I have built a couple of residential garages for myself in the past and it looks like another one may happen next year. Stick built with trusses. The question I have is in the past I have always framed everything for an 8′ ceiling height only to have to wrestle with special hardware etc. so the garage door would make the corner etc.
I did the 8′ height because I am cheap and lazy and wanted to use 4’X8′ sheathing. This time I am re-thinking my miserly and less cutting/nailing ways. So what height do you guys use? Thanks! DanT
Replies
minimum of 12" over the ht. of the door... better is 15"
so a 7'-6 door would be 8'- 9
an 8' door would be 11".... if the floor is pitched ( say 3" from back to front ) .... the 3" becomes part of the ht..... so...12" + 3" pitch would give you the 15" you should use
Normal track headroom is 18" over the door height (anything less is 'low headroom' track w/ torsion springs) - so a 7' door plus 18" = 8'-6" minimum.
Jeff
Edited 10/25/2009 8:02 pm ET by Jeff_Clarke
You can get a 6"6" door with torsion spring that will allow an 8' height. A pick-up truck won't fit in but most new cars will.
Thanks guys! Well....9' it is! Must have been one of those things you don't think about although I would have thought I would have gotten it right on the second try lol. I am going to hire the door install this time as it takes me forever to get the darn things adjusted correctly and it takes a pro a couple of hours. Thanks again. DanT
you don't need to increase your wall framing height if you allow for the extra space needed in the block work. such as mike smith suggested
At this point I planned just a slab with poured footers. I have used that with success before and saved money in the process. But this is being done in sandy soil in Michigan so maybe I will rethink that as I go through the planning process. Thanks! DanT
Me, I would and did a 10' ceiling. Flipping a sheet is not a problem.
10' sticks lean nicely against the wall.
8' garage door too, what are you driving? At least 9' wide.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Good point. If you are going 9 might as well do 10. Can't generally buy a stock 9' wall stud lol. And the 8' door sounds like a winner. DanT
8' will allow my 3/4 ton van with ladder rack/ladder in no problem.
9' wide I can enter fwd or reverse, but proceed slowly. Shoulda put in a 10', but garage houses the 2 cars, van on rare occasion.
Where in Mi? Summer home.
edit: I used 8's, built the block up.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Edited 10/26/2009 7:06 am ET by calvin
14 feet, that way a car lift will fit inside
Gladwin County. Above Midland a bit. Nice place on a river, 3BR, 1 1/2 bath, needed TLC. 2 large lots with a bunch of trees. 100k. Good deal being on the water. About 30 houses in the area and the rest is state land so no more building to speak of. But still has cable lol. DanT
Hmmm.Midland...River...Location, location, location...Here's what my old friend (...and HS gym coach back in the 60s, ...and a helluva framer in his day) Jay Stielstra had to say:***************************I met her in Midland, Michigan,
A quarter century ago,
She loved me down by the edge of town,
where the Tittabawassee flowed. She's my Tittabawassee Jane's her name,
Tittabawassee Jane,
The river there must be named after her,
She's my Tittabawassee Jane.She worked at the old Dow Chemical plant,
I waited for her shift to end,
She made napalm, or some kind of bomb,
But I wasn't too political then.She's my...The air it smelled like kerosene,
Whatever Dow blew out,
And the river was laced with lumps of waste,
Called Tittabawassee trout.She's my...Now, I haven't been back in 25 years,
But the company magazine,
Says the air blows fresh in Midland, Mich,
And the Tittabawassee's clean.Well, I won't tell you who to believe,
Dow's been known to lie,
And I don't care what they do to the air,
But the Tittabawassee's mine.She's my Tittabawassee Jane's her name,
Tittabawassee Jane,
The river there must be named after her,
She’s my Tittabawassee Jane.*****************************Jay wrote a halfway decent "Folk Opera" around that song, and it made a complete tour of the state (including, of course, a run in Grand Marais, on the shores of Lake Superior) back, Oh, a quarter century ago.AitchKay
I love Gladwin county. I shot my first, and only deer there way back before the baiting days. I took it with a recurve bow and drilled it through the heart. It was quite a thrill sneaking through the swamps and ambushing a youngun coming out of the thicket for evening grits. I didn't hunt much after that. We almost bought property on a couple of lakes in Gladwin a few times. I love that county with a capital L.
"Can't generally buy a stock 9' wall stud lol"
Yes, you can, at least around here we can buy 104 5/8" precut studs
my lumber yard stocks 8', 88", 92 5/8" & 104 5/8"Mike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
What are the 88" for?Never heard of that one stocked as standard.John
7'6" wall.
Code is minimum of 7'6" so they go over it to allow the strapping that the boys in NE like to do>G<
Edited 10/30/2009 4:08 pm ET by frammer52
I wouldn't think there would be enough demand for a 7'6" room to warrant stocking pre cuts. Must be regional. I've never built one that size in 40 years.John
It is done all the time. First floor at 8' second at 7.6". More normal lately, is 8' second, 9' first.
