Need quick insight for lift ceiling height

[Squirlz]

After work concluded today I checked the progress and the builders have made the wall height one foot short. I contracted for 11' (maximum per code) and it is only 10'. Many of the poles have already been cut off for 10'.

I wanted the maximum height so I could have a Titan portable 4 post lift. I also specified scissor trusses.

I tried to call the builder after hours and got no answer. I e-mailed him about it and have gotten no reply. I'm sure he will be here first thing tomorrow.

His options will be to A) "raise the roof". Make it as new by replacing posts already concreted around.

B) Give me back a lot of money.

C) Walk away now.

My question is could I live with 10' walls and scissor trusses with the 4 post lift I want? Please share your experiences with me tonight so I can be prepared in the morning. Building is 28' x 40'. Thanks.

 

[Ray-CA]

I think that a 10-ft. height should be fine, especially with the vaulted ceiling height. Negotiate a settlement with the builder and move forward. Maybe trade for some additional interior work (benches, cabinets etc.)

ray

 

[Ford12508]

That all depends on what you are putting on the lift. The car my dad drives is about 4 feet tall I want to say(just a guess), and the vehicle I drive is about 7' 7" or so. A 10 foot ceiling would not left much lift room for me, especially since that's when the suspension is weighed down, just to rotate my tires it would have to go up to like 8' or more, and that's only giving 1/2" or so of space between the tire and floor.

I would try and get some money back, or get some more work out of him, and make sure he doesn't make any shortcuts.

 

[halltrail]

If I had a written contract for 11'....than that is what I would demand. What happens when you settle for 10 foot and some cash back and you realize you need that extra foot?? ... I know Id would be pissed. Now is the time to have it corrected...without spending a lot later.

 

[venom50svt]

I have a Bend-Pak 4 post lift. I have 9' ceilings in the garage. It is close with my cars. 10' would be a dream. When I work on a car on the lift I get it up as far as I can and then use a rolling stool to move around. When I store my cars for the winter I can get my mustang and a vega or a contour svt and a FF5 cobra with about 5" to spare. I put marks on the upright to tell me how far I can go for each car.

With 10' you should be cool unless your vehicles are tall.

 

[D.J.]

I see a lot of posts that haven't been cut off yet so maybe it can be salvaged, good luck.
________
COACH HANDBAGS

 

[nate379]

Normal to have the end truss 24 o.c. spacing for the verticals?

Really to be able to work on most any car, truck, van, etc you need somewhere around 14ft. Will you have that with your vaulted ceiling?

 

[wornoutoldman]

Make em fix it. That's what you paid for.

 

[venom50svt]

I'm no builder but is it possible to cut the uprights at different locations, add on what is needed and brace the pieces with steel either angle or flat steel. Doing it at different locations, it would not cause a weakness at the same point in the structure....Hm,, just an idea....

 

[dougmac]

I agree with 13'-14' to have enough room for most vehicles.

Doug

 

[yellowgt1vert]

I agree with 13'-14' to have enough room for most vehicles.

Doug

Actually, many of the clear floor home-design two-post lifts have a max overhead height of 142-144"...so 12' would be sufficient as a vehicle would hit the shutoff at that height.

I'd say make them fix the height you contracted for and "let him learn" versus you getting the suprise of finding your shop won't work when he is long gone. Good luck.

 

[Garys Garage]

I have 12 foot and two lifts.12 foot means 11'7? anyway I wish I had 14 and I would never go less than 14 if I build another addition. Dont get me wrong for most cars 12 foot is fine. Ten foot never. 11 foot would be fine for a compact car but no trucks or suvs.

 

[PAToyota]

The scissors trusses will give you a bit more room than I have, but I built my shop before everyone was posting pictures of lifts in their garages so I never considered it a possibility. I've been kicking myself for my 10'-6" ceiling height ever since seeing the first picture of a home shop with a lift...

If the agreement was for 11' I'd settle for nothing less.

 

[dougmac]

Also ..... learn from my mistake ..... be sure that your door tracks follow the ceiling and don't hang down into the bay. I didn't connect the dots when it came to the open door interfering with the lift.

Here is a picture of mine. It works, but if I did it again, the tracks would follow the angle of the ceiling.

 

[ket-tek]

I would stop work until you come to a resolution with him. It is a big deal, you are building your dream garage and paying a ton of money to specifically have a space with a lift. Either you get ALOT of money back or he fixes it, is what I would say.

Mine is 12ft with a BP HD-9XW and I WISH it was taller. All my cars are lowered except my work van and I just can get a few of them high enough to have 6' under the ramps. Alot of work is done at lower ramp heights, but I park a daily car under a project car and like to have it at 6' under the ramps so I don't have to constantly watch my head getting in and out of the car below.

I will go 16' if I build again someday.

 

[Possum]

You might check the fine print. Lots of pole barns are built to a certain height from the bottom of the skirt board on the outside, only to lose that height inside when you add a compacted base and concrete.

