Speccing new garage build

[AmirGSXR]

I have planning permission for a new double garage to be built adjacent to my property. It will be a flat roof, with high parcel windows on the outer wall. I have read previous threads and have an idea of what I want, but just want to see if there is anything missing/I should modify. The primary use of the garage is to store my motorbike, and also be a dry and warm space to service my cars (and motorbike).

I am speccing the following:
- Cavity walls with insulation
- Insulated roof
- The floor will be dug up to be made level, so I will have this insulated too.
- A double roller garage door that is insulated. Likely to be Hormann or similar high-quality.
- Parcel style high-level windows to let natural light in.
- Office style flat panel lighting. I will have four of these, but will get electrician to wire it so that I can have 2 on at a time or all 4 as per requirements.
- High level and low level double sockets on every wall.
- Sink with hot/cold water and worktop on the back wall. Worktop will have a vice.
- Cupboards to go above worktop.
- Radiator: I could plumb from my existing water pipes from the house, but wondering if having a programmable electric heater is better?
- The walls will be made from decorative breeze block which will be painted an off-white colour to give brightness to the garage.
- I will cover the floor with garage tiles. Not sure how these fair with trolley jacks and axle stands, but am assuming ones for garage are heavy duty?

I don't have the height for a four poster ramp (a dream of mine), but would consider a scissor lift if it enables the car to be partly lifted of the ground allowing me to easily do oil changes, and other underbody maintenance tasks. Not sure of costs or practicalities, but I like the idea of not having to lug out the trolley jack and axle stand every time I need to lift the car and don't need to take wheels off.

Is there anything else I should consider?

[Baldchap]

Low level lights (most things on cars requiring work are underneath).

16A commando socket (my quickjack, for example uses this).

3 phase socket if possible/required.

Exit for dehumidifier pipework if appropriate.

Far, far, far more plug sockets than you think you need.

Are you looking to add cameras or a TV or similar? Network cabling is cheap and easy at this point.

[dhdev]

I’ve just had built similar to what you describe, detached garage with insulated cavity walls and insulated single pitch roof. I went with a hormann sectional as I think they’re a little more secure and better insulated than most rollers. I didn’t insulate the slab, but laid some foil beneath the PVC tiles to help and it does a great job. I installed an easy fit split air con unit for heating and run it during the cheap rate electric at night, that’s enough to keep the garage at a comfortable working temperature. As Baldchap said, you can’t have enough sockets, I have 8 doubles and it’s not enough. Also the network cable is definitely worth running. I’d go for more lights than you’re suggesting, I have 8 4ft battens in a 40sqm garage, that gives a good spread. Also provision for a dehumidifier drain is a good shout, I drilled through so that it drains into the gutter downpipe. You might also need to provision for some extraction if you have a particularly petrol fumey car.

[Snow and Rocks]

Run network cable and fit a dedicated WiFi access point. Also worth thinking about some sort of sound system if you like music while you work.

I put an old hifi amp with a big set of floorstanding speakers from marketplace fed by a Spotify enabled streamer. So much better than the crappy Bluetooth portable speaker I had before.

[sherman]

Have you considered space for the beer fridge and or coffee maker?

[P2KKA]

Planning permission for more height, so you can have that lift you want.

[Dynion Araf Uchaf]

I’d possibly consider resin over tiles and paint the floor. Maybe consider a central drain that feeds the water main so you can wash the car in doors so to speak. Make sure it’s capped as you don’t want oil or coolant pissing into the drain.

I use an economy 7 style heater and have double insulation on walls , roof and garage door. Super toasty and a nice lace to work in the winter.

[LooneyTunes]

Hot and cold outside taps. Much nicer to be able to wash car/bike with warm water, especially in winter.

[Cold]

If you're wanting to buy a scissor lift, purchase an in-ground one and have the concrete slab poured with that in mind rather than having to chop out a recess later.

[bristolbaron]

Kwik lift looks interesting..

https://youtu.be/qrOGVH-xc_M?si=JXL70qDrSHhac-an

[OutInTheShed]

You could consider all sorts of things.
Add an outdoor lean-to bit for stuff you don't want in the garage. Could be a wood store if appropriate.
Water? Even an outdoor tap and drain is easier done in the beginning.
Absolutely a side door as well as the 'garage door'.

A proper damp course should go without saying, but damp slabs are not rare!
Windows for natural light?
Outdoor lighting?

One thing I miss from a few houses ago is a covered outdoor space. I could wash my bike and let it dry out of the rain before putting it away etc.
car charger? outdoor socket? All that stuff is harder to retrofit.
Solar panels on the roof?
Space for 'house battery'?
Extractor fan?

[MDT]

You have not mentioned the size you are looking at? I would suggest that you are likely to have about 1m lost on at least one side with a work bench.

But that aside, I would recommend if you can adding a radiator to the garage from the house system, it's a good way to keep the place up to temp and quite cheep too v going into a cold garage and putting on an electric heater and waiting for it to warm up.

for the floor the plastic / rubber tiles are ok unless you spill water / oil on them and it will seep behind. I fitted porcelain tiles down in my garage, have been very robust no issues with jacking up cars or dropping engines on them.

Again dependant on size / height I would suggest a mezzanine floor for storage of bulky things like tyres.

If you are likely to be using any air tools then plumbing these in early on would be a good move. I have got wall trunking running round the garage at waist height with plenty of plug sockets and the air lines running tough these.

If the house Wi-Fi will not reach then plan on running cat5 into the place too.

