Building (hiring someone) a garage and very new to this.
Plan to do 42′ x 30′ x 10′, 3 stall, insulated, small shop area, dual fuel (floor heat and wood burner).
I plan to do mostly metal siding, interior and roof.
Morton or old fashioned 2′ x 6′ construction?
What are your thoughts?
My first thought is make it bigger. I have a 25 X 40 detached and a 24 X 28 attached and neither are big enough.
The attached garage has in floor heat that I keep set at 48 in the winter. Love the in-floor heat. Just make sure when somebody cuts expansion cracks in the floor, they know it has pipe in it. Don’t ask me why I know that.
2×6 construction is easier to finish inside IMHO. I have in floor heat and I didn’t cut an expansion joint for 1 reason. Once its poured, you cannot with any degree of certainty know where the tubes lay in the concrete. And once a tube is compromised, you have to abandon that loop, leaving a big dead spot in the floor that the other loops won’t be able to make up for.
Check with your insurance agent on the wood burner in a garage. They may not cover it. Something about gasoline vapors and open flames that they get worried about! 
If you are backing a boat in put on wider overhead doors. My boat on trailer is I believe 101″, never measured it. I rent a storage unit that has plenty of room overhead but I wish I had a few more inches on the width. If I had to guess it 110″ wide maybe a little more but it would sure be nice if it was a liitle wider. Even if you don’t have a boat that wide now you may some day. Also a little more depth would be nice to be a little longer, my storage unit is 30′ to the outside of walls. I park a WX2190 in it and it fits with the tounge broke away.
I have a 28’X48′ at the lake. I did 2X6 on a row of block and like it. Wish to God I would have put in in-floor heat, we have it in the basement of the house and love it. I had them rough in pluming not sure if I’d need it or not. Over the years I built a 4’X 8′ room in the back corner with a toilet and cheap shower stall and outside of the bathroom I have a nice deep laundry tub, the kind that hang on the wall. Really nice having water! I too have a woodstove but would like to add ceiling mount heater. One other thing I did was put in a set of patio doors, the natural light is nice.
I am planning 8′ x 10′ doors x 2 and the middle door will be 9′ x 10′
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I am planning 8′ x 10′ doors x 2 and the middle door will be 9′ x 10′
8′ wide or high? If wide that would be to narrow for me. not sure you will be able to get a 10′ door in a 10′ garage.
I like the double wide door. Maybe a double and a single?
Two 8’s and a 9 =25′ leaving 5 feet divided by four wall sections between the doors. Also I think 9′ high will be as tall as you can go with the doors and that might be pushing it.
10′ is width…. so two 8′ tall doors and one 9′ tall door in the middle
Anybody have thoughts about construction vs Morton?
I have no experience with either.
Quote:
10′ is width…. so two 8′ tall doors and one 9′ tall door in the middle
Anybody have thoughts about construction vs Morton?
I have no experience with either.
I prefer construction, just a personal thing. If you’re going to have three ten foot wide doors you’re going to have to change your dimensions from thirty wide to thirty six or thirty eight. Or is it 42 wide? I might have read your numbers wrong.
Morton is expensive, you can get the same quality out of a building supply kit and have someone put it up and save quite a bit. I have both a pole barn and stick frame. The stick shed is easier to finish on the inside. You would have to look at the cost difference to finish off the pole shed, it would need additional lumber to hang rock or steel on the inside.
A few things I would change about my garage if the world was perfect…
Make it bigger. At 28 x 40 it’s still too small. Always seems like I could use a couple extra feet in all directions.
Floor drains and the correct pitch to the floor. If you are going to park cars account for drainage from snow and slush in the winter. Mine doesn’t have drains and the floor is sloped to one of the walls. When it snows, I get to squeegee the floor every day for a week.
Water. I would run water to a sink so I could wash my hands before coming into the house.
More juice. I only have 50 amp service.
Additional garage door on the back to have better access to my back yard.
More outlets. I wired an outlet about every 8 feet, plus a half dozen on the ceiling. Still not enough.
I guess that’s the list and it turns out to be more than a couple things.
Drive through doors for the boat, no backing in. I would have an outdoor wood boiler for the in floor heat and have it hooked into gas for when you are away and cannot fire in the outdoor wood burner. It’s that or you need to have anti freeze mix in the lines.
I would also add a ceiling mount heater when you want to warm it up quickly. The floor drains are a must have and I would go standard 2×6 construction.
42′ wide and 30 deep.
I am going to try to make it larger but am limited somewhat by the landscape
door size is width x height. For standard hardware, you need 15″+ from the top of the door to the ceiling. However, you can order doors 8’6″ high and have them all the same. Looks better, imo.
There was talk about doors. Go with the biggest width single doors you can get. I built a 24×36 long ways and kick myself in the butt for not putting 10 ft wide doors front and back .I have a drive threw to put the boat in boat port. With new trucks with mirrors are so wide.
What I am looking for from all of you experienced guys are thoughts on Morton versus 2 x 6 construction.
I got a Morton quote for a 42′ x 30′ x 10′, 3 stall (along the 42′ side) garage with three doors that are all 10′ wide (two are 8′ tall and one is 9′ tall) with an 8 foot overhang on one side to act as a porch, concrete with a drain in the center, 5 windows, fully insulated covered R19 along the walls and R50 in the ceiling with steel siding inside and out for about 50K. The trusses in the middle are angled up which gives me more height in the center of the building for the 9′ tall door.
I am going to get 1-2, 2×6 construction quotes locally but have no idea about which way to go.
It sounds like those who have responded say construction is better?
I would go with the 2X6 construction much easier to work with, what I did was put down 2 rows of blocks and used 2X6X10 studs. I have drains and I don’t have to worry about my sill plates or any wood coming in constant contact with moisture. I can wash vehicles in side all winter and not any issues. I do wish I would have done deeper I went 30 feet and now I would of gone at LEAST 32 and 34 would of been better. It is amazing how things change after the fact. A bigger boat and bigger truck.
My dad has a Lester building at the lake and after looking at the framing which is great but I would go with a construction building because the poles are far apart and they run a 2×6 across from pole to pole for screwing the siding on so to finish the inside you would need to put extra wood in so the Sheetrock or plywood will not be soft in the middle between the poles.
Bigger
Plenty of Power outlets, drains in the floor and lighting
Dog 
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