancle]

This is a great video if you are considering a Morton Building.   This guy is a lunatic who collects buses,  and he walks through the entire process of building a BIG Morton building to hold the two of them.   There is little finish work, but the whole project cost 100k ish 2 years ago.   I'm sure those prices have gone way up.

 

 

 

[alsancle]

Another company I have been looking at is Barn Pros.   A friend of a friend built one with good results.   

 

https://barnpros.com/structures/

 

The one that I think would work for me is the 36x48.

 

[TAKerry]

This is what I started with. I dismantled and removed it from a job site. Cost was the concrete pad. Foot print was 30 x 30, I wa working on my 79 TATA (not my current car) and an angle grinder spark did the old girl in.

 

 

2017-11-25_02-48-34 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

 

2017-11-25_02-48-45 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr2017-12-20_03-46-30 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

 

2018-01-18_04-38-43 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2018-01-18_04-16-38 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2018-01-22_04-16-45 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2018-01-22_04-16-14 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

2018-02-14_04-02-02 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr2018-06-18_10-48-55 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr2018-06-18_10-49-34 by Kerry Grubb, on Flickr

 

These pics are from a couple of years ago. Like the shoemakers kids, a contractors home is never finished. I will take some pics with the current situation.

 

 

 

[John Bloom]

I can’t believe that I haven’t seen this thread before. I wondered if there was one on the site but hadn’t searched for it.   I have spent years dreaming and planning. I have every one of those “dream garage” books out there(there must be 7-8 on my shelf) with tabs placed on the pages that have ideas I want to incorporate. I just skimmed the thread for 30 minutes. Looking forward to the weekend to settle down and read it from start to finish. 
 

AJ, I like that photo you posted, it has interesting architectural elements.... a must for me.  
 

Randy, it sounds like you have a thread for just your build?  I’ll check that out. 
 

I am very interested in this topic. Hope to hear more of what others think going forward. 

[Matt Harwood]

I designed my own dream garage some years ago and even started shopping for property on which to build it, then build a house (note that the garage has living quarters for just this reason). Here are the details:

 

http://www.harwoodperformance.bizland.com/1941buick/Editorial 27.htm

 

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), I now have a business with 25,000 square feet of storage and workshop, lifts, and all the tools I could ever want so having a car barn is kind of redundant. The downside being that any time I want to work on my car, I have to get in and drive to the shop.

 

 

I envy you guys building your dream garages. That's awesome!

Edited July 1, 2021 by Matt Harwood (see edit history)

[alsancle]

1 hour ago, John Bloom said:

AJ, I like that photo you posted, it has interesting architectural elements.... a must for me. 

 

If I build a pure metal structure (assuming the town would let me) you can add in the cost of demolishing it if I have to sell my house.   I need something with character, not TOO big that can be repurposed down the road for someone else.  Like indoor basketball in the winter, or tennis, or whatever.

[60FlatTop]

The character in my garage just comes and goes.

[Matt Harwood]

13 minutes ago, alsancle said:

 

If I build a pure metal structure (assuming the town would let me) you can add in the cost of demolishing it if I have to sell my house.   I need something with character, not TOO big that can be repurposed down the road for someone else.  Like indoor basketball in the winter, or tennis, or whatever.

 

Hockey rink.

[alsancle]

Last Feb/March I was looking at an industrial Condo about 3 miles from my house.  It was owned by a collector who had spent a bunch of money cleaning up the inside.    It was 30-40k more than the last one that had sold 5 years ago, but had a lot of advantages over building in my yard.   Costs would be close to that 36x48 that I just posted finished.     It was 24x60 and would hold 5 or 6 cars.   Bathroom, office, etc.

[alsancle]

2 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

Hockey rink.

 

I already have one of those.   HUGE pain in the rear end.    Where I am,  you start mid to late Dec and you are done 2nd week of Feb as the sun gets too strong.   I would be out there freezing my ass off every night at 9:00 PM resurfacing the ice for my kids.

