Help me design my garage

I plan on building a simple garage, nothing spectacular. It can't be a metal bldg due to hoa restrictions, has to be 60% masonry. (stucco is ok, but I'm leaning towards brick to match the house) I have my 03 911 coupe and a 2014 Accord four door that I'd like to be able to park in it each night. Both cars are used every day, so lot's of in/out. Garage will have full A/C and heat, small air compressor, lots of cabinets, and a nice floor that's level. My big dilemma is on what kind of lift to get. Two things I love to do, take the wheels off and detail the car to the nth degree, and do all the maintenance on it (and my Accord) myself. I could get a QuikJack, that would be great for the detailing/removing wheels as it allows 360 access to detailing the car while it's up at a perfect height. But that will not allow me the access I need to do maintenance. (I'm old and laying on the ground is not an option any more) And a QuikJack I could move fairly easily out of the way when not being used. About a full lift, can't move it, hard to use the buffer on the whole car (big stanchions get in the way). So a full lift would only allow me to have one car in the garage at a time. I'm trying to stay under a 20' X 30' size, money limitations. Recommendations? Thoughts?

Maxjax. https://www.maxjaxusa.com/dannmar-ma...d-package.html Easy enough to move. But , I tend to leave mine in place all year round. edit - you can find them on sale at sams or Costco often, with free shipping. Don�t pay full price. -td

Since you do like to detail the car I'd recommend a good size dry-well ( 4'x4' or 6'x4' ring) with a couple drains (one in each bay) tied into it. 24'x24' is standard "2 car garage" size. 24'x 30' with the extra 6 feet in depth would be nice for tool cabinets, your quick jack, etc...

While you'll certainly get lots of great ideas and suggestions here, another resource is this forum: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/

Look at what coopduc did with his lift. Do you have a budget and most importantly, are you going to stay in the house forever? You don't want to be upside down should you need to sell one day.

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It you're going to go MaxJax, then make sure you spec the concrete to be able to handle it. It's good that you're planning ahead for the lift. After helping assemble a QuickJack recently, I'm even more tempted to buy one for myself. My extra "Car Care Ministry" toolbox in my garage may be moving out soon, so I'll have room to store a QuickJack.

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Plan on feeding the daisies from here! But I've already calculated that it will increase the value of the house/property, so if I do sell it, I hope to not loose money. Budget, haven't nailed that down yet. I wanted to price everything out first along my dreams, then I'll whittle it down from there.

Off topic forum a better venue?

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Nope, looked at it, mostly guys who are building workshops. I'm looking to build a man-cave for me and my cars! (that I can work in also)

I would probably lean towards something like a quick jack if I did not have enough space to get a lift and also another car under the lift. I would also lean more towards masonry, here in PA we have a huge issue with stucco, mainly the dryvit letting moisture in and rotting out the structure underneath. That could be more related to climate but it just seems like masonry is much more reliable.

Absolutely spec out a drain system under each car. Make it oversize 2 car width, and 2 deep on one lane at least. This will allow you "working" room whenever both bays are full. We utilize our garage all the time for building, welding, maintaining pieces of the house/backyard/equipment and not having to move out cars to do so is great.

Don't go with a small compressor. Get twice the compressor you think you'll ever need. Decent CFM is a must for good air tools, plasma cutters, etc.

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Don't do like I did and buy too small of a compressor. I tried and tried to get it to work for impact wrenches. I added a second tank to increase the volume. Now I have a "big" one in the garage. I had a new 30A dedicated circuit run for my "big" compressor. It is wired for 120/240V and has a twist lock connector. ...and the "small" one is out back in the woodworking shed. It just runs nailers now.

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He means, this thread "should be" in the off topic section of the forum.

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It helps to have a lot of space to do good work on a vehicle and not be uncomfortable. So 24' wide and 26' deep area is good, with 12' to 14' ceilings. If you temporarily park one vehicle outside you have enough room to do anything including washing and painting. Even with a wide garage post lifts will make jobs a lot harder because they have to be mounted on one side of the garage limiting space on that side. Medium lift scissor jacks are just barely portable at around a thousand pounds, so difficult to move to center of garage. But they lift to sitting height of 48". Liftbars anybody can position in center of garage and along with two long-reach jacks from HF and four 12-ton high-reach jackstands will safely and rock-solid take a 996 up to around 25 1/2", which as I understand enables all maintenance including engine drop but not at sitting height. We are looking into getting liftbars.com.

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$350 Liftbars are a great idea...for 1 vehicle. If you're working on more than 1 vehicle, then I'd spend the liftbar money on something more versatile. Add 2 $200 jacks and 2 sets of $100 jack stands and you're getting close to Costco QuickJack price. If you don't have a jack or any jack stands, ok. (everybody needs 2 jacks and 4 jack stands!) But if you already have both of those covered(albeit shorter) buying new extended height ones adds up to extra $ quickly.

Aside from some of the more obvious stuff, make sure the electrician doesn't put all the outlets down low like it's a living room. They're much handier if mounted at least at waist level. Something else I would recommend is a 12v power supply. If you know where the workbench is going to be, pre-wire it. It's handy for a million different things. Mine is a 35 amp 'Astron' from the '80s. It weighs a ton and is built like a tank. I also have a couple of cigarette lighter sockets wired in. And if you have room, I love having a computer handy. I can look up parts, view diagrams and check 'how-to' videos on YouTube without having to track all the garage grime into the house.

Now we're talking! Keep the ideas coming!

