So, this summer we are going to get a bunch togather and try to build a new garage. Its not going to be anything crazy, but its going to be a better place to work than before.
We are currently debating 9' ceilings vs 10' ceilings. Its probably going to be about a 24 x 30. What do you guys think is more cost effective here?

 

Before we can figure that out we need to find out a couple things. First of all is it gonna be a metal building or a wood frame building. Then what height of a garage door do you want, just for atvs or vehicles too. Is The inside gonna be finished out if so sheetrock walls or osb board or plywood. If you can answer these questions it might help to figure out some of The things you are wondering.

 

Plus face the garage opening (if you can) to take advantage of the south winds in the summer if you don't plan on having air conditioning, plus in the winter 9' ceilings lot cheaper,quicker to heat up!( We had exposed metal beams in the shop area(peaked at about 16') until I installed an acoustical grid ceiling at 9',made a world of difference, unless you're planning on working on big rigs too and need the height ! OPT

 

Its going to have wood frame, unfinished with plywood on the walls. We are also planning on putting down the gray floor sealer stuff with the blue/gray shavings look, with shiney clear coat on top of that.. Going to have one window on south side, with a door, and garage door will be facing west.

 

As long as you dont have to conform to any height restrictions. I would go with the 10' walls. It would give you the room for a taller garage door. Do you drive a truck? The other thing is if you have 9' walls you are already buying 10' studs. The floor coating, is that a kit? If not you might want to think about putting a clear gloss on the floor. One would assume it would be slick when wet.
If its a 2 car garage you will want to make sure the building inspector is ok with the shear wall design buy the garage doors. Around here sometimes you need to have a engineer stamp the plans because of the shear wall . Sounds like it is going to be a fun little project.

 

If you go with T-111 for your outside sheathing it will save you in cost over putting on plywood and then siding it. I agree on the 10' walls. Headroom is nice in a garage and will give you room for an 8' tall garage door instead of the standard 7'. I also would not bother with an entry door unless it is to go inside the house as an entryway. We never used the one my wife talked us into and it ended up getting damaged. So, we took it out.

 

Around here, 15' is as high as you can go without getting a variance...There are offsets from property lines also..5' here and distance from house also, don't remember that one...

John

 

Other thoughts are that, if it is not a detached garage, you will need to put a fire code approved door between the house and the garage and will have to put 5/8" sheetrock between the garage and any living spaces. So, for instance, if you put an "office" above the garage you will need to put 5/8" on the ceiling.

 

I'm pretty sure that door your talking about Moose also has to have a self closing hinge..I guess just in case you put a car in garage , to keep exhaust fumes out ...

John

 

I haven't run into that yet. Please don't mention it to any building inspectors in Mass. or NH. The doors I've installed in the past are steel doors with steel jambs. Pain to work with compared to a wood jam, and difficult to make it look decent.