Need help with garage design

[Bill]

I'm trying to get together a design for a 1 1/2 bay free standing garage and I need a couple of questions either answered or directions on where to go to get the answers (I've been told where to go on several occasions but that place doesn't seem to have what I need now :)

The garage will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 foot wide by 24 foot deep with a 15 foot ceiling. The height is for a future car lift so I can change oil and tires on my vehicles in my old age without bending over :)

First things first, before I can really get into this I have to get a working draft of the plan that I can submit to the local code thugs so I can find out if where I want to put it will be allowed. Real pain in the behind since if they wont let me put it where I need to put it then the entire project will have to be scrapped. :( So needless to say I wont be spending money on a 'bought' plan since there is a chance I'd never get to use it.

So I'm starting out with the basics, the foundation, after digging around a bit I'm kinda stumped as to what I need. So here are the questions.

1. How deep will I have to make the footer if our local frost line is 32 inches and my soil is very heavy clay. Do I have to make it like an inverted 'T' or can I just go straight down.
2. This will be a framed building with plywood sheeting and siding on the outside and sheetrock on the inside. How wide must I make the footer, 4,

6, 8, 10 inches???

1. My soil is a very heavy clay do I have to put drainage around the bottom of the footer?

2. I want to dig and pour the footer first then later after the building is up have the floor poured, mainly since I plan on doing all but the slab myself I figured it could be the last thing I do budget wise and I could even hold off if money was tight and still get use from the building. Should I make a 'lip' on the inside of the footer and pour the slab on over it or can I just pour it to butt up against the footer.

Sorry to be long but I'm kinda stuck here until I can get this figured out. If I was out in the boonies like my Dad I'd just put up a pole barn and be done with it but here in civilization I have to do better.

Thanks

Bill

[Chuck News]

Sorry to give this answer but you had better check first with the building department where you live. You will probably need an architect/engineer to do the design and you will have to apply for a building permit. Once that is done you can build it yourself if you like. At least all the answers to the questions that you are asking will have been answered.

Good luck...

CID...

[Bill]

"Chuck News" wrote in news:tdGdnRln8NqBQmzanZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

According to the local code police all I need is a plan they can check and sign off on, it doesn't have to be from an architect or engineer. Most of the building design software I've looked at will default to something that will meet code but none of them could tell me about the footers I'd need to pour for my area. Once I can determine the footer/slab combo I can come up with a plan that can be checked by whoever does so on our local code police board.

I did go back and re-read the original email I received from the code police and realized I'd blurred together two lines, after all it was two years ago when I got it originally. I had thought it had said I had to submit a plan and give them an idea where I wanted to put the garage before they could tell me if I could put it there, what was actually said was I could submit the plan to them for approval and that they needed to know the zone I was in to let me know if the setbacks I wanted were allowable. I blame my mother for this, I got her memory, I forgot was was said and managed to rearrange things to make it harder. I've since emailed them back with my location and where I want to put it so I'm hoping to find out if I SOL or not in the next day or so.

Bill

Bill

[Chuck News]

Don, you know the risk he is taking with that direction I hope. At least you are a Residential Designer and know more about construction than others. Lots of detailing for moisture penetration, structural design, framing, foundation, etc. If not built correctly things will happen to the construction and he will eventually have to fix it correctly at a lot more cost.

Now say your sorry........ :-[}

DID...

[Chuck News]

Good Luck...

CID...