New garage - looking for ideas, need to make some design decisions

[mikester]

I'm looking at adding a 30x50 garage with a second story and two double width doors for parking 4 cars.

I have local height restrictions max 8.0 m or about 24 feet to the peak. Ideally I am looking at an 8 foot finished ceiling height in the garage and a sloped ceiling on the second floor. For walls I want to go with ICF and the second floor to be steel truss with reinforced concrete so I am losing about 2 feet for the 2nd floor but will have clear span underneath. I also plan to super-insulate everything for my cold climate to make heating the space cheaper.

Question 1: Garage doors: I'm thinking of going with 16' x 7' insulated doors. Does anyone have any regrets going that size for parking pickup trucks and SUV's? I want to be able to park 4 cars comfortably...or at least comfortably enough for my better half to park ;-)

I find standard insulated sectional doors don't seal very well and are poorly insulated. Has anyone gone with bifold doors and have experiences to share?

In theory you can better seal and insulate these doors than the sectional roll up doors.

Interesting link for this style of door

Bifold Doors - Lift Straps | Better Hinges, Wedges & Trusses

Schweiss Bifold Lift Strap Doors have less parts, less problems, less maintenance. Schweiss certified installers will install your bifold door.

www.bifold.com

Differences Between One-Piece Hydraulic Doors vs. Bifold Doors

Schweiss shows the comparison between Hydraulic doors and Bifold doors

www.bifold.com

 

[B7510HSD]

The only thing I see is these appear to take up quite a bit of head space when open?

 

[mikester]

Differences Between One-Piece Hydraulic Doors vs. Bifold Doors

Schweiss shows the comparison between Hydraulic doors and Bifold doors

www.bifold.com

These guys claim less headroom loss can be achieved. You also lose headroom with roll up and sectional doors

 

[B7510HSD]

My roll ups are above my door opening these pictures they show not so much..

 

[KennyG]

8 foot ceiling? Are you going to do anything but park in there? My pole building has 12 foot ceilings and I wouldn't want anything less. I have 7 foot high doors on my garage and my F-150 antenna hits the door and I can't get the tractor in with the ROPs up. I park in the pole barn because of that.

I can see 7 foot doors and 8 foot ceilings in a two car garage but not in a 30X50 building.

 

[B7510HSD]

8 foot ceiling? Are you going to do anything but park in there? My pole building has 12 foot ceilings and I wouldn't want anything less. I have 7 foot high doors on my garage and my F-150 antenna hits the door and I can't get the tractor in with the ROPs up. I park in the pole barn because of that.

I can see 7 foot doors and 8 foot ceilings in a two car garage but not in a 30X50 building.

He is going to have a second story I think is why the lower head room

 

[KennyG]

I understand the two levels and the height restriction, but, if I was doing it, I would still get more headroom in the first floor. (It's always fun to rework other peoples projects.)

Anyway, with 24 feet allowed height on a 30 wide building, let's assume a 1 in 4 roof slope. That's less than 4 feet lost in the roof slope. Allow another 2 feet for rafter and joist thickness and you have 18 feet to work with. I would do 11 or 12 foot ceiling on the first floor. The second floor would have 6 or 7 foot wall height, going on to 10 or 11 feet at the peak. I would make the doors 8 feet at a minimum and would prefer to have at least one as tall as the ceiling would allow.

 

[D&D]

IME, I would use 4 doors. A 16 x7 doesn’t allow enough room to get a FS p/u and FS car in side by side . My p/u is 8’6” by itself
A decent sectional door can be well insulated

How Energy Efficient Garage Doors Can Lower Your Energy Bills | Amarr®

Energy efficient garage doors not only secure the largest opening in your home, but they can also lower your energy bills over time. Learn how to save energy.

www.amarr.com

 

[LD1]

Given the height restriction, as well as the cost of a clearspan and concreted second floor (which sounds astronomically expensive) just to have 3000 sq ft of space with an 8' ceiling.....why not just build a single level? 40x72, 40x80, 48x64, etc. Have half be your shop and half be for whatever you were going to use the upstairs for. Then you can go with 10' ceilings and comfortably do 8' high doors.

Not sure why you would want to do a second floor, and have both of them be height limited.

The steel truss and concreted second floor alone sounds like it will cost more than an entire building of twice the size. Not to mention the engineering that has to go into the walls/footings to hold the weight of that second floor

 

[ericm979]

Pole barn style buildings can be made with significant insulation. There's also a lot less thermal bridging through the framing than with stick frame. Unless ICF is really common in your area and pole frame is not, the pole barn is probably cheaper.

I agree with the comments about 8' ceilings being too short and the concrete and steel second floor likely being expensive.