The ultimate garage scenario

[suicidedoordavid]

I’m looking for ideas when it comes to building the ultimate garage that will fit all of my needs. Right now my current garage was built by my landlord back in the 80s and currently isn’t the most efficient. Eventually when I buy the house, or purchase another home, the garage will be something I’d like to have built with all the amenities that will suite my needs.
What part of your garage do you like the most that you feel would be an asset? I’m open to all ideas and will copy/paste all ideas in this original post as they come in.

First off, about me. 43 year old that’s always had and still do, have Volkswagens in the driveway. I’m mechanically inclined, and pretty much your typical guy that usually fix just about anything, provided I have the tools. Not much experience in house construction, but I can create stuff with wood if needed.
Having said this, I’m thinking of one building divided into 2-3 car bays, one of them with a car lift a small exercise room/multi media type room, 1 or 2 smaller rooms that can be used as a dirt room (for grinding metal/cutting wood/parts cleaning, etc), a clean room (for assembling engines, etc).

This is ideas I’m looking for.
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david duplessis

[obus]

https://www.garagejournal.com/

or here

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=153797
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July 1959 Mango Standard Bus aka Obus L346 L347 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256592&highlight=
June 1973 Pumpkin Orange Thing aka Othing L30H
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711775&highlight=
1960 Paprika Red Karmann Ghia Convertible aka Schatze L452 built 5/20/60
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=
66 21 window bus built 8/31/65 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=777273

[busdaddy]

My priorities would be plenty of shelf space and tool storage areas, one single tiny work bench since I can't seem to keep a bench from getting cluttered, and a shitter nearby would be handy as well Oh yeah, and triple the electrical and air outlets you think you need, no cord or hose is quite long enough, and wire it for sound, some days you just want to hang out and listen to the badassed sound system you made sure was included in the build while you look at your projects or shiny things. And lights, more than you need now, once you age everything seems darker, leave room for more lighting!
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[hitest]

If you're looking for pictures- the thread above works. But if you want ideas about what people have done and had success, what sucked, etc., this seems like a perfect spot for discussion. I only have half of these:

You can never have enough outlets-including a couple in the ceiling.
Prewire for 220v in a couple spots
A ceiling high enough for a two post lift to raise a bus
Have everything above the floor/easy to sweep around
If you are pouring concrete- talk the flatworker guys into a square that's level and a reinforced area for the two post lift you want now
You can never have too many light rough-ins and a couple for ceiling fans.
Plumb for air from one side to the other- with drains at each low spot
Have outlets on the outside of the garage
-and a frost free water spigot close by
Some like water in the garage- but Murphy's law says the pipe will freeze and burst while your skiing in Vail
Have cross ventilation- window or door options on all sides so you can breathe in any weather with any wind direction.
An exhaust fan is a good idea

I've grown to detest the site of all my spare parts (incl. bikes, MCs, camping, etc) stored in totes in the same garage- I'm considering storage outside the main garage- but no too far away to access (my barn).
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[TDCTDI]

Compressor in an enclosed room outside of the workspace for both safety & noise reasons.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[photogdave]

Good ventilation.
Good heat.
Good a/c.
High enough ceiling that you can put a high top camper on the lift and still walk under it upright!
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[oprn]

All of the above with the addition of a small kitchen, bathroom with shower and a bedroom off one end. This would make having a house too of no real value saving a pile of money to be used for project cars instead!

[Glenn]

My friend is building this.... 3 bays with a second floor for storage.

It's bigger than his house.
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Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"

Member #1009

#BlueSquare

[cdennisg]

[ach60]

[cbeck]

A door taller than 7'.
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My cut in half and rebuild thread
www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647779

[grandpa red]

We bought our house 6 years ago and there was no garage.
Checked with the city before final closing and was told we could build.

I decided on going with a 26' x 30' then my wife and son said I should go bigger.
So 30' x 34' with an upstair attic was the final size and had the plans drawn up by a local architect.My attic space is 15' x30' with stairs.No water or bathroom.I had two 220V outlets installed for a compressor and welder.

I got about 6 bids for the stemwall foundation and had my contractor friend come out from Montana to build it.


Things to consider......
Insulation in walls and roof.
Roof vents and attic fan.
Plenty of lighting including outside.
Plenty of outlets including 220V.
Water and bathroom.
Usable attic.
Insulated garage door.

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'72 Beetle

[Q-Dog]

I wish I had air conditioning and heat. And more space. There is never enough space.
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Brian

'69 Dune Buggy
'69 Beetle Convertible
'70 Beetle

[crukab]

We bought our house in 1995 w/ no Garage, we had this built:

For $15,000, site work, slab ect., the builders ran the power to it from the house, w/ 220 & phone, we wired it, I heat it w/ wood, so in Winter it takes 3 hours to heat up enough to work, we could run water & septic, but like cdennisg said, just keep it rough enough for me...
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Tom

My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....

In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon

[Mike Fisher]

Leo '69 Notchback' built this shop for his cars in Colorado.
You want at least 1 high door I think.

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https://imgur.com/user/FisherSquareback/posts
69 FI/AT square Daily Driver
66 sunroof,67,70,71,71,71AT,72,72AT,73 Parts
two 57 oval ragtops sold
'68 Karmann Ghia sold

Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up you end up with a lot of scum on the top! - Russ_Wolfe/Edward Abbey

[my59]

Having a seperate room for clean work, another for cutting, grinding and wood working is a big step up. We have a 4 horse stall/carriage barn;
I keep all the bicycles in one of the horse stalls, my sons motorbike in another with respective spares and project bits, cuts down on the WTF is this part for.
I used old cabinets labeled for bus parts, bug parts, electrical, plumbing
The fishing rods with reels are up in the joist space under the floor of the hay loft/ ping pong table room above.
With storage, if you can't see it, you waste time looking unless it's organized.
With a wood floor, the barn is way more comfortable to work in than a concrete slab floor.
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my59: Well son, my grandfather died before I got to drive it, so does that answer your question?
our79: sunroof bus w/camper interior and 2.0 FI
Other:'12 Jetta, '77 Benz 300D, and a 74 MG Midget.

[nsracing]

If you will stay single and all you want to do is hobby shop - I will hunt for a nice old building and turn that into garage/residence. A la Burn Notice TV show.

An old fire station will be best. Plenty of them in the midwest or some small towns.

How much and where is the issue and your employment.

But there are also properties out there w/ large acreages and house and workshops that are very envious to the car hobbyist.

I am a proud owner of a home in another state w/ a giant ass garage 9600 sq ft brick building and a house. The garage even has a railing/ crane for moving stuff around.

When I drove thru PA - lots of old buildings boarded up and would be a nice Burn Notice home or residence. But will take some money and TLC to appreciate the use of it.

I will rather just buy a home w/ a garage already on the property than having to build a new one. The expense is just too much.

[my59]

[nsracing]

There ya go - smart man.

I went thru PA and all kinds of run down homes in the boonies w/ humungous garages abandoned. If I were looking for a place to settle for a bit, I will get one of them. All depends what kind of employment one has to support this VW addiction.

I drove 4 hours to PA to pick up this beauty of a jack.

This is massive! Will lift 1000 lbs almost 28 inches off the ground.

[Zundfolge1432]

You like those old mechanical jacks? Me too. This is a Walker probably teens or twenties.