Help designing car storage barn for Porsche’s

[RSTarga]

you might want to give these guys a call:
https://us.ternium.com/en/industries/construction

another example:

[uptheorg]

cool thread
thanks once again to Early S forum!

[eprnjp]

Might not be what your looking for but relatively cheap. Pole barn, wood poles and framing, steel sides and roof, cedar and stone front, 2 garage doors and 1 man door. Enough height for lifts if necessary. Concrete floor, interior walls and ceiling will be insulated and finished with smooth steel. 36'x64' holds 18 vehicles not quite finished. Solely for storage, I have another area for working on them.

[rower]

Looks great epjnrp! Looks great from the outside and nice light inside.

I need to worry about fire resistance though and security.

For regular easy access what size under 3,000 sq ft is recommended?

A single row each with its own door? Or a two car row? Access on long side?

[NorthernThrux]

Pole barns are definitely the cheapest route. Lots of great designs that can blend into anything. Fire resistance comes from metal roof and cementacious or other siding, including steel. So far no one has talked about sprinklers on the inside though? What's the thought process there? Water not ideal, halon etc. super expensive for a volume that size.

[swcarroll]

Here's the inside of a 40x56x18 shop, partially completed, from a few years back. It's a hybrid with steel trusses, wood purlins and girts. The spacing on the purlins and girts makes drywall installation (and fire resistance) much easier than some other structures. The "kit" cost about $26K and included all structural materials for the shell, two 12x16 overhead doors, two man doors, and a couple windows for the mezzanine office. A crew of two guys erected it in about a week; they charged $10K. There's about $15K in the groundwork and slab. Finished cost with the mezzanine, office, and a bathroom for under $100K. For reference, an all-steel shell kit of the same size was almost twice the money.

[jimhuiz]

I recently built a 2800 sq ft storage/work space with the intention of storing (cars and parts), detailing, maintaining, etc. so not just a storage place. My space is a slice within a larger steel beam industrial condominium project and measures 35ft x 80ft with 18ft ceiling. I started with dirt floors and 4 unfinished steel stud walls and a few metal wall panels. It isn't completely done yet but it has turned out to be a great space. Here are a few takeaways...

1. The 35ft width is just a tad too narrow, 40 foot would've been better for moving cars around and ultimately, I would've liked at least 50% more space (I know, I know...queue the violins ;-).

2. I layered an 8ft wood stud wall with drywall finish around the entire perimeter. Above that I went with metal panels. My reasoning was I wanted to be able to attach cabinets, shelving, and machinery to the walls and that is hard to do with metal studs and metal panels. The walls also get beat up at ground level and it's easier to maintain/repair/paint drywall (of course they're more easily damaged so tradeoff acknowledged).

3. The floor is fiber reinforced concrete, minimum 6". Big lesson learned here...the general cement guys I used were not great at pouring a level floor. I found out later that there are alternate pour options available that will get you a laser level floor but they're quite expensive I'm told. This became an issue when I installed my lift in the planned location as there was a good 3/8" difference in floor height to account for between the posts. As a minimum, I recommend knowing where a lift (if present) will be and then work with the cement guys while they're pouring to ensure the post and arm swing areas are level with each other.

4. When I got my building permit and architectural drawings done there was a big difference between declaring the use of the building as "storage" or "automotive hobby/maintenance". Because I was planning on working in the garage I ended up needing to incorporate grease traps in all of my plumbing as one example of the difference. I also needed a splash sink and few other requirements. In talking with the city, washing and detailing a car was in the gray area of "maintenance". Important to do the right thing when it comes to the environment but you mentioned a car storage facility and if that's all it is going to be used for then something to be aware of.

5. I went with a commercial grade epoxy floor of a solid color. This involves grinding the creme off the concrete to get good adhesion. I told the cement guys of my plans and I think they cut corners on the finishing work as a result. Next time I think I'll skip the extra information and ensure they finish the floor as if it would be used as-is. On the solid color...the last floor I did involved an attractive multi-colored vinyl flake top layer that seemed like a good idea at the time. The first time I dropped a small nut on the floor I realized my mistake...totally disappeared, and I ended up with my cheek on that floor many times looking across it to find dropped objects. Solid color floors for me from here on out.

6. Last storage space had no capacity for a kitchenette, bathroom or storage closet...just a big open space. Definitely improves the utility to put some of that infrastructure in but in my case it all had to be ADA accessible and ended up using more space than I would've liked.

7. The primary concern in Michigan regarding HVAC is heating the place in winter. Radiant gas heaters are awesome for heat but I went with forced air so I could add A/C if needed. I knew the heat would rise and I thought I'd probably add a BIG ASS fan BUT...I didn't plan for it properly and the size and location of fan I need doesn't fit in with some of my other infrastructure. I'd definitely design that in up front if I could do it over.

8. I added a long in-floor drain and a spigot with hot/cold water. Makes a huge difference to be able to wash and detail a car inside out of the sun or cold and makes cleaning the floor much easier as you can spray it down and just squeegee the water over to the drain.

9. I did more LED lighting than my electrician recommended but it ended up being just barely enough. I'd over do it by 50% if I did it again.

10. I had a lift professionally installed thinking that would be best...yeah, not so much (I should have done it myself). One BIG lift install issue I'll share is that the concrete work I had done, while not exactly level, resulted in an extremely strong floor. When installing a lift you drill holes in the floor, screw a nut onto an anchor bolt and then pound the combination into the floor. After that you tighten the nut, which draws the anchor backwards towards the surface whereby it becomes firmly affixed into the floor. The key issue in my case is that my floor didn't give much if at all for the bolt...and as a result it tightened up almost immediately. The installers said, "wow...strong floor". Well...that 3/8" of floor height difference that was noted after the fact meant that they had to raise one post to get it level with the other but there were limited threads available to do that. In retrospect, it would've been great to expose more threads at the beginning of the procedure if we knew the anchor bolts would grab tight so quickly and/or if we knew the post would have to be elevated. Not sure that makes sense but it's an important potential issue to be aware of.

Hope at least some of that helps you plan your project.

[rower]

Jim,

If you did 40’ x 75’ would that have been best? Approvals are much easier if under 3,000 sq ft.
What sort of car storage would that allow for? Throw in a bathroom and sink and some counter space.

Or would 25’ x 120’ be better if each stall has its own door?

It would be storage only but perhaps a lift to change tires etc. any real work would be fine by outside shops.

I’d consider sprinklers but if the fire is hot enough to burn the steel down then what can the sprinklers do? Think if some of the California wildfires you have read about.

[eprnjp]

36'x64' allows me to park 5 cars perpendicularly down each side wall with enough room to open doors and access the cars. The 2 garage doors let me park 4 rows of 2 nose to tail in the center. There is enough room to walk around the cars but no room for anything else. No plan for sprinklers but I do have Hagerty.

[71gold]

Some great photos......also have a pole barn version. Definitely the most economical solution.
This is a heated concrete floor slab buried pipes using glycol system.
Heat via a small boiler. Nothing better than the warmth from floors especially in the high pole barns.
Doors at both ends helps for SW breezes for cooling in summer also adde large ceiling mounted fans .
Helps get rid of odors from paint or other noxious fumes
Will add a few photos later ....was taking too long
And it’s upsides down ...sorry guys