Building a garage

jrw1621 wrote: What kind of business will you be running out of there? Jealous!

No business except maybe paying some bills by building an engine or something for a friend.

curtis73 wrote: If you have 2400 sq ft of concrete floor, its gonna be cold.... which makes me think about radiant floor heating.

2400 sq ft of slab... hell... that may cost as much or more than the structure...

HVAC needs/wants are one of the main reasons I recommended partitioning. There's little reason to condition the storage areas - only the areas you would be working in. Dust control is the other, so you can have clean areas and dirty areas.

I suggest contracting with Svrex to do the job. Seriously.

I have radiant floor heat in my shop. It's incredible. I'll never use anything else again. My shop is 1200 sq ft. The cost of the materials was less than $1400, including the water heater. But there is much more cost in insulation. I have R-25 walls and R-30+ ceiling. You also need insulation under the concrete. It's expensive, but very efficient, and once you walk around in it for a while and your feet are warm, you won't want anything else.

bravenrace wrote: You also need insulation under the concrete.

I don't believe you do... some sort of moisture barrier, yes, but insulation? Not when I was doing it.

All of our houses and garages that we've built since 2004 have had heated garages and minimum basements (if not the whole house). It is an incredibly efficient way to heat a home, and well worth it. In the case of a garage, it shouldn't cost you anymore to do it than installing any other HVAC for heating.

how many lifts will it have?

HiTempguy wrote:

bravenrace wrote: You also need insulation under the concrete.

I don't believe you do... some sort of moisture barrier, yes, but insulation? Not when I was doing it. All of our houses and garages that we've built since 2004 have had heated garages and minimum basements (if not the whole house). It is an incredibly efficient way to heat a home, and well worth it. In the case of a garage, it shouldn't cost you anymore to do it than installing any other HVAC for heating.

You will need to insulate the outer 2' perimeter, and down the foundation stem wall to below the frost line (3' in PA) to have an efficient radiant slab. Not necessary to insulate the entire area. It provides a thermal break from the outside cold area. Under the floor is not the issue- it's just dirt (ie: thermal mass). I have built several radiant slabs, including one for my own house.

It MAY even be a code requirement.

cwh wrote: I suggest contracting with Svrex to do the job. Seriously.

Thanks, cwh! Where do I send the check??

bravenrace wrote: I have radiant floor heat in my shop. It's incredible. I'll never use anything else again.

My biggest regret about my own garage is I didn't at least put in the tubing for radiant floor heat when it was built - a friend has it in his garage, and it's great. If I ever do get around to putting in heat it will be a couple gas unit heaters; they work well, but the floor will still be cold when I'm laying under the car.

SVreX wrote: It MAY even be a code requirement.

I misunderstood the way he wrote it (he simply said "you need insulation under the concrete), as I have put foam insulation underneath the complete slab before (we used regular sheets of it a couple times) and on the latest house we actually had an oilfield company come in and spray insulation foam that expands and hardens... pretty cool, because unlike the sheets, you could walk on it (even take a wheel barrow over it) without it cracking and breaking.

I have videos somewhere, I know we were the first ones to do it in Red Deer, unsure if it had been done elsewhere.

Ugh, and I've been spending time away from Garage Journal on purpose so as not to feed my undying garage lust.

Looks like it'll be a damn cool project, do keep us updated.

fasted58 wrote: how many lifts will it have?

At least two. I already have a 2-post lift but the cylinders leak like a fountain.

My dream garage has a high peak which is where the lift is located. The rest is partitioned into dirty room (welding/machining/grinding), clean room (paint booth), and storage. There is radiant floor heating which is partitioned per room. Each room has a separate ventilation system. I dont know if this is possible or pointless, but that's why they call it a dream garage!

I wouldn't want a garage too big, because then it would be too tempting to not finish projects.

curtis73 wrote:

fasted58 wrote: how many lifts will it have?

At least two. I already have a 2-post lift but the cylinders leak like a fountain.

I seen lifts come up at garage/ shop auctions from time to time in the Pgh area if that's an option for you. I use Auctionzip.com