new shop help

[Tom Cullom JR.]

were buying a new home it has a 2 car garage in the basement that will be turned into my new shop.
Any ideas or suggestions on fininishing out the walls? What about the celing above the shop will be 2 bedrooms and one bath.
Any and all suggestions and pics would be greatly welcomed.
will be heated with a blue flame heater will also AC it this summer loacated in Missouri

[Chris Damm]

By most codes the ceiling and any wall between the garage and living space should already be insulated and finished with firestop drywall.

[brian c miller]

i think he is asking about the basement

[John Coloccia]

My only suggestion would be that if you haven't already run wire, run 10AWG everywhere, and run a 4th wire to at least 1 outlet on every wall. Then, you can grab any outlet you like and with nothing more than a simple breaker change turn it into anything from 120/15A all the way to 240/30A, and the occasional 4th wire is there in case you have a 240 machine that needs a neutral.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I would contact your local building code department and get some recommendations from them. Most inspectors I have dealt with were more than happy to provide information.

As stated, typically a garage must have a firewall between it and any living quarters.

[Ole Anderson]

By most codes the ceiling and any wall between the garage and living space should already be insulated and finished with firestop drywall.

Even if local code didn't require it, you better believe I would make sure it had 5/8" firestop and all penetrations sealed. Gives the upstairs occupants time to get out in case of a gasoline fueled garage fire.

[Tom Cullom JR.]

the home is in the country and very..... lax codes there will not be any autos there. Going to build a new garage with no steps to home. how is the best way to hang cabinets to the concrete walls?? I will probably put foam board on walls to insulate.

[Chris Damm]

Just because the codes are lax doesn't mean you should throw out common sense. You still need a fire break between a garage and any living space.
As to the walls, closed cell polystyrene (Styrofoam) glued to the walls and then firring strips tap conned over that will give you a place to hang cabinets.

[John Coloccia]

the home is in the country and very..... lax codes there will not be any autos there. Going to build a new garage with no steps to home. how is the best way to hang cabinets to the concrete walls?? I will probably put foam board on walls to insulate.

If you use Dow Wallmate (like I did) it attaches with 1X3 furring strips. You tapcon the whole thing into the concrete. Then you attach drywall to the furring strips, and you can also hang cabinets from them as well. Nice system.

[Michael W. Clark]

the home is in the country and very..... lax codes there will not be any autos there. Going to build a new garage with no steps to home. how is the best way to hang cabinets to the concrete walls?? I will probably put foam board on walls to insulate.

I would go with french cleats attached with tapcons or red head type anchors. I would highly recommend putting some type of covering or at least painting the walls. The gray concrete walls and unpainted ceiling make lighting difficult. Plywood on the walls is also good for storage. You could cover the whole wall or attach sections as needed.

I stud framed by basement shop walls over the concrete, insulated, then used OSB. Painted plywood would probably be better for the lighting. I used 5/8 fire-rock on the ceiling, living space above. It also helps with noise reduction.

[george newbury]

I'm going to suggest that unless you plan on living there the rest of your life you finish the walls, put in all the power outlets you could ever expect to use and buy used pallet racking for the walls.

The pics show what I did in a couple of my workshops. The pallet racking goes up easily, can be reconfigured, and can usually be had relatively cheaply. The two 12' tall sections in the first pic I got for $20 total :) off Craigs List. I added a sheet of 3/4" PT plywood topped by a 3/4" sheet of MDF for the first level for a great work surface. I'm doing the same for the other two 8' tall sections which are in my sawmill shed, those I paid about $220 for, again off CL.

The third pic is more of what I've got for storage (pardon the mess, it was taken before we filled the racks up)
And with a shelf capacity of over 3 tons per shelf they will hold about anything. And most of them were put up by me, working alone. It's like an erector set for men.

[Tom Cullom JR.]

Just because the codes are lax doesn't mean you should throw out common sense. You still need a fire break between a garage and any living space.
As to the walls, closed cell polystyrene (Styrofoam) glued to the walls and then firring strips tap conned over that will give you a place to hang cabinets.



the new shop is the former Garage there will be no garage doors ect. it should be treated like any other basement shop in my opinion. or am I totally missing the point on the fire break? I will probabley Sheetrock everything but where I need to get to plumbing. Tap cons sound good I didn't know if they would be strong enough.

[Ole Anderson]

the new shop is the former Garage there will be no garage doors ect. it should be treated like any other basement shop in my opinion. or am I totally missing the point on the fire break? I will probabley Sheetrock everything but where I need to get to plumbing. Tap cons sound good I didn't know if they would be strong enough.
If it can never be used as a garage in the future then it is just another basement shop. Do as you want.

[George Bokros]

Unless he has a lot of square footage which a two car garage does not, pallet racking takes a lot of valuable floor real estate.