I think the 10' makes sense. I especially like the point of some ceiling storage space. Some of the junk you collect doesn't get used a lot so having it in the air would be no harm/no foul. Thanks for all the good pointers guys! You are right about the 104 studs. I remember them now. DanT
Dan T,
Here in S. Texas most new construction slab foundation homes w/ attached garages will have the garage floor dropped 3.5" at the back and the floor slopes to the front 2" or more providing an extra 6+ inches of height over a precut call-out stud wall. The walls are curbed up so that they can remain level and the floor can slope. The slope insures that if there is a fluid leak, (water line break or fuel tank leak) the spills will drain out the garage door opening and avert excessive damage. It also provides evidence of a problem before you open the door and hit an electric switch causing an accidental explosion. We are also required to provide 8/16 wall vents located low at each car bay that will keep gas fumes from filling the room. They are known as suicide vents. Not having them can be deadly.
Having the walls curbed up from the floor also provides the extra height needed at the Garage door openings for the door hardware. This allows for a 7' tall door to work with precut 8' studs, and so on. The most common mistake, (IMO), made on stand alone garages is not curbing the walls up off the floor. this crowds the door mechanisms and eliminates the slopes.
I feel this is one element of garage slab building that should not be compromised. I once did a price comparison to see if eliminating the curbs was a cost effective omission for equal height ceilings that were correct for the doors to work as designed. Adding height to the frame wall is more expensive than adding concrete curbs to attain the same height on a finished interior garage. One last trick that I insist on is that the curbs be wider than the walls by 2" and that they be finished with a bull-nose trowel to the inside. This provides enough surface for the finishers to do a neater job of leveling the curbs, the framers can pop a straight line on them too, and the interior finish is neater since the wall trim buts to the curb instead of hanging over it. Being thicker, it is also stronger to imbed the J-bolts in.
To me, eliminating the curb is "Jumping over a Dollar to pick up a Dime".
There are more unmentioned benefits to the curbs too. Remember to place the J-bolts and any plumbing in the center of the wall plate and not the center of the curb. Add at least 4" to the RO of the doors at the curbs too. the doors should have a 3/4" flash bump for the door to lap over the floor at the apron too. I hope I covered enough to make my point. Good luck.
Mr Jalp
Thanks!I'm in the planning stages of my garage/shop. I don't know if a curb would save me much money/grief in the height department, since I'm going with at least 10' ceiling height.But, although I want to have a dead-flat floor for the shop, I want to build in slope, as you recommend. I'd imagine that the amount of slope you're talking about would be barely perceptible, if at all. Am I right?To further complicate things, though, I'm going to have a wood floor for sure, maybe over a basement if I can afford one. I hate concrete floors, and I want to be able to do layout, screw down jigs, etc, maybe some boat lofting, so it's wood all the way.I'm thinking Advantech OSB for durability, but I'm not sure about the best construction detail to achieve the slope. What do you think?AitchKay
Is this garage/shop for cars also? How does a wood floor work for that, or are auto and shop areas separate?FWIW my shop is a separate building. I put barn doors on it, no door tracks, etc. in the way overhead.John
It will be primarily a shop.City lot. Can't call it a shop. Has to have a garage door, and be called a garage.Wood floor less than ideal for garage use, especially with wheel-well snow build-up here in Mich, but Ice-Guard strips on the joists should help, along with caulking the T&G as it's being laid.Local archi did this on her own steep-site house 20 years ago, wishes that she had built in inspection ports, but hasn't had any problems.AitchKay
Any ideas out there for this type of construction?Aitchkay
Sorry AK,
I'm with JohnCujie on building separate buildings for each purpose. Cars should be parked in a concrete floor garage. Wooden wood shop floor should be beefed up to support machinery, but flat and level for jig building. IMO
A dual purpose idea would be concrete floor for auto storage and short heavy duty MDF topped shop tables with level adjuster legs for jig building.
Mr Jalp
Yep, "Cars should be parked in a concrete floor garage." --- But that would be in a perfect world, and if all you're thinking about is parking cars.I'm building in the back of a 45'x132' urban lot, though, in an historic district, no less.And who said I'm parking cars there primarily? It's a shop!"...flat and level for jig building...?" No, all you need is dead flat. Level doesn't matter.So, aside from telling me that I have to move out into the sticks, any suggestions?I have no doubt that I'm going to make this thing work. That won't be a problem.I don't believe in re-inventing the wheel, and that's why I'm casting about for input from others who've been there, done that."Sorry, Dude, impossible," doesn't fly with me. I've got a lot of good ideas kicking around between me and my bros, and we'll do just fine.So I'll focus on the "Can Do," and, "What If," guys, and toss out the input from the naysayers.AitchKay
First off, I think you should start your own thread rather than divert this one.
If you don't like the responses, maybe you should broaden your thinking about the project possibilities, or simply ignore the reply. Even nay-sayers will provide inspirational ideas if you don't jump to negative conclusions so fast.
