Your ideas/input requested for planning a garage

[mgmoreau]

Hey Blue,

Great timing having it finished before the first snow flakes fly. Looks awesome from the outside. Post some pictures from the inside.

Here is my man cave. I wish I did not have to share half the space with the boss!! Would kill for a detached garage that would be four times the size of my current garage.

Take care,

Marc

[ChrisZ]

Nearly ready to move in!

Just need a final inspection, rain gutter, and more grubbing, drains and crushed stone.

Nice shed ........!!!

[Travel'n Man]

Blue - are you doing anything special to your floor before you move in your first tool?

[ajmcforester]

Nice garage with great landscaping. That is the place I just want to relax and wrench on call all day

[240260280z]

Chris, yes it is officially a shed My wife and I debate this all the time. the plan is to put a garage on the house but I have to wait on that so the "shed" is a short term solution.

Mitchel, no idea about the floors yet. Any suggestions? Just focusing on the walls and ceiling. I still have to run wiring and insulate (6" studs so it will be warm. It has in-floor radiant pipes so I plan to put in an on-demand propane system but I have a vacuum tube solar water heater that will go nicely on the roof. It will work best with a tank so I may need to couple with the on-demand system. I am also going to look at a low voltage DC lighting system with solar panels charging the system. I'll also wire in conventional lighting too. Any input is welcome.

Thanks AJ I live in 'the woods" so it is easy to build amongst mature trees. The soil here has a lot of granite boulders due to the geology (in geek speak I am on the margin of the meguma group and the south mountain batholith) so we have to deal with these beasties. I still have to move the boulder that is up above the others and there is a big one just in behind the cluster that needs to be buried. The nice thing is that the photo is a "wife's eye view" so I can hide my cars behind the shed btw the door faces north so no hot summer heat like I had in my NJ apartment garage (btw did you get that plating issue sorted where we guessed it was from the NJ heat?).

[Dr. 240Z]

Hi Blue,

Some random ideas:

Lots of electrical outlets

Good sized air compressor

Lots of lighting

Overhead storage units which can be cranked up and down

Air exchanger

Cheers,

George

[240260280z]

Thanks! I forgot fans and air exchange. Good points.

[e-tek]

You need to be on GarageJournal.com asking these questions! I've been on it for years and there are a TON of good guys, experts in every section and lotsa ideas.

Check out my thread there: E-tek's Projects

Best of luck with the shop!

[ChrisZ]

Mitchel, no idea about the floors yet. Any suggestions?

I do, but it depends on the kind of slab you got, do it have a lot of gravel ? big or small grains ? color of gravel ?

As for the insulation, i would advise you to put the vapor barrier on the studs, then add 2bys to the studs and fill in more insulation before dry wall it, that way you can pull all your wiring on the "hot" side of the vapor barrier, it's kinda hard for me to explain why in Enlgish, but it's all about not penetrating your vapor barrier and keeping it tight.

[240260280z]

The slab is poured so I just need to cover the concrete.

Thanks for the insulation, wiring, vapour barrier tips! I got it and will do.

[ChrisZ]

I know it's poured, i'm not that dumb:classic: the thing is, do you need to cover it ?

The basement floor in the house i'm building is made with a mix of Sweedish granite in the concrete, grain size up to 5/8 inch, it is "sanded" down with a diamond sander, it will end up being as smooth as a babys butt and then polished with a special resin, the resin will be in the concrete and not on top of it, it will resist everything and if it get dull and scratched, just have it polished back up.

Cheaper than tiles and you can't beat the look, to my taste, this is how it look in the first stage.

[ChrisZ]

You can have a look here: A polished concrete floor of beauty - HTC Superfloor?

Edited October 25, 2013 by ChrisZ