prebuilt garage an option for a freestanding shop

[mike roe]

Hi all

I will soon, next 6 months, be moving from NJ to MD for work and am starting to look at properties. Since I am hoping to capitalize on the move as much as possible I am hoping to be able to set up a fully freestanding shop. I have been looking at some of the prebuilt garages available in the 20x20 or 24x24 size range. I was wondering if anyone did this and how it went. I would still need to insulate, heat, cool, and electrify the place but for now Im just looking at the possibilities. From what I have seen a two car garage model prebuilt and delivered runs around 6k... depending on options. any thoughts?

thanks
mike

[Scott T Smith]

Mike, my former woodshop was in a 24 x 32 garage kit from 84 lumber. It worked out fine. I would advise that you build the largest structure that you can; I don't ever recall wishing that I had a "smaller" shop but there have been many times that I wished for a larger one!

One thing that I'd do different is to put a 24" tall knee wall on top of the slab, and build the garage on top of that. This way you'll have 10' ceilings (based upon 8' wall studs), which is a great feature in a woodshop. You can obtain an extra panel for the garage doors w/o much trouble.

[David Hostetler]

FWIW, I am planning a similar setup, on a smaller scale (MUCH less land to deal with...) I would try to make sure you get a building that has a usable loft for storage etc...

Lots of folks have done this, and this is not a horrid idea. It makes things go together very quickly. However be VERY careful as to who makes your kit building. Some of them are utter junk...

[Don Bullock]

Check out my analysis if the Tuff Shed garage/shop that I had done at:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=96769

Yes, I'd do it all again, but this time I'd be able to avoid some of the problems that I had. Fortunately I don't have to worry about doing it all again.