For 6 years now I've been throwing ideas around for a garage design to replace the one I lost from moving to a new house I have enough pre-fab 28' rafters to build a 28'x40'. The rafters are 6/12 pitch with a collar tie half way up( 3' up from bottom of rafter).
Some needs to meet:
1. 12'ceiling for a future lift.
2. A steel cross beam for a trolley and chain fall.
3. In floor heating.
4. Safe for welding fabrication.
5. Adequate insulation for reasonable heating.
6. One or two overhead doors in the front??
7. An upstairs for storage??
8. Of course, room for a couple FORD trucks!!

I know I might not be able to meet all these issues with one building but, maybe with some help I can get most of them. I haven't designed many garages and thought perhaps I could pick your brains and try and get it right the first time. It will be built by myself and my jerk of all trades buddies on a limited budget.

1995 F250 4X4 351-AUTO

 

Floor heat is definitely the way to go. If you insulate well, you'll have a very cost efficient "shop" to heat. Our 28X40 stays warm all winter and cool all summer (in ND). If you've got the budget, make your inside walls white sheet metal to reflect light with surface mount electric to really make it airtight. Good luck, building your dream "shop" can be a lot of fun

 

There are a few topics here on garage design, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. I hope you find them useful.

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A neat idea if your going for 12' walls is to build the bottom 2' of the walls out of concrete blocks, then frame using 10' studs. keeps the bottom plate dry if your using the shop for anything wet. and also gives a bit more fire protection for welding.