[SC38dls]

Horse barn if you live in a horse oriented area like we did. 30 years ago I built a 48x36 with an 8 foot overhang and a loft that could hold 300+ bales of hay. Took six weeks and cost $6800 ! The outside matched the house with window gables and shutters.   I was much younger and cost were much better. My daughter had horses but as soon as she was off to college I took out portable stall walls and put horse power in it. Didn’t have to shovel anything with that type of horses. 
dave s 

Edited July 1, 2021 by SC38DLS (see edit history)

[Matt Harwood]

3 minutes ago, alsancle said:

 

I already have one of those.   HUGE pain in the rear end.    Where I am,  you start mid to late Dec and you are done 2nd week of Feb as the sun gets too strong.   I would be out there freezing my ass off every night at 9:00 PM resurfacing the ice for my kids.

 

But if it's indoors...

[John Bloom]

Matt, you mentioned my primary concern. Having it on site at your residence....vice having to drive to it. I know myself pretty well after 56 years. To fully enjoy it,  I need it to be on my property which brings some logistical challenges/decisions into the mix. 
 

Right now, my cars are on my property so if at 10:30 at night on a Tuesday I want to check some thing or do something, I just do it. If I had to get in my car and drive 2 miles to my cars, I would never do it.

 

Right now I have all the space that I need for cars and hobbies, but we are on the larger home that we raised four kids and a dog with on a big lot.  We are done with that season of life.  I believe our future is that we will live in Tucson, my wife’s home, for eight months out of the year, and we have a cottage on a lake in Indiana near my home town that we will spend summers at.  My car buddies are centered more around my life in Indiana, but there’s no room at our cottage to build the dream facility I want. There are some options that are maybe a quarter of a mile to a mile away so I could always walk to or give myself an excuse to buy a golf cart.  However, that might mean that eight months out of the year I’m not around my cars which seems like utter foolishness.

 

Where we are going to plant our flag at retirement is going to drive lots of the details of this decision, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still think about it almost every day. I love seeing what other people are doing and hearing their thoughts and suggestions.

[alsancle]

42 minutes ago, Matt Harwood said:

 

But if it's indoors...

Street hockey yes, but Ice hockey would mean coils in the floor.

Edited July 1, 2021 by alsancle (see edit history)

[alsancle]

The Barn Pro Tradesman series has a lot going for it.   They come 36x36, 36x48, 36x60, etc.  All clear span.   I would face the 36' side out and make that door functional but ornamental.   I would really want a HUGE door on the side as it would be primary access.   I do not believe I can run 4 individual doors as we have a code limit on the number of garage doors you can have (believe it or not).

[alsancle]

You can dress up a Morton building.   This is a 30'W x 10'H x 42'L.     I need to go 12 or 13 feet on the height so I can use a lift.   10 is too tight.

 

https://mortonbuildings.com/projects/davids-garage-1

[John Bloom]

25 minutes ago, alsancle said:

The Barn Pro Tradesman series has a lot going for it.   They come 36x36, 36x48, 36x60, etc.  All clear span.   I would face the 36' side out and make that door functional but ornamental.   I would really want a HUGE door on the side as it would be primary access.   I do not believe I can run 4 individual doors as we have a code limit on the number of garage doors you can have (believe it or not).

 

17 minutes ago, alsancle said:

You can dress up a Morton building.   This is a 30'W x 10'H x 42'L.     I need to go 12 or 13 feet on the height so I can use a lift.   10 is too tight.

 

https://mortonbuildings.com/projects/davids-garage-1

a clear span is so nice. I will have to check out that. Barn Pro Tradesman series. 

I haven’t seen Morton buildings with that aesthetic finish you posted. That appeals to me with a cupola, some period sensitive sconces/lighting. 
 

id like to do something that would hold 6 cars comfortably with all the other infrastructure I want (lifts, wash station, tool storage, office, library, mini-kitchen, bathroom, etc.....). but have the footprint allow a future expansion preplanned in the initial design in case there are more than 6 cars I can’t live without.....  a slight possibility!