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Building a Backyard Shop

We all may dream of building a monster shop that dwarfs our house in size and expense but in the real world we all have real world budgets, size restrictions, and even rules about what we can build in our neighborhoods. For years, I have been dreaming about building a monster shop that would even rival the Xtreme shop, but contrary to popular belief I am not the Oprah of the Off Road world and I don’t have a huge ranch like a Country Music singer. Because of this I had to scale back the original idea of a huge shop into something that was not only smaller but also would be permitted to build on my lot.

The plan was simple, build a reasonable sized garage that would fit into the look of the neighborhood but would be big enough to work on a couple of projects at a time. There were some benefits to scaling back the size of the building to a smaller 26×36 rectangle. With just under 1000 square feet the cost would be low enough to indulge on some extra “finishes” that will not only make the building better to work in, but also the perfect “mancave”.

After excavating the area where the shop would be built my concrete contractor formed up a set of footing and a 4″ slab with a 6″ perimeter footing. Before the pour three zones of radiant floor heating were secured to the metal mesh used to “lock” the poured concrete together. As my neighbors gathered to watch all the activity a few couldn’t help but laugh at the heated floor. I should probably mention that it was probably about 100 degrees at the time, and most people thought I should be installing an air conditioner. I just pointed out that the heat doesn’t bother me but working on vehicles in the cold does.

With the slab done, a short block wall was built at a height of 4′ tall. This block wall not only elevated the stick framed wall above grade, but also anchored a future work bench inside the building.

Framing went very quickly thanks to the simple design of the shop, and a dedicated framing crew.

The fastest and arguably the best way to frame a roof is with a series of trusses. Trusses not only allow for the roof itself to take shape, but also provide the inside framing for the ceiling. If you are planning a shop, ceiling height will be essential, and the best way to get additional height is to ask your contractor about “scissor” trusses. A scissor truss raises the inside ceiling inside the building.

For this building, my contractor obtained a set of hip roof style scissor trusses, with an inside finished ceiling height of 13 feet 6 inches while sitting on a 10 foot wall.

The exterior walls were covered with OSB sheeting as a base for the brick veneer. Because my garage is visible to our neighbors we chose to brick the exterior to match our house.

The garage also has a covered porch to make the garage look like part of our landscape design and the porch includes an octagon window that is like some of the windows in our house. I think the porch also helps to make the “large” garage appear smaller.

Once the exterior walls were finished, local code required a “house wrap” around the entire perimeter of the building. This acts as a final barrier between any moisture between the exterior finish and the inside wood framing of the structure.

Asphalt shingles were used to roof my garage. My contractor used the same shingles that were used on my house but I have to admit I had some concerns. When the shingles were installed I thought they didn’t match the house and was nervous I’d get complaints. The good news is that I was wrong and my contractor was right. Now that the shingles have been up for a while I can see that they are the same.

The garage was bricked in the same color of brick as my house. I thought about bricking only part of the garage to save money but the side I would have used vinyl siding on had the garage door and I wouldn’t have saved much money.

When choosing a door, my advice is to get as large a door as you can fit onto your building or afford. An 18 foot wide door may seem large but when it comes times to backing a trailer into a shop to unload a set of axles or other buggy “parts” the wider the opening the better.

A rolling sheet door from DBCI was the perfect fit for this shop. It allowed me to have an 18 foot wide, 9 foot 6 inch opening and more importantly because it “rolls” instead of riding on tracks. It will not limit the ceiling height of the building when open.

Windows in a shop are a point of personal preference. If your shop is in a secluded area that you cannot keep an eye on easily then windows may not be the best option. But if it is close to your house and you are trying to match an existing structure like I am with this build, then windows are a must.

A lot of land was excavated to build my garage so the final step in my garage build was grading. By taking the time to grade the area around my garage I don’t have to worry about runoff or flooding in my shop. Luckily, my neighbor used his tractor to grade and spread the pile (maybe a small hill) of dirt around the neighborhood. The dirt from my backyard has been used to fill low spots in many yards in the neighborhood. With the help of my concrete contractor, I also build a 65 foot retaining wall between the garage and my house.

Side bar (questions from a contractor)

As part of this series on building a backyard shop, I sat down with my contractor asked him a few questions that will help when someone is “shopping” for a contractor. Todd Davis was the concrete contractor for this shop build and is the owner of Todd Davis concrete a local business to Nashville, TN that has been in business for over 14 years. Todd, himself, has 23 years of concrete experience. He specializes in all concrete applications from footings, slabs, decorative concrete and stampings.

Five things you should ask before hiring a contractor:

1. Are you licensed with Workers Comp and do you have General Liability insurance? Ask to see their certificates before signing a contract.
2. Do you have jobs I can look at and references that I can call? Do your homework, don’t just take their word for it, go and talk with their references and look at the jobs. Don’t just ask the about the finished work ask about how they are to work with, did they leave the jobsite clean, did they finish when they said.
3. When I give you the first “draw” to begin, how long until you will be finished. NEVER pay in full before work begins. The contractor should give you a draw schedule with detailed work that will be finished before the next draw is complete. And both parties should keep up with this schedule of work and payment.
4. Will you personally be on the job site, or will you rely on subcontractors? Do not be surprised if your General Contractor is not on site 100 percent of the time. If the job is a large on they may be on site 100 percent of the time, but on smaller jobs you should be in contact with them regularly even if they do not appear to be present every single day.
5. Do you guarantee against deterioration and workmanship, and are all materials included? This may seem simple but if you say “I will take care of the door” to your contractor, then you will probably also be responsible for finishes around that door, including trim, and sealing strips.
6. If building a garage what type of concrete works best for the floor?
7. Code for your area may determine the type of concrete you can use, but for the majority of workshops in this area (Nashville, TN) we pour 3500psi concrete with fiber-mesh and wire during the pour.
8. Also be sure to inform you concrete Contractor how you plan to finish the floor after completion of the building. If you are going to stain the floor, paint with an epoxy, or just leave bare each of these may require a different type of finish on the finished pour.

How can someone save money when having a floor poured by a concrete contractor?

Honestly, this will be up to each individual contractor some will not want the homeowner to be involved at all. But some may allow you to help with the gravel under slab, or even with some of the backfilling. In the case of your shop, by installing the radiant floor heating tubing yourself you saved a lot of basic “labor” charges that a contractor would have simply passed onto you. But a little bit of help with the cleanup is always appreciated.