Building residential garage

NoBrakes!

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Like the title says, looking at a fall project. Residential Edmonton 6500sq ft lot with hip roof 1250 sq ft bungalow on it. What would you build? Pre built metal? Stick built? ICF? In floor heat, forced air, radiant tube? Tin roof or shingle? If I can fit a loft, I'd love it but no heart breaker... IMG_0418.JPG
 

SHREK1

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So lots of options but I would stick build. You will have lots of room for a loft for sure

i just built a garage and this is what I did and am glad with my choices

i put in a footing and ICF grade beam, the 2nd last row of my ICF I put in the block with the ridge so my floor floats, never put in any piles. From there stick built easier to plumb, wire and pipe in the walls. Stuccoed the exterior and dry walled interior. Before I sheeted my roof I put in 2 double lvl beams, can hold 2000 lbs in the centre. Hang a moose , motor or whatever. I went with a 60k reznor but in floor would of been nice. I just ashphalt shingled my roof, matches my house but some funky tile options out there. I put in a small mezzanine and lots of Windows, lots of plugs. So far so good.
 

Eldereldo

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Definitely do under floor heat if you can. If you do, allow for installing a lift at some point by leaving areas for the legs that are free of tubes and poured deeper to support the mounting bolts. Also have at least a 10ft ceiling over the lift area if you can.
 

j335

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Anyone know the maximum square footage on infloor heat ran through a hot water tank? I have a 70gal hot water tank in my house I run my infloor and Home water off.
 

DaveB

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I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say NO to in-floor heat. Not sure why this has become such a popular thing in garages. When I built my previous house, I built right next door to a buddy. We both built 30x30 garages...mine was 9', his was 10'...everything else similar. He did in-floor, I did hanging forced air. Over the course of 7+ years of living side by side, I can tell you his cost more to heat. There's the argument that "oh the floor is so nice and warm to work on in the winter when you're under a car". If you leave your forced air furnace at 15-16 C all the time (as I did) the floor stays warm...non-issue. Also, when you decide to have a garage gathering, takes 3 min to warm the place up to 20-21 C....not possible with in-floor. Then there's the lost floor space. Code requires the tank/pump crap to be in it's own little room. Then there's the moisture, dripping windows and moldy walls (if you park in there in the winter). None of that with forced air. Just so happens I'm buddy's with the NEXT owner of that house (RZR101). He ended up hanging a forced air furnace to try to get rid of the moisture. Finally he decided it really wasn't worth running TWO heat systems and pulled out the in-floor stuff. Gave him enough space back to put a big compressor and a few other things.
At my current place we have two garages, both insulated and finished/drywalled/painted....mine and hers. Both heated with hanging forced air. She goes in and out every day with a drippy SUV and no mold issues. The man's garage doesn't get wet, except for spilled booze, more of a toy cave. Our neighbor's house next door with in-floor garage heat where they park every day has black mold everywhere. Both places 4 years old.

As for height...go 10' or taller. Nice so you can build a big shelf down one side and get the crap off the floor. As for lofts...you'll have to check local code for height restrictions. In the city there are rules.
 
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skegpro

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Can you build a pole shed, or do the building codes forbid it in city's?

Just finished up having a Goodon shed build here and it turned out real nice.
 

NoBrakes!

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Can you build a pole shed, or do the building codes forbid it in city's?

Just finished up having a Goodon shed build here and it turned out real nice.

How tall is it? I have heard the mid height of your garage truss cannot exceed the peak of your homes roof. True? No clue. Be nice to have a mezzanine/loft.
 

Summitric

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My 2cents on garage heaters....

Always had hanging forced air furnace and it was okay... Usually left temp around 5*c and when working in the garage, would crank to 20*c and would heat quickly and was perfect. Floor was a little cold, yes, but it was okay....

New garage had mach 1 on this site install a radiant tube style overhead heater, and it works perfectly. I leave the temp at 22*c, and it is way cheaper than the forced air furnace to run, but best of all is the floor stays warm, and i can walk on the "man cave" side in my sock feet(it's that warm)... It is awesome. It does take more room, as the tube & radiating shields run across the front part of the garage, but that is about the only downside.
 

skegpro

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How tall is it? I have heard the mid height of your garage truss cannot exceed the peak of your homes roof. True? No clue. Be nice to have a mezzanine/loft.
They can build them to any height.
I have no clue what the city bylaws are.
Where do you live?

Mine is 80'x200'x20'
And if I had to guess I would say the peak is at 50ft.

Went up in 10 working days.

Cheap, quick and well built.
 

NoBrakes!

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They can build them to any height.
I have no clue what the city bylaws are.
Where do you live?

Mine is 80'x200'x20'
And if I had to guess I would say the peak is at 50ft.

Went up in 10 working days.

Cheap, quick and well built

lol, my first thought.... how many boats would fit in there?
 

j335

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De-humidifier is a must with infloor heat.
Triple pain windows maybe if you put one in? Harder break and doesn’t frost up as easy.
A pooper or shower would be good to have in there.
 

Lunch_Box

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I'm going to play devil's advocate here and say NO to in-floor heat. Not sure why this has become such a popular thing in garages. When I built my previous house, I built right next door to a buddy. We both built 30x30 garages...mine was 9', his was 10'...everything else similar. He did in-floor, I did hanging forced air. Over the course of 7+ years of living side by side, I can tell you his cost more to heat. There's the argument that "oh the floor is so nice and warm to work on in the winter when you're under a car". If you leave your forced air furnace at 15-16 C all the time (as I did) the floor stays warm...non-issue. Also, when you decide to have a garage gathering, takes 3 min to warm the place up to 20-21 C....not possible with in-floor. Then there's the lost floor space. Code requires the tank/pump crap to be in it's own little room. Then there's the moisture, dripping windows and moldy walls (if you park in there in the winter). None of that with forced air. Just so happens I'm buddy's with the NEXT owner of that house (RZR101). He ended up hanging a forced air furnace to try to get rid of the moisture. Finally he decided it really wasn't worth running TWO heat systems and pulled out the in-floor stuff. Gave him enough space back to put a big compressor and a few other things.
At my current place we have two garages, both insulated and finished/drywalled/painted....mine and hers. Both heated with hanging forced air. She goes in and out every day with a drippy SUV and no mold issues. The man's garage doesn't get wet, except for spilled booze, more of a toy cave. Our neighbor's house next door with in-floor garage heat where they park every day has black mold everywhere. Both places 4 years old.

As for height...go 10' or taller. Nice so you can build a big shelf down one side and get the crap off the floor. As for lofts...you'll have to check local code for height restrictions. In the city there are rules.


Interesting points. I am building a house this year and have forced air for the house main floor with in-floor heat for the basement, garage and shop (basement is 2341 sqft and garage/shop is 2462). Growing up my parents had in-floor heat in there house/garage and it was really nice to have the warm floor. I have seen other places with forced air furnaces in the garage and the floor was always cold. Maybe they didn't have any under slab insulation??? You put anything under your slab? I have never seen the black mold mold part in any garage ive been in with in-floor heat so maybe there was an issue there? I know in-floor costs a bit more in the beginning with the install but I always was under the impression that is was a far more efficient way of heating a room. The only down side like you mentioned is you can't quickly adjust the temperature of the room.
 

Lunch_Box

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House = Hers
Garage = His

Couldn't agree more. Thats what I did when designing my house, gave her everything she asked for in the house and started with smaller shop and kept adding 5' until the wife said enough. I might build it with an option to add 10' more to the one side for a fabrication area. Put all the tools, welder, lathe, mill,... You know to keep the smell out of the house. Well at least thats what Ill tell her.
 
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