Building a garage – Hints, tips and ideas welcome
Discussion
Just in the final process of designing my new garage and thought it might be good to see what ideas were out.
The structure is more or less defined by the space I have, the building regulation and the listed building guy view (yes its just one guy’s opinion here).
The floor area is 50m sq, the inside ceiling height is 3m. The door will be about 6.4m wide and 2.4m high.
The idea is to have 2 “parking lifts” so a total of 4 cars can be parked and a good amount of storage area for car parts, wheels & tires and such. I already have a garage as a work shop with a lift and such so this one is mostly for storage and parking but could be used for more.
Does any one has good ideas on “parking lifts” as I’ve seen someone here already has one (4 post type) and thought it was a great idea.
I’ll have hot and cold water, lots of plug sockets, about 50% more lighting than a normal garage and heating (it will be insulated).
Any good ideas for heating? I could use the boiler from the house but I don’t want to loose wall space with radiators. There is also maybe an option for electric.
Any good ideas on storage solutions as I have a huge amount of wheels and tires, some large bits of body work and various other car and household stuff.
The structure is more or less defined by the space I have, the building regulation and the listed building guy view (yes its just one guy’s opinion here).
The floor area is 50m sq, the inside ceiling height is 3m. The door will be about 6.4m wide and 2.4m high.
The idea is to have 2 “parking lifts” so a total of 4 cars can be parked and a good amount of storage area for car parts, wheels & tires and such. I already have a garage as a work shop with a lift and such so this one is mostly for storage and parking but could be used for more.
Does any one has good ideas on “parking lifts” as I’ve seen someone here already has one (4 post type) and thought it was a great idea.
I’ll have hot and cold water, lots of plug sockets, about 50% more lighting than a normal garage and heating (it will be insulated).
Any good ideas for heating? I could use the boiler from the house but I don’t want to loose wall space with radiators. There is also maybe an option for electric.
Any good ideas on storage solutions as I have a huge amount of wheels and tires, some large bits of body work and various other car and household stuff.
Could put underfloor heating in, my mate has it in his house and it runs off some huge loop of pipe buried about 1m deep in his field, costs barely anything to run and is very effective. Put a dehumidifier in too if you're going to make sure it's all sealed.
Is 3m high enough to have 2 cars parked above each other too?
Is 3m high enough to have 2 cars parked above each other too?
Sounds good! We built one about 10 years ago, with a flat above. Only thing I didn't do at the time, which has now been done, was put an aerial feed in for the telly!
Not sure if you have kids, but we also built a bar in one corner which over the years has been a Godsend!
As the flat needed a staircase, this was built outside to save internal space, so the area below it was sealed, and used for all the gubbins eg wheels, lawnmower etc etc
Is it going to be attached to the house or detached?
Not sure if you have kids, but we also built a bar in one corner which over the years has been a Godsend!
As the flat needed a staircase, this was built outside to save internal space, so the area below it was sealed, and used for all the gubbins eg wheels, lawnmower etc etc
Is it going to be attached to the house or detached?
Build down, not up. Putting the 2nd car underground is safer and means your building can be normal height which will look better and I guess ease planning permission?
I lived in a city centre apartment a few years back that had a triple car stacking system in the underground car park. I always felt that my car was very safe when it was underground away from envious eyes.
I have a pic somewhere at home but it was something like this (but indoors and a bit more modern)
I lived in a city centre apartment a few years back that had a triple car stacking system in the underground car park. I always felt that my car was very safe when it was underground away from envious eyes.
I have a pic somewhere at home but it was something like this (but indoors and a bit more modern)
Toni
Rob GT pointed me to your post. We just came back from the Petrolhead Nivarna Alpine tour and he remembered I run the largest supplier of car parking systems here in the UK. Please have a look at our web site www.wohr-parking.co.uk as there maybe something we can do for you. I would imagine it would be either our Parklift 411, 461 or 440 systems which would be useful.
Hope this helps.
Andy
Rob GT pointed me to your post. We just came back from the Petrolhead Nivarna Alpine tour and he remembered I run the largest supplier of car parking systems here in the UK. Please have a look at our web site www.wohr-parking.co.uk as there maybe something we can do for you. I would imagine it would be either our Parklift 411, 461 or 440 systems which would be useful.
Hope this helps.
Andy
Catpor said:
Toni
Rob GT pointed me to your post. We just came back from the Petrolhead Nivarna Alpine tour and he remembered I run the largest supplier of car parking systems here in the UK. Please have a look at our web site www.wohr-parking.co.uk as there maybe something we can do for you. I would imagine it would be either our Parklift 411, 461 or 440 systems which would be useful.
