Garages - best practices & features

Guys, a friend of mine is building a new home and garage.. and has asked my advice on the garage build. (and this has me thinking of doing some upgrades to refresh my garage)

 

Curious to what feedback you have on lessons learned, or things you would have done better next time... let's see what you guys have in mind!

 

One thing that I will always do in future that I love is the wall mount opener, much cleaner and saves a lot of ceiling space!

 

For lighting... anyone install flush mount LED's yet? I have florescent flush mount fixtures in my garage.. nice and clean, but I am ready for LED soon to get rid of the low hum that can be heard with florescent)

I have a garage with a mop sink. Sink that sits on the floor. Awesome for when mopping the floor or cleaning a dirty or skunk sprayed pet.

If this garage will be in a climate with winter weather, a hot water line run to the garage is helpful. A friend of mine ran a hot water line to his garage, when he gets home he turns on his power washer and in a few minutes can rinse sand, salt, mag chloride, and ice/snow build up off his truck.

9' high garage doors with side mount openers, drains in the floor, hot and cold water, heater if you get cold weather, I wish I would have put a sink in my garage. Make sure concrete thickness is appropriate for lifts. 220v outlets for lift as well as electric car charging with appropriate circuits. I did a massive attic fan in the ceiling to extract fumes or anything but its also 4k sq ft so decent amount of air in there.

9' high garage doors with side mount openers, drains in the floor, hot and cold water, heater if you get cold weather, I wish I would have put a sink in my garage. Make sure concrete thickness is appropriate for lifts. 220v outlets for lift as well as electric car charging with appropriate circuits. I did a massive attic fan in the ceiling to extract fumes or anything but its also 4k sq ft so decent amount of air in there.

 

All of this. In cold climate drains are great to get inside and clean off grime and snow and not have it all accumulate on your floor.

 

I’d also say make it deep and wide as possible so you can store things and not affect your cars and have enough space to walk around.

Lots of good things covered already but if you are a DIY'er (I all do all repairs/maintenance/upgrades on all my cars top to bottom so I'm always thinking this way) a garage with separation between project/working area and 'finished' area is very helpful. Dont have to worry about dirt/debris/sparks etc getting on the cars that arent being worked on. Also power outlets every 4-6 feet and hardline compressed air with quick connects at the same frequency helps to stop things from getting tangled or you tripping over them and getting pissed off (also happens to me all the time).

Garage sink.

Large electric panel.

Power outlets everywhere.

220v for a garage washer dryer and at least one or more for the inevitable "upgrade" to an electric car.

Cabinets, cabinets, cabinets, and a workspace.

Extra tall and wide doors (no door dings) and tandem parking spots.

Our garage has 4 doors and can park a minimum of 7 cars. 3 tandems and one single spot. The space behind the single spot is a utility/storage room.

In-wall vacuum.

We also have a pitched roof on the garage with a folding pull-down ladder, so we have a massive loft for storage as well.

 

Edit:

 

I forgot a couple of things. TV cabinet with amp, DirecTV, Sonos node and in-wall speakers. Ubiquiti access point for wifi. We use part of the rear of the garage for a gym so we added a rubber gym style floor.

If the foundation is going to be a post tension slab, be sure to plan in advance if you are going to bolt down a lift.

- Definitely include a utility sink. Priceless.

 

- If you ever have plans for a lift in the future, plan the garage doors now.

 

- The quietest belt drive openers you can afford are a choice you'll be grateful for.

 

- One or two 20A electrical outlet(s) for any high demand items. Big appliances like ovens, refrigerators, or air conditioners (if it doubles as a work/lounge space) can also have unique electrical outlet demands to consider ahead of time.

 

- Study locations for electrical outlets carefully. You can never have too many, but builders skimp on this. As size increases, you miss outlets toward the middle of the space as well as near the doors. Consider where work benches will go or how an extension chord might muck up your plans.

