Make the floor concrete, that way you can install a lift

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Ich liebe meine Autos!

1991 Mercedes-Benz 560SEL | Megasquirt MS3-Pro | 722.6 transmission w/ AMG paddles | Feind Motorsports Sway Bar | Stinger VIP Radar | AntiLaser Priority | PLX Wideband O2 | 150A Alternator | Cat Delete
1981 Mercedes-Benz 300SD | Blown engine, rebuilding someday...
1981 Mercedes-Benz 300SD | Rear ended, retired in garage.
2009 Yamaha AR230HO | Das Boot

Excessive speeding? It ain't excessive till I redline!

Make the floor concrete, so you don't get dirt on and in everything.

Not all lifts require a concrete floor, and not all concrete floors can hold all lifts.

Tall enough to accomodate a lift.
Windows placed in areas, that when the windows are open, you get a nice breeze (during those precious days, when it is ok to open a window).
Places for fans and, if you have the money, nice insulation for the A/C.

Oh! ... and an extra spot for me and my car

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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein


09 Jetta TDI
1985 300D

A bunch of good suggestions.

My garage is detached due to the nature of the site my home is on. Since it had to be detached and there was a serious grade differential from front to back I decided to make a level under the main level accessible from the rear. Over that is a structural concrete floor built from precast plank with a 2-3" topping slab. The lower level is connected to the upper with a stair. The lower level has two single doors and a person door. The floor has styrofoam under it and tubes in case I want to heat it later. It has a heat pump too which I removed from my office building. (That is not working correctly but it is supposed to keep temp and humidity at the levels you select).

On the main level is a double door on my side with a hole intended to provide access from below for oil changes etc. I have never used it so far and it is filled with a semi permanent plug. There is a separate single garage that is attached to the one bedroom mother in law apartment above. This was built to pay for the rest of the garage and partially for my house.

The footprint of the garage/carriage house is 28 x 32 iirc.

The apartment has a nice living dining area, a full kitchen, a laundry pantry, a full bath and a bedroom. There are ample storage areas, central air with a gas furnace, good views into our little woods and a balcony that hangs out over my driveway so that when my MIL watered her flowers it dripped mudddy stuff onto my cars parked below (outside the garage).

The design of the carriage house/ garage matches the home architectually. The home is a kindof modern design with the main living area having a roof line that is 12/12 facing south and north. There are 12 large skylights collecting passive solar heat into the home on the south. Another three large and two small skylights on the north are strategically located to provide light and views.

Before we built this house in '91 we had a very lovely old home which had solid brick exterior walls and almost no natural lighting available due to the way it sat on the wrong side of the hill. ( I built a large apartment in that too in the beginnning to help pay the mortgage).

Before designing our new (present) home I asked the Mrs. what she wanted in the new home....she said lots of light.

In the winter the skylights over the stairs throw light all the way to the north side of the house. It has more light inside in the winter than in the summer due to the sun angles.

We spend more to heat water than to heat the house.

We also have a five hundred SF apartment in the basement which we built originally for my son when he attended Purdue. It is now occupied by a young Colombian Mechanical Engineering student who is the nephew of a good friend of the Mrs.

I guess I kindof got carried away describing the garage. Describing a building I designed is kindof like describing one of your children.

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

It sounds great, Tom. I'd love to see a picture of it.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
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