Deep garage with room for a lift. my water heater, softner, and Washer and Dryer take up 2/3 leaving room for the MC up front. Also need enough Electricity for 110v outlets every 8 ft down the walls so you don't always look for an extension cord, several outlets in the ceiling for all the light you will ever need, and more for additional lighting if wanted later, and 30 or 60 amp 220V welder and air compressor plugs in the wall based on your needs. For washing cars and bikes I have a center drain and the floor drops 1" / 4' towards the garage door. Sounds like alot but you don't see or feel it

 

I'm a custom home builder. This is the best possible form of heat. I suggest a few vent fans as snow on vehicles melt the humidify will skyrocket.
Put a compressor hidden and plumb air lines into the garage. A drain is a must as is a working bathroom and shower. Your wife will thank you when the guys are over and no one goes inside to pee.
I also suggest integrating a beam into the trusses so you can attach a lift to the ceiling. I ran one off a steel beam.

 

Next house will have a full bath in Garage or very close to the garage entry not just a 1/2 bath. I do my own yard and hate having to go all the way through the house to get a shower. My archetect brother in law says "Why would you want that". Cause I work on my own stuff and I mow my own yard. He did not agree on how I told him his side entry garage was going to be a issue. After my sister has knocked off the passenger mirror 3 times and they had to sell the SUV and get a Mini Cooper he now understands!

If you have available space over the attic have the builder deck it out vs do yourself later. Too much easier to do as it is built. Either spend the bucks for the very high end pull down attic stairs or do a different setup. THe load rating on the attic stairs even the so called heavy duty is not made for most people especially if you are carrying something. Few have even a 300lb rating and at that they have limited safety zone. Put in a Attic lift/Elevator. Not for people but for stuff. Something like http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/s...8563&showall=1 would be awesome! Commerical version http://www.versaliftsystems.com/. I plan to build me something like this in the current attic stair location. I will then cut a new spot by a wall and build a straight up 2x4 straight up style ladder that is designed to support 500lbs. The ladder would be designed to just climb all the way into the attic and just step off.

Insulate the garage walls. Most Garage walls to exterior are not insulated even though they are sheet rock finished. If you are not going to setup to have the house AC/Heat be able to heat /cool the garage add a Dryer vent style duct somewhere you can connect one of the portable AC units up to or a spot to put through wall or window unit. http://www.homedepot.com/Appliances-...&storeId=10051. Even if not enough to cool or heat to exact inside temps way better than 90's or 30's depending on where you live.

Wire it for sound and TV coax.

 

Drop a lift table flush to the floor. I hate tripping over mine, and you could easily park a bike on one.

Mark

 

Couple of pics as i was finishing up.
Have 100 Amp service in the shop. Could use more!
I installed plenty of recepticals, but still had to run 2 more couple of years later. One for my 80 Gal compressor and another for my welders. Both times i had to get in the attic to run the wires across and through the walls. Knowing what i do now, i'll do all that before drywalling if i ever buil another. Run more wires then you think you need in the first place.
10 foot ceiling.....will have 12 foot if i build another
Got phone/alarm/heat/water H/C. Really wish i had a washroom

 

Go extra deep and extra wide, maybe even third bay, figure pretty close then add 10-15% more room, leave an option for an additional bay later as you will find we always build too small, need more room as we add more 'stuff' and we always wish we had laid out plans for expansion before we finalized the plans!! I am looking to a 50x40 shop attached to a 1400sf house, little woman is PO'd!!

 

Best additions to my garage which is only 20'X30' was the 46" flat screen on the wall, with a cheap sub and 2 front channel speaker set up from Best Buy (keep in mind satellite radio on my Dish or cable networks now). My Gladiator Garage Works cabinets! Yes they are expensive but I bought all of mine last year on Sear's Black Friday sale when they were 50% off! They look great, and they are very durable! My gear locker holds all of our riding leathers and gear! Here is a couple of pics of my garage... the photographer wanted the cabinet doors open for another dimenison but I think you get the idea... LOOK PAST THE WOMAN GUYS!

30' wall with signs and collectibles


Old pic of the first TV... the new 46" is mounted on the wall behind my bar.

 

All great advice, I wish I had this thread when I remodeled my garage.
Couple things I'm glad I did.
1) Insulated garage door w/insulated glass.
2) Jackshaft opener (no motor/track hanging from ceiling)
3) 3 part epoxy floor w/logo....can't bust it!
4) Lots of cabinets, raised off the floor.

 

What signs and collectibles
Looks good...nice place you got there!

 

Yeah, I was looking at those two big signs as well.

I have an epoxy coated floor in my garage with a floor drain so the floor squeegees clean. Hot and cold softened water for washing the toys or the truck, T5 lights, insulated doors, stereo and TV. I don't have everything off the floor, but it all on wheels except my work bench. Something else I found very handy is having electrical outlets in the ceiling to mount retractable electrical cords. It's nice to have cords up high and not laying on your wet garage floor in the winter. All good stuff you should think about.

What I wish I had, and will put in soon, is heat. I'd put a gas heating unit of some sort in your shop.

A beer fridge is another nice thing to have.

As you know and others have said, make your garage as big as you can. When I bought my house, one of the deciding factors was it had the largest garage of any house I looked at. It's a three and a half car garage and it was full after being here two years.

Good luck.