 

- Consider spots where tires will go vs. the type of floor you choose. Will you be able to roll a car in and out, straight? Or will you be turning the wheel? Wheel turning on an epoxy coating will break it down and wear it out. Either reinforce the spots, or cover them, or choose a different type of floor if you absolutely must turn the steering wheel in the garage.

 

- Any kind of non-skid material on interior entry steps will just be a permanent dirt collector. Pick something removable or clean-able.

 

- Consider what things will be stored or how/where cabinets are constructed in such a way as to be a falling risk on cars. Consider what things might be stored overhead, such as bikes on winches or loft storage racks that need structural studs to be anchored.

 

- Include garage doors in home security system. Eliminate outside access doors to garage from home design if possible. Windows also create a security problem as well as a dead bug cleaning problem.

 

- Speaking of bugs, have exterminators include the garage in their sweeps.

 

- If other utility items, such as water heaters or circuit breaker panels are part of the home's design to be located in the garage, plan their locations with respect to your goals for how to use the space or how you want it to look.

Key the locks separately from the main house, keypad access from inside to garage, wifi cameras... all to keep the wife and kids out!

Eliminate outside access doors to garage from home design if possible.

 

Could you elaborate as to why?

Sub panel is a must but don't drywall it in! Put it in a closet that you can fish wires from, or at least run a pipe to a location you can get to later to pull extra circuits to. LED'S are good, did some flush mount ones the other day. They put off nice light. We built a garage last year that was 100x100, had a turn table, wash bay with lift and imported marble floors. We did plugs around all the walls mainly just for car chargers as not much work was going on in it, just storage.

Lots of good advice here! Some photos of what my garage currently looks like.

Key the locks separately from the main house, keypad access from inside to garage, wifi cameras... all to keep the wife and kids out!

 

Lots of good advice here! Some photos of what my garage currently looks like.

 

Features that I am glad I did:

-air compressor in attic (much less noise, and out of the way)

-sub panel by man door (I can easily shutoff any breakers including air compressor)

-wall mount garage door opener

 

Things I wish I did different:

-install cameras before finishing all drywall.. would have been easier!

-use a commercial floor epoxy instead of residential quality crap from home depot (I had to have it re-done)

 

 

Air port and 240vac receptacle:

Garage looks awesome!

Could you elaborate as to why?

Only that side doors and windows are weak points for burglary and a popular point of entry for many burglaries is the garage. As a bonus, this eliminates one more entry point for outside debris and heat/cold. Purely optional, but I opt to not have them (unless the garage is a separate structure).

Only that side doors and windows are weak points for burglary and a popular point of entry for many burglaries is the garage. As a bonus, this eliminates one more entry point for outside debris and heat/cold. Purely optional, but I opt to not have them (unless the garage is a separate structure).

 

Makes sense! Thanks!

You’ve gotten some excellent ideas in this thread....

 

I would also add rollup garage door, if it fits with the design / aesthetics of your plan. I put one on my detached garage and love the clean look and the ceiling clearance if you want to add a lift.

If you are doing your own work put a couple 10mm sockets every couple of feet. You will never lose one again.

I would look into the Ryobi garage door opener. Pretty cool opener with ports to add attachments. Add a overhead compressor, laser parking aid, drop down extension chord, bluetooth speaker. Problem is that now they are hard to get. Home depot pulled them off the shelves. I guess something with patent infrigment with Chamberlan.

I would look into the Ryobi garage door opener. Pretty cool opener with ports to add attachments. Add a overhead compressor, laser parking aid, drop down extension chord, bluetooth speaker. Problem is that now they are hard to get. Home depot pulled them off the shelves. I guess something with patent infrigment with Chamberlan.

 

Good think on the laser parking, my wife always drivers her car close to the front wall, exit is on the right and we all have to squeeze in between the front of her car and the wall in order to exit the garage, I now know what she will get for Christmas

Good think on the laser parking, my wife always drivers her car close to the front wall, exit is on the right and we all have to squeeze in between the front of her car and the wall in order to exit the garage, I now know what she will get for Christmas

 

Just go the ol' tennis ball on a string!

Just go the ol' tennis ball on a string!