...and as I stated previously, "IMO", not the word of god or your local building authority. You do whatever you want. Good Luck to Ya.
Btw, one of the primary reasons for building wooden floors level is the walls, assuming they will stack on the floor, will be simpler to construct with level top plates. It's just common sense for common building practices. But your question is not about common construction, start your own thread and ask this same question on several different construction forums.
I have over the years built jigs for walls and trusses and also bent wood forms. Trusses are much easier to jig off a wooden floor, for walls I prefer 8" tall tables under shade trees, and for bent wood I used 4 by 8 (or larger, MDF comes in larger sizes) shop tables with 18" (+ or -) height tops. Need more area than that, attach them together.
Also, you can build structural concrete floors with basements under them. Ask your foundation contractor about it.
You owe me $0.02.
Thanks, Mr Jalapeno,I should have hit delete on that last word. Never press SEND after 11:00. I was asking for problem-solving because you've obviously done a lot -- I like your "box," and I'm going to use that trick when appropriate.Since I’m “broadening my thinking about the project possibilities” away from a narrow definition of what makes a garage, I figured a guy like you, who regularly thinks outside the box, would be a good resource.30-some posts down the line, fresh comments like your sloped floor/level curb post add new life to a thread. That’s great. And I wasn’t diverting, I was responding directly to your post, because I agree that sloping the floor is a good idea.“Btw, one of the primary reasons for building wooden floors level is the walls, assuming they will stack on the floor, will be simpler to construct with level top plates.”Am I missing something? I don’t think my walls will care if they’re being built on a sloped wood floor or a sloped concrete floor. They just have to be built square, and lifted onto the level curb, don’t they? Or do you always jig your walls outside on a table when you slope your floors? You didn’t mention that at first. And, yes, I know that I can have a structural concrete floor with a basement under it. Certainly doable.But I don’t want a concrete floor, I want a wood floor! And I know I can have my Kate and Edith, too.AitchKay
level is very important. my field shop is not level, everytime I lay my pemcil down it rolls off the table. I bet I spend thirty minute every day looking for my pencil
I hear ya! BTDT!My last shop was in an old slaughterhouse -- tracks and meathooks above, grooves in the floor going to drains for the blood and everything -- nice and creepy.And steep pitches? Yow! I remember shouting for my partner as I grabbed and stabilized a rack of finished parts that had taken off across the floor for a drain. I caught it just as one caster went down the hole. All I could do was hold on and keep things from falling until he got there.That place was awful. And if you shifted a machine over an inch, you’d have to completely re-level it. I swore that my next shop would have a FLAT floor.What MrJalapeno is talking about, though, is a 2” slope over, I’d guess, 24’ or so -- 1” in 12’. That’s pretty gentle. But, like you, I’m still cautious. That’s why I asked him, “I'd imagine that the amount of slope you're talking about would be barely perceptible, if at all. Am I right?” He hasn’t gotten back to me on that.My 100-year-old house has a slope of about 4” from one corner to the diagonally-opposite corner about 35’ or so away. You don’t notice that slight slope, but then, it’s broken up into different rooms.But you certainly know which corners to look in after the kids play marbles!Maybe I’ll go a bit closer to level than MrJalapeno, since it’ll be primarily a shop. What do you think?AitchKay
i think it's a holdover from the energy days of the '70's....
88" stud gives a rough ht. of 92 5/8... which gives a finished ht. of 7'6".... minimum code ceiling ht.Mike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
>>>If you are going 9 might as well do 10.The other angle is that if you ever want to use this as a shop, it's really nice to have the headroom that easily allows an 8' sheet to be flipped around.Scott.
how about 8' walls with a 5/12 pitch with a 4/12 catedral clg inside?
in the middle you would have 9'.
the older i get ,
the more people tick me off
In the past the issue is the tracks for the door toward the outside walls so a higher middle would be of no value, not to mention extra money for a special truss. DanT
i was thinking one thing and wrote another. if you have a 4/12 vaulted clg in a 24 wide garage on 8' walls you have a 12' peak.
i was thinking,that if you step in 4' on each side for a 16' door,the clg will have 9' clearance for a door at that point.
this is how my garage is done with the exception of at 9' the clg flattens out with the clg joist running flat.
the more i write the more confused i get...........
no matter what i would shoot for over 8',it just makes it feel better.the older i get ,
the more people tick me off
10' walls. nothing less. almost any truck w/ rack can fit inside
12' is better. it's all just a little more work and money.
Ever try to build an 8' cabinet in a 8' garage? Worse if the ceiling lights are surface mounted. Door tracks are a pain too.
In order to suit the ground level of our lot, we dropped the floor level of our garage,which meant that the ceiling height is approx 12 feet. What that means is I can hang my canoe on the ceiling, above where the cars sit and above the door track, and I also built a rack for above the doors to keep the winter tires in summer (and summer tires in winter).
I really like the extra headroom; in your case, I'd certainly go with 10 ft.