Excellent, thanks! My husband is an electrician, so hopefully he has that all figured out. Good point on the insulation. The contractor said we can insulate the garage doors after the fact cheaper than buying insulated doors? I am not sure on that though. We will definitely epoxy the floor. That is a great idea - thank you for the product recommendation.

'The contractor said we can insulate the garage doors after the fact cheaper than buying insulated doors?'

The contractor is giving you bad advice, just to keep the price down. If you plan on heating it, get insulated garage doors and double glazed windows.

Having it sheet rocked and painted let's you keep it much cleaner. Easier to hang shelves, brackets, etc

We bought those storage shelves they are amazing-they can hold so much! The same type of shelving-different brand-is also available at Costco (and this week anyway it's currently on sale at ours.)

Thank you Lily'smom. Those are really good points about the garage doors. I too was wondering about the 7 foot height. I think we will be okay with the 18 ft width on the door though, because it is only one truck and a small car. What do you think if there is only 1 truck? I will have to ask about the cost difference for two doors.

The garage width is actually 28 ft. It is the depth that is 22 ft. The width is t accommodate 1 truck, 1 sedan, and a garden tractor + tools/work area.

You may want to verify local requirements for a residential garage with a heating or cooling system. In some areas they are interpreting the new energy guidelines in a way that requires a garage with "conditioned space" (heated or cooled) to meet the same air infiltration and sealing requirements as a house. That is one reason that some folks just set the building up for heat or A/C (install electrical, etc.) and then have the HVAC system installed later.

The intent of the new regulation was to cover the conversion of a garage (unconditioned space) to something like a family room (conditioned space), but somehow a few cities have interpreted it to include a garage that is still used as a garage.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce. We are not going to heat or cool the garage. Summers here are not bad enough to require cooling beyond opening up the doors and getting some air flow through. Heating will be a small portable heater as needed.

Thank you all for the help. We did finally choose a contractor and are in the process of getting the permits to begin work. 22 by 27 is the final size due to local code requirements. (We can't go over 600 sq. ft. without incurring a lot of extra expense.) It's a shame, but it is what it is. This will still be more than enough space for us if we are efficient. We will have a 6/12 pitch roof too though so there will be lots of space for storage up top, and strong joists to support walking around up there (if you hunch haha).