building a workshop...

[oldschoolsdime92]

I'm going to be building a small workshop in the spring. I keep going back and forth between pole barn style, or standard stick build. The building is going to be 12x14 with a 9 foot standard single car garage door. I want the overall structure to be 12 foot high with an overhead loft. I would like a walk door off the back of the building. It will have a concrete floor also. I'm planning to use vinyl siding, matching the gable ends on my house. I will be heating the building via kerosene to start, but down the road will have natural gas.  I will be using it as a small motorcycle workshop/storage. I plan to have a lift, and tire changer in the barn.  Please school me. 

[Bubba]

First rule of outbuilding planning:  If you think you need 12x14 of floor space, build it 24x28.  And it'll still be too small.

 

Seriously, a 12x14 area is pretty small once you get tools, bikes, a stand, and all the other stuff you'll move in.  Make it as big as the available ground and your budget will allow.

 

Trust me on this one….

[oldschoolsdime92]

That's as much room as I've got. I have a 24x30 garage also, this is really just spill over/storage.

[DAC]

Trust me on this one….

 

First rule it to always trust people named "Bubba."  The second rule is something about reverse barometers, but I don't remember how that one goes...

[3.504]

When I did a 24x30 some year ago, I was able to get a "kit" from carter lumber for a little over 5k that came complete with 1 double wide 8ft tall(instead of 7 ft) garage door, 1 standard width 8 ft tall garage door, 1 man door, siding for the house and garage (separate buildings). The building was built by me and 4 friends. We use building code basically as an instruction manual.

The most expensive part of the ordeal was concrete. New a guy who ended up costing about 9000. It was pretty extensive work that required 2 tree removal, digging into a hill (backyard went up hill from the house), making a 4 foot wall in the back, dropping to a 1 foot wall on sides, and laying a 6 inch extra reinforced slab (to support auto lift) along with a skirt and doing repair work on 1/2 of the driveway.

Concrete sucks.

I did this within city limits of Hamilton. Building code stated no taller than 20 ft building height, no larger than 750 sq/ft. Along with some other b/s about fence line and distance to other structure. One thing that almost got me was in Hamilton, only 2 "additions" are allowed on the property. That house technically has 3 additions now, because I didn't knock down the shed. The building inspector never said anything about it, so neither did I.

My building had 12 ft ceiling height (if planning an overhead car lift, go 12.5 ft, ran into some issues with 12/even with certain lifts) and an overall height of 16.5.

Had an electrician install the box, meter box thing, and ground pole. In Hamilton, it was MUCH less expensive to run the building on its own meter rather than split off the house. We only had 1 light fixture and one 110 receptacle installed by the electrician for inspection purposes. Once inspector leaves, install the rest yourself.

After all said and done: total cost was 16,000- 16,500 and county appraised it at 40,000 some 5 + years ago.

After concrete work completed, took 2 weekends to build, then got lazy and took a couple more to finish trim and what not.

This is to give you an idea of what you'd be facing.

My friends and I survived the windstorms in that garage, and always claimed the garage was built by miller high life and dominos pizza.

[TRMN8TR]

This inspires me to build a second garage in the back yard. I was thinking it would be much more expensive. I also doubt I'll have as much cost in the concrete work since my yard is flat and no trees need removed. The part that worries me is putting up the building. I don't have any building experience, and not sure I know anyone who does that kind of work who could "supervise" the project? How long did it take you to research what the code was to build the thing?

[3.504]

We didn't have experience either. We had a few contractors give us estimates, of which all were above 50,000 for what we wanted. Basically got pissed and decided to do it ourselves.

As far as how to build: it's super easy. We did not have any special tools at all. That whole garage is built with basic tools, most specialized thing we used was a hammer drill to put bolts in the concrete. We also rented an air powered nail gun one weekend while sheeting the thing.

When it comes to code: 16" on center for walls, 24" on center for roof truss. That's basically it. Talk to whoever you need to in your city government building (if you require a permit) and see the city guidelines. When it comes to being inspected: over build everything and you'll pass. Our header over the garage doors is 2 2x12's sandwiched with a piece of sheet between. The inspector was impressed (made that strong because it was load bearing.)

The only things we were asked to improve: more bolts holding walls to concrete and more hurricane straps (each truss gets 4).

It was a great experience building it myself. It sounds stupid, but it was actually really fun.

[oldschoolsdime92]

I would gladly do it myself if I had a few people I could rely on to get it done. That being said all my buddies are pretty swamped these days and really can't dedicate time to the project. I'm being quoted about 10k for the entire project . Concrete and all.

[3.504]

I would gladly do it myself if I had a few people I could rely on to get it done. That being said all my buddies are pretty swamped these days and really can't dedicate time to the project. I'm being quoted about 10k for the entire project . Concrete and all.

At 10k, I wouldn't even hesitate... Do it!

[Chrome]

For 10k I'd build 2!

[Chrome]

Double post

Edited November 2, 2014 by Chrome