 

[avc8130]

If you are contracted for 11' finished interior height I would NOT accept 10'. I see you regretting that decision over and over again in the future. Deal with it NOW for a month or deal with it FOREVER in the future.
ac

 

[rickycobra]

If you think your gonna need that extra foot fix it now not later if you don't get your money back.

 

[babzog]

If I had a written contract for 11'....than that is what I would demand. What happens when you settle for 10 foot and some cash back and you realize you need that extra foot?? ... I know Id would be pissed. Now is the time to have it corrected...without spending a lot later.

^^^ This. You spec'd 11'... the builder, not you, screwed up. He's gotta make good on correcting this to your original specs without charging you one extra penny. Might be a bit of a fight, maybe not, depending on what kind of man he is. Hiring someone new to correct and finish the job will add significantly to your costs but if this guy won't come clean, it might be your only option. Sorry to hear about this... bad contractors are a real pita.

 

[Rosco]

If you are contracted for 11' finished interior height I would NOT accept 10'. I see you regretting that decision over and over again in the future. Deal with it NOW for a month or deal with it FOREVER in the future.
ac

very, very good advice. Any contractor on here would tell you what this contractor should do, unless of course he is retiring right after this job........

Only settle on less than you contracted for after a court appointment.

 

[Motorhead Extraordinaire]

My garage is 24' deep and has scissor trusses. At the peak I have 10' 7" of height which is not really enough. My walls at 8'. There are a lot of times I just can't raise up something to full height. The only car I can do that with is the Viper.

The nice thing about scissor trusses is that roofs tuck up in the peak nicely making it possible to have a lift in an low building height.

How much height do you have now floor-to-peak? Based upon my experience I would recommend a minimum of 14' to the peak.

It looks like a lot of work to raise the construction up 1' but it may be the best thing to do. Remember, long after the contractor leaves you will still have your garage. Might as well have it to your specs.

Good luck,
Joe
www.MotorheadExtraordinaire.com

 

[Squirlz]

Turns out they made it as high as code allowed. He just didn't tell me. There will be a discount coming.

 

[Possum]

I am curious, was it 11' from the bottom of the outside wall to the bottom of the truss and 10' from the concrete to the same?

 

[Squirlz]

I am curious, was it 11' from the bottom of the outside wall to the bottom of the truss and 10' from the concrete to the same?

I had settled on an 11" inside wall height but they could only go a bit over 10" and stay within code. He just forgot to tell me that's what they were doing.

 

[avc8130]

I had settled on an 11" inside wall height but they could only go a bit over 10" and stay within code. He just forgot to tell me that's what they were doing.

Honestly, go check the code yourself. This sounds bogus to me.
ac

 

[jdaallen]

Honestly, go check the code yourself. This sounds bogus to me.
ac

Deffinately!!!! Check it out yourself, I dion't buy it either!!

 

[5thRail]

I can't recall ever seeing a code restrict an inside ceiling height (except maybe from being too low), so IF there is a code limitation it is probably on overall building height (roof peak). If that is in place, you could have asked for a variance had he told you up front, and in many areas you would have a good chance of getting it. So its back on him.

If the exterior is the limitation, then ask the builder to work with you to create a space that has a higher ceiling. I think I would propose averaging 11 ft, so the high bay would maybe be 12 ft plus, and the rest at 10 ft. He'll have to adjust his trusses/ceiling joists to make that happen, but it is still less cost/effort than raising the whole roof, I think.

Don't yield yet - it seems you still have a couple of paths/options to explore.

 

[Question]

Here's mine at 10'4", works fine for me but I'm only 5'8" if your over 6' it might be a problem, also the type of car/truck on there makes a big difference. As was said before get the doors pushed to the ceiling, doesn't cost any more they just have to know. Insist on a torsion bar spring, then the door opener can go on the side, it doesn't have to be in the center.

 

[mad57]

ok id make them do right first but if thats not an option you can have him engineer a lift opening in the trusses i have only 9.5 ft at wall height and 11 in the center of my sciccor truss and i have a byb 4 post extended height and with and lenght, and with my opening i made i can lift my 4x4 e350 van just high enough to lift that and all day long any cars i play with. heres some pics.

 

[mad57]

also what i did when i finished off the inside with sheet rock i added nailers between each span of the trusses not over top of the truss edge like i did on the walls but i cut and nailed each between each truss so when i did hang my sheet rock id have that extra 2 in buffer ,,i didnt want to have to find out that i needed that extra 2 in to make a diffrence when the lift needed that extra height to unlock the lift at full height.... did it take a long time YES!!! but was it worth it you bet, i too have height rest so we gotta do what we have to to work around it , seriously look into opening up one of those trusses its a big diffrence. good luck.

 

[bill9860]

Having just completed a build a couple of months ago I say make the builder do what you contracted to do. You will never be happy if it is less than what you wanted. Especially if you end up with a different taller vehicle. Now, when you can still see through the walls is thetime to get it ifxed. I had no major problems but my builder was reputable and didn't blink when I raised issues. He just fixed it. Glad I was around almost daily to monitor.

 

[drmoonshine]

Get what you paid for you won't regret that.