Garage height...8 feet or 10 feet?

[NapalmHeart]

I built with 10 ft. and haven't been sorry. I would say if there is any doubt, go with the taller ceiling height.

Ken (MI)

[dbuckley]

Sold on 10ft. Thanks all for the great responses.

My new plan is to lay 2 courses of 8" concrete block and then use standard 8ft studs and work with 8ft sections of wall so I can tilt them up myself. I will use morter to lay the block, screen after first course and then fill the second course with concrete (or morter?) with j bolts. Do I need to fill each block on the second course? or just the ones with the jbolts?

[Bob G.]

============================= Sorry about the double posts yesterday...lost my internet connection and thought I lost the first post completely ...

This post is concerning the doors.... I installed roll up doors similar to the doors found on loading docks... the cost was only a few dollars more then a regular door....the advantage is that they do not take up any room inside the garage ...do not hang over your head when open etc....no tracks takling up ceiling space and do not interfer with lights...

Bob G.

[Philip Lewis]

From where does the extra height come?

(I&#39;m assuming 8" block with ~1" morter each = 1.5&#39; +8&#39; = 9.5&#39; + .25 (top/bottom plate) < 10&#39;

I&#39;d consider a third layer of block and going just over 10&#39;.

Are not "studs" 7&#39;9 anway? so stud + top &bottom plates = 8&#39;.

I don&#39;t know what standard building practice is... so i&#39;m talking out of my butt... but i&#39;d think that you&#39;d want the wall to be tied together mechanically... Plopping rebar through the common holes in the block and cementing it in place. That might be overkill.

Is the space now or ever going to be climate controled? If so, what about using the insulation blocks that fill with cement? You might want to consider insulating under the slab as well.

[Rich-out-West]

As others have posted, I&#39;d go 10ft. Just imagine trying to stand a

4x8 sheet of plywood on end under an 8ft ceiling - that extra 2ft will really make a big difference. I also like the idea of at least a foot or so of concrete at the wall bases. It will make cleanup much less of a chore. We just finished up sheetrock work in the attached 3-car garage for our new house. Due to complexities in our design, we had some walls that were framed all the way from basically floor height and others that sat over 1ft concrete stem walls. In other words, we had both 9 and 10 ft walls to frame. One thing that made the job easier was getting both 1/2" CDX sheathing and drywall in 4x10 sheets. Pre-cut studs are also available for 10ft walls (116-5/8"). Many people don&#39;t know about 4x10 sheets of plywood. You won&#39;t find them at the big box, but a decent lumber yard should carry them. Finally, be careful to maintain enough room for the garage door hardware. I had to run some ventilation ducts and plumbing waste lines along the middle of our garage ceiling. By the time they were soffitted in, it put a real squeeze on the door hardware. We ended up going with low headroom tracks on all three doors and one still had no room left for an automatic opener (no big deal right now since this stall is essentially shop space). And if you want a really clean look, make sure to install wires beforehand for the garage door opener buttons and safety sensors. I luckily remembered to do this the afternoon prior to the crew showing up to hang rock.

Richard Johnson PE Camano Island, WA

[Drew Eckhardt]

My classic Land Cruiser FJ40 will not clear a standard door on an 8&#39; garage with the ski rack on.

[HerHusband]

I know block is common in many parts of the country, but I really prefer poured concrete. It&#39;s stronger, and less likely to leak, shift, or crack. Around here we put 1/2" rebar in the footing, 1/2" rebar in the top of the wall, and short vertical 1/2" rebar sections every 4&#39; tying the footing and wall together. All rebar and anchor bolts have to be wired in place and inspected before the concrete is poured. It&#39;s practically indestructable!:)

Yes, you have to build the forms and take them down again afterwards, but the actual concrete pour is usually done in less than an hour. You work fast and hard, but it&#39;s very satisfying when you pull the forms and see the final work.

And, you can always hire the foundation out if you&#39;re not comfortable with that part.

Anthony

[mesquito_creek]

Yes, you should tie the top course of block together, its called a bond beam. #4 steel continueous in the top course of your stem/pony whatever you want to call it... 48inches O.C. solid grout on your verticle steel and at every corner or door etc....

Regarding height, I build my detached garage 24x36 with 9 foot ceilings, BUT the car parking spot is set 4 inches lower than the workspace at grade. So net on the lintel that spans the garage door opening (8&#39;x16&#39;) is 16 inches. Making the net ceiling hieght in the car park 9&#39;4".

[Matt Whiting]

I&#39;ve never done 8&#39; and regretted it, but I&#39;ve built two garages with 10&#39; or higher ceilings and it is great. In both I installed doors that were

8&#39; high and didn&#39;t regret that either as I can fit my full-size truck with hi-rise cap in with no problems. With an 8&#39; ceiling you&#39;ll be able to fit at most a 7&#39;6" high door and maybe able only to fit a 7&#39; door. It isn&#39;t unusual to have a vehicle (truck/SUV/full-size van) that exceeds that height.

Matt

[jaykchan]

Taller is better. I also want to do woodworking in my garage. In order to capture all the dust from woodworking tools at the source, I want to install a very good dust collector -- and I really want to install a "cyclone" style dust collector. The problem is that the ceiling in my garage is low and cyclone needs to be tall in order to effectively capture all the very fine dusts (something to do with spinning down the fine dusts to slow them down and let them fall to the dust bin at the bottom of the cyclone). Therefore, the only place that I can position the cyclone is in the middle of the garage where the top of the cyclone can stick out between the trusses. But this creates other complication that has conflict with other stuff in the garage. Consequently, I get a regular dust collector instead of a cyclone. Unfortunately, that regular dust collector cannot filter out as fine dust as the cyclone. If my garage had a high ceiling, I would not have to make that compromise.

Jay Chan

[Bob G.]

=================== Not at all hard to make your own "cyclone" ...almost any 2 Hp single stage can be converted into a Cyclone simply by adding a trash can to the system and buying a lid that most of the vendors sell ....No matter what brand just get get the smallest micron size you can... Guess it really depends on your definituion of Good vs Excellent vs...works "pretty" good...

Run over to Alt. Rec Woodworking...the subject comes up every 3rd day...

Bob G.

[Joseph]

replying to dbuckley, Joseph wrote: Im looking to build a garage to help a friend he wants its slab of 12x20 and to make the pitch come right off front of his house for one car personal use if i got an 8' x 8' door what size opening would i have to fram in for it

[hubops]

.. dunno. for a real nice fit - I'd frame it a tad smaller - then plane down the door. If it's a metal door - you might need to re-sharpen your hand plane a few times. John T.

[hubops]

.. I guess .. you're right, again .. a hand plane doesn't stay sharp for long - on those steel I-Beams or concrete. I give up. It can't be done. John T.

[trader_4]

What do the install instructions for the door say? If you have to ask, might not be a good idea to be doing this work for someone else. 8x8 is an odd door size too.