[AmirGSXR]

Thanks all for the excellent suggestions.

It is clear I need to have as much sockets as possible, network cable running from broadband point to garage, a wall mounted TV to watch tutorials etc. and more lighting. I have a Hi-Fi system from early 2000's which allows me to listen to my old cassette mixes while working! It still pumps out some nice sound.

I was not too sure about how a dehumidifier is plumbed into the garage. Does anyone have more info on what this involves? It makes sense to have an extractor fan to vent fumes etc.

Regarding the radiator, I could have one running off the central heating system, but if the garage gets nippy I cannot just turn the whole house's central heating on for sake of getting garage radiator warm, so wondered if it is more efficient to have an independent electric heater? I am getting solar panels installed this summer (battery pack for these will be in garage), so it might not be too costly to run.

The Kwikjack looks like what I am after. It's relatively cheap too.

Outside I will have a carport built adjacent to the garage with hot and cold water, so can wash cars outside. I don't need a drain inside the garage as I wont be washing inside.

What would be nice is to have an airline to check/pressures and pump tyres up. I usually just use a pressure gauge and footpump if pressures need adjusting, but wondered if something can be 'plumbed' in?

[OutInTheShed]

Heating a small workshop, a 2kW fan heater is quick to warm the place up and doesn't cost much if you're only working out there a few hours a week.
A big double garage with lots of headroom takes a lot more warming up.
A radiator could be good for background heat keeping things dry.

I also have a radiant quartz heater, but that's a portable thing, not so relevant to building a garage.

A dehumidifier just needs a drain to outdoors, it's only a few litres a day at most so just dripping on the ground won't do much harm, going into a drain would be ideal though. Could cause a slimy wet patch or even ice to slip on I suppose!

Draughtproofing and ventilation can make conflicting demands!
I would design in adjustable ventilation of some sort.
I live near the sea and a river, it can be damp here, that affects my opinions, YMMV.

[LooneyTunes]

AmirGSXR said:

What would be nice is to have an airline to check/pressures and pump tyres up. I usually just use a pressure gauge and footpump if pressures need adjusting, but wondered if something can be 'plumbed' in?

Definitely! I have the PCL extending/auto hoses and a proper PCL inflator (same as you see on forecourts).

This sort of reel (they do them in different lengths):
https://www.screwfix.com/p/pcl-hra3l02-sfx-slow-re...

Inflator:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/pcl-airforce-mk4-analog...

In main garage I have it hooked up to a large compressor at the back but am going to put another in my new garage. That one will have a small compressor in the loft space and the hose reel hung from the ceiling near the door (so that it'll easily reach cars on that part of the driveway too).

[Wombat3]

Look in to what happens if you connect it to your heating system, AIUI it then becomes subject to the same building regs as habitable living space in terms of insulation etc. Noted that you are already going to insulate it but you might end up having to go much further than you really want to if you step over that line.

[LooneyTunes]

Thinking about it, also consider specifying laminated glass (perhaps even obscured) for a bit of security at little extra cost.

If you have a pedestrian door planned take a look at Latham Steel Doors. Cheaper than a composite door and better security.

[bigmowley]

Some good suggestions here. Since this is a new build from scratch then underfloor heating is a no brainer. It’s vey simple to do and the cost is minimal within the overall build cost. I have it in mine and it’s a complete gamechanger. You don’t need it on high, I run mine at 16C air temp in the garage and the floor is just faintly warm. It’s brilliant for working off the floor. Also the floor is a big thermal mass so even if the doors are open for a few hours as soon as you close them again the garage warms up again almost immediately. I could live in my garage
You only need a very simple single port manifold and a suitable heat source. Mine runs a big ASAP as my garage is over 600M2 but you only need a very small one for a standard size double garage.
Pop it in and you can thank me later after you have lived with it for a while.

[S6PNJ]

AmirGSXR said:

I was not too sure about how a dehumidifier is plumbed into the garage. Does anyone have more info on what this involves?

Most dehumidifiers have an option to connect to a drain hose (instead of using their integral waste water tank), so it's simply a case of making sure there is a drain hose point that goes to an outside drain / links in to the garage sink waste point etc.

[OutInTheShed]

bigmowley said:

Some good suggestions here. Since this is a new build from scratch then underfloor heating is a no brainer. It s vey simple to do and the cost is minimal within the overall build cost. I have it in mine and it s a complete gamechanger. You don t need it on high, I run mine at 16C air temp in the garage and the floor is just faintly warm. It s brilliant for working off the floor. Also the floor is a big thermal mass so even if the doors are open for a few hours as soon as you close them again the garage warms up again almost immediately. I could live in my garage
You only need a very simple single port manifold and a suitable heat source. Mine runs a big ASAP as my garage is over 600M2 but you only need a very small one for a standard size double garage.
Pop it in and you can thank me later after you have lived with it for a while.

UFH would be good if you want to keep the garage a steady temperature 24/7 through the winter.
If you want it to be a decent temperature for a couple of hours bodgery one or two evenings a week, it's going to be expensive.
If you want to get the work space really warm to make paint dry or epoxy set, it isn't ideal at all.

16 degrees is an OK air temp if you're on your feet moving about working on a car.
It's not so good if you're sat at a bench doing precision stuff.

600sqm? That's a hangar!
On that scale, I'd be build sheds within a shed to make dedicated workshop areas.
It's a big area to hoover but some power tools are capable of throwing fallout that far!