Hope this helps.
Andy
You have mailRob GT pointed me to your post. We just came back from the Petrolhead Nivarna Alpine tour and he remembered I run the largest supplier of car parking systems here in the UK. Please have a look at our web site www.wohr-parking.co.uk as there maybe something we can do for you. I would imagine it would be either our Parklift 411, 461 or 440 systems which would be useful.
Hope this helps.
Andy
Thanks for the input.
We've done the mesurements and 3m should be more than enough as the cars I have that could go on top (Elise, Ultima, Aston) are not that high. And in any case I can only get away with 3m internally so I have to make it work!
I've thought about the underfloor heating but not sure it will work with lifts and cars parked on it. I'll ask about it again.
I looked at the down system but it is expensive and digging the hole here in Switzerland is even more expensive that even if you don't hit rock (I live on the side of hill).
Andy, Please PM me as I'd be interesetd in a quote though it would need to be from Swiss or German office.
Thanks Greg
We've done the mesurements and 3m should be more than enough as the cars I have that could go on top (Elise, Ultima, Aston) are not that high. And in any case I can only get away with 3m internally so I have to make it work!
I've thought about the underfloor heating but not sure it will work with lifts and cars parked on it. I'll ask about it again.
I looked at the down system but it is expensive and digging the hole here in Switzerland is even more expensive that even if you don't hit rock (I live on the side of hill).
Andy, Please PM me as I'd be interesetd in a quote though it would need to be from Swiss or German office.
Thanks Greg
AdamV12V said:
Build down, not up. Putting the 2nd car underground is safer
Erm. has anyone seen the weather of late...This water stuff does have a nasty habit of filling holes up no matter how well you think they're sealed.
My dad had a service pit in his last garage that doubled up as a plunge pool for much of the year!
If you do go this route, make sure you've got a water sensing hippo pump and a generator just in case the power also gets knocked out. These things tend to coincide.
Underfloor heating is ideal for a garage. I put it in mine when I built it about 10 years ago. The loadbearing of the floor will easily support cars (they run forklifts over factory heated floors) but you may need to put foundations down under the lift legs and run the pipework around them.
I used to work on rallycars and spent many hours lying under them - that's when it's really appreciated!!
I used to work on rallycars and spent many hours lying under them - that's when it's really appreciated!!
Tell you what I put on the floor of mine. The same stuff they use in kids playgrounds. Absolutely amazing. Slightly flexible, can get it in any colour with different colour flex in it if you want.
It's warm and keeps the dust out.
It's permeable as well so no standing water.
Oh and it's got a 25 year garantee, outside.
It's warm and keeps the dust out.
It's permeable as well so no standing water.
Oh and it's got a 25 year garantee, outside.
I have a 4 post lift that I used to put two cars in a single garage. Headroom was less than 3m. Managed to fit my Caterham in there with any of my old Daytona, the Aston or TVR.
Mine's an InternBV lift (http://webportal.internbv.nl/) and am very pleased with it. Have had it 4yrs.
The one I have is rated to 2000kg, but think they do bigger capacities (as well as plenty of different styles).
Customer service was good too.
I have a much bigger garage now, but kept the lift as it comes in handy now and then
Mine's an InternBV lift (http://webportal.internbv.nl/) and am very pleased with it. Have had it 4yrs.
The one I have is rated to 2000kg, but think they do bigger capacities (as well as plenty of different styles).
Customer service was good too.
I have a much bigger garage now, but kept the lift as it comes in handy now and then
PS Tips...
When I rebuild my garage I'll probably try to have skylights in it. And will put plenty of decent lighting not only up high but also round the sides of the thing.
I will also make sure there are lots of power sockets.
Consider dehumidification and ventilation.
I think I'll probably go for a resin floor, although I've seen interlocking "foam" type tiles used on a car showroom floor and they looked very good and felt nice under foot. I suspect they'd take dropped spanners etc nicely.
Might be worth a "soft" covering on the walls to avoid the possibility of door dings.
When I rebuild my garage I'll probably try to have skylights in it. And will put plenty of decent lighting not only up high but also round the sides of the thing.
I will also make sure there are lots of power sockets.
Consider dehumidification and ventilation.
I think I'll probably go for a resin floor, although I've seen interlocking "foam" type tiles used on a car showroom floor and they looked very good and felt nice under foot. I suspect they'd take dropped spanners etc nicely.
Might be worth a "soft" covering on the walls to avoid the possibility of door dings.
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