how would you design a garage?

[kamkuda]

Here is my shop  25 x50, Plywood on the walls were great and I later added Slatwall to hold tools.  Additional ceiling height helps when you add a hoist.  My height was 10.8 which meant my hoist options had to have the chains run under instead of ontop.
It is a pole barn that is inslulated.
Welder option is important, Mine is set to work in the should or outside.
Half the Shop is interlocking brock (landscaping family) and I put concrete on the back for the hiost.  The concrete floor is much nicer and easier to finds parts that you drop.  The work bench is 25 feet long an d sometimes that does not seem like enough.

Good luck

[Old Moparz]

If your town doesn't have any zoning restrictions on height, try to go with a second floor if possible. The benefit would be that it takes up less area on your property, you gain storage space or even a finished room. The overall cost could be substantially less & you can almost double the square footage by having the second floor. Think about it in terms of excavating & backfilling less & using a lot less concrete for floor space. You will need a roof no matter how high the building is & the only major cost difference will be larger ceiling joists, adding wood flooring upstairs, & some additional exterior sheathing.

I designed a second floor for my garage & have no idea how I'd function without it. 

[craigandlynda]

guys, you have been great.... i need to show these pics to my wife...get her reaction...let her know this is why she wont be getting that paris vacation...lol....actually, i want her to see how nice a garage can be...she needs to see ideas, not just visualize mentally...

[bzabodyn]

In the grand scheme of things, 4-post lifts are not that expensive when taking into consideration how much you are going to spend anyways... I just got a set of plans drawn for my new house I'm about to build - three car garage w/ the one car door 10' tall, two car door standard 8' tall, one car door has lift access - 11' ceilings throughout - eight foot wide "L" around front/left side (tall door side) with two separate workbenches and double-stacked cabinets along the walls - I want to say it's like 1100-1200 sq ft total... left 24' long "footprints" for vehicle parking and then 8' around front/left side like mentioned...

I wish it was about a year from now and maybe I could show you pics! Just need to find that money tree!

BZ