I forgot to mention plumbing. Depending on your budget and logistics, it might be something to consider. My previous house had a detached garage with a laundry sink and a toilet which was actually nice for the same reason as the computer by not having to go into the house when nature calls. Next to a regular toilet, a urinal can be handy. A good friend of mine had one designed into his garage remodel/addition. This probably wouldn't be my first choice for location though.

Some considerations to add to some pretty dang good ideas: 1-wet wall closest to house with small water heater, mounted high as possible off floor 2-2 center grated drains with catch screens to trap the little parts you will inevitably drop 3-wide custom door of at least 18’ or 2 std doors offset to outside walls for leaving clearance to fully open car doors. Split doors allow center alley for reels on ceiling, directed light fixtures and room to move a dolly through. 4-min 5.5 cfm compressor with ceiling mounted reel. 5-11’ ceiling to run door tracks more vertically 6-separate circuits on each of the 3 walls and 4th for compressor and large draw equipment 7-overhead LEDs over each bay...even track mounted spotlights 8-put a walk-under on one side... the one thing I would use the most 9-room for sink, parts cleaner and small tabletop paint box with vent to outside (sized to use a dryer vent thru wall) 10-Gladiator-style track mounted cabinets, shelves and hooks 11-More outlets than you ever think you need. 12-computer station 13-room for tire rack 14-drop stairs to attic space I have a 20x30 garage with center 16’ door, 9’ ceiling and wish, every day, it was 22x30 with taller ceiling and vertical tracks for the door. And a walk-under pit.

Epoxy floor of course. I am soooo jealous already.

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This is good advice, too small a compressor will be a big disappointment if you go to do use any heavy air consumer. I would suggest something around 15CFM at 90psi. None of the 120v units will deliver that kind of flow, so a 240v power supply will need to be installed.Requires about 4hp motor (true hp , not peak or rated hp) and will pull 15 amps, so need a 20amp or 25 amp circuit 15amp X 240v = 4hp.....(1hp per 4CFM) X 4 = 16cfm Also if you can, place the compressor outside, or as far away as possible( noise control). and plumb the air around the wall with outlets like you would power outlets. You can use PVC for this if a warm climate or climate controlled. ( to avoid chance of water collecting and freezing/busting).. .

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How many inches off the floor does a QuickJack lift a 996, and is that high enough to comfortably remove full suspension front and rear and drop an engine? If answer yes than that may be the answer for OP. For more versatility the 7k lbs QJ might be better, and they sell accessories for it to lift a few inches higher $100 to $300 and getting closer to $2k total. Maybe 2x12s or something else can be placed under QJs to get more lift? Liftbars can be fabricated to custom fit each vehicle a person owns. Maybe a pair could be designed to extend and retract and thus fit just about any vehicle. A company builds custom trailers nearby and for low cost they might build liftbars from a drawing. One thing I don't understand about liftbars is when one side is raised the opposite side the vehicle is at an angle to the jack stand assembly below it so something in that assembly has to be at an angle; maybe where the jack pad contacts the vehicle jacking point, or maybe the liftbar rotates in the jackstand saddles? As one side of the vehicle rises in relation to the other it creates a force to slide the vehicle off the jackpads and/or tip over the jacks? That sideways force isn't so great as to actually cause disaster if one side higher than other by 3 or 4 inches, but if someone is in a hurry they might raise one side a foot or so higher than the other and that might be a tipping point.

The commercial liftbars are well designed. The liftbar section where the jack stand supports it is rounded so the bar rotates easily and smoothly in the jack stand cradle. The jack stands don't slide when you are jacking up the other side, just like when lifting without a lift bar. I generally lift to the lowest setting jack stand on one side and then alternate going up a notch or two, but sometimes get in a hurry and will lift higher, never had any concern about tipping over. And when not in use can easily slide under my workbench out of the way. The "pins" on the end of the liftbar fit nicely in the lift points of the 996 so there's no sliding from front to back.

^^^+1

My criteria,, (I'm working on building a 3 car garage with attached house by spring. ) 1. Tall enough for a 2 side post lift all the way up with a full size truck on it. 2. Thick enough concrete for the 2 post. Or plan ahead and pillar the floor where the lift will go. 3. 4' all the way around the car.. 4. Check local law and your insurance before putting in a pit, in some areas they cost serious dollars and these days a special vent system, My insurance company wont write a policy on a property with one. 5. Exterior compressor closet fully insulated double drywall.. 75 gallon at least 240V with 40A circuit. + a 25/35 gal hot water heater. 6. outlets for welder on all walls. 7. EV charger outlet by 1 bay. 8. Separate insulated doors for each bay, keeps the heat loss down in the winter. 9. Full walls with insulation, sheetrock, then 1/2 inch plywood 4' up the walls.

Given your size limitations: Maxjax Mx-6 for the win. I have both this and a BendPak 4 post, but I have more space to work with. I'd also recommend a sturdy workbench with a heavy duty vise.

Guys....this is an awesome thread...my plans where just finished by architects for a 35x 58 garage and I am going to incorporate many of the suggestions here....the urinal is not one of them! 😁 Keep the ideas coming!!!!

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Nothing worse than having to run into the house to take a leak with greasy hands...The older I get the more I need to go!

Here are my final drawings from the architect. We are probably going to eliminate the kitchen, and just eat out more often:

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LOL! But I'm Italian, the kitchen stays!

The architect forgot one thing......

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I thought about a urinal.... for about 1 millisecond.... Move out to the country, boys.* * Or,counter to the advice of "the Wolf", in Pulp Fiction - move out to the sticks...