I am about 10 years away from retirement and have started making plans for building a garage specifically for restoring C-3 corvettes. With my cars , my sons car and working on friends cars I think I need room for about 12 cars. Any suggestions on special features? Everyone says to build as big as I can afford but I don't want to go overboard. Any suggestions on dimensions ? Block or frame ?

 

I don't know where you live, but here in Denver Colorado, they won't even let me build a 2 car garage, even though my lot is big enough (you can't have more that 3 covered parking spaces per household).
As for what to include, start talking to a contractor, he can give you a rough idea on how much per square foot it will cost (how much can you afford). A 10-foot or even 12-foot ceiling height would be nice, then you could get a lift. You need somewhere for an air compressor, and a large enough electrical service to power it. If you plan to heat it, think about hot water heat in the floor, that’s how my father did his garage, boy is it nice when crawling around under a car in December.

 

I'm in the midst of planning a garage with a service bay.

-I'm going to have a loft with stair access. The loft will have an insulated room for the standing air compressor and plenty of storage for seldom used things like spare hoods and tops, or benchtop tools. Obviously, the air will be plumbed through a manifold with a regulated, dry/oiled leg for tools and an unregulated, dry leg for spray guns and blow-off.
-four post drive-on lift with secondary bridge-jacks. for axle/shock/tire work.
-220 three-phase and std. 110 power
-air conditioning and heat
-SMOOTH, epoxied floor
-LOTS of light
-steel-topped workbench with big anvil/vice
-secondary wood-topped bench for more delicate work
-lots of cubbys and cabinets
-enough room for a 6'-8' open space around the entire vehicle
-media blasting cabinet
-heated parts washer
-Three full-height tool cabinets
-utility sink & mop basin
-refrigerator, couch, TV, and radio in the loft for when I get pissed at the car but I too dirty to go inside to cool off...

That's about it for me.

In your case, I would also strongly recommend provisions for a paint booth unless you plan to shop that out.

 

I currently pricing a 32' x 32' - 3 car to build myself. If your handy checkout-84 lumber if they are in your area -they have Garage kits available up to, up to 32' x 40' (which would house quite a few cars) 84 lumber Garage Packages Most of the lumber (studs, etc.) is pre-cut and the roof trusses are pre-engineered. They include everything including the doors, window, shingles, nails, siding, etc. By doing it myself I'll save about $10-12K over having it built by a contractor. I'm having the foundation done by a contractor and that's it. I figure I can frame the whole thing in a weekend with a couple of friends help. May be more work than your looking for?

 

The only thing I can think to add to CGGorman's list above is 1) a shower, and 2) a floor drain (not for the shower, but for the garage floor).

 

How about a wet bar. No, I'm not kidding.

 

:ack easy to get help

 

I built a 24x32 garage attached to my house. If you are putting a two post lift in, make sure that you have ceiling clearance and proper thickness for the concrete floor. I have 10-12" of 4000PSI concrete where the lift is bolted to the floor. I have a deck over 1/2 of the garage (12x32) that is used for storage.

I have a Mohave 7000lb lift, 60gal compressor with 1" lines run from front to back, large blast cabinet, extra 220 line, extra plugs all over the place.

I painted the floor with rustolium expoxy garage paint. It's been holding up great.

Lights are normal shop lights under the 12x32 deck and Metal halight (spelling?) over the other side which is about 20ft high.

My only regret is that I did not make it 24x36 so I could fit two cars end to end.

Bob K.

 

Get a tall enough ceiling so you can put a truck on a hoist and stand under it. Big air compressor with air lines all over. You want 20 amp outlets everywhere. Good lighting all over the shop and smaller individual lights over benches to provide additional illumination. You want it completely insulated and insulated well. A well insulated shop doesn't often even need air conditioning unless you live in a very warm place. Having insulation down a few feet into the ground (styofoam usually) will help route the 58 degree earth into the shop and keep it cool. Don't use regular heating for the shop, get in the floor heat. That is so nice. You'll never have to lay on a cold floor again. Put welder outlets all over as well. A loft isn't a bad idea, but keep in mind you'll have to carry things up there. If you've got the space, just make storage spots. A clean room for building engines is a good idea, a place to paint is also nice. Seperate work benches for different activities. A bench for metal work, another area for wood working. Other general benches. A small room to keep chemicals in is also a good idea. You can never have too many outlets, too much light, or too much space.

 

I was limited to 750 square feet by the zoning codes but that didn't include a basement. Since my yard is sloped at the back I decide to include a basement with a drive in.
Since they said I could have a 25 x 30 shop I built the inside dimensions to that, pleaded ignorance. I had a basement poured for about $5500 too. So the main shop is at the front, 25 x 30 with heavy heavy duty wood flooring, pained heavily in gray epoxy and rugged. The walls are only 8 feet high but heavily insulated along with a good insulated ceiling, R26. For thermopane windows I went to a company and asked for rejects, something order, made to wrong size anything but thermopane and vinyl frames. I got 4 for a song with sliders and screens.
I framed it but put the plywood on the INSIDE, installed the boxes 50 plus from the outside, wired from the outside, insulated and then covered with 10test, a 1/2 inch thick carboard heavily soaked with tar and then metal siding.
I also used insulated car doors both up and down.
The bottom is my parts storage, tire changer, large air compressor, metal racks etc,
The top is dry because of the wood flooring, 1 1/2 inches thick and the rugs on rugs make it nice to work on including welding. Most good rugs don't burn.
The shop has 6500 watts of lighting, heat and 100 amp service.
It run me about $20,000 with me doing everything except pouring the foundation.