installing PEX, but haven't decided on Lift location.

[BIMMERBOYZ]

My dilemma, I want to install a 2 post lift maybe 2 of them, but I have yet to decide where I want it/them in the garage. I was hoping to frame the garage prior to pouring the slab. So once it's enclosed I'd get a feel of where I wanted things. But most framing contractors, want the pad poured.

If I pour the slab at 6", and keep the pex deeper than 4", how much will that affect the radiant heating?

Any suggestions, on where I should put the lift. The top left corner is no longer going to have a bathroom, I've moved that under the stairs on the left.

 

[forAK]

My buddy was going through the same thing. He was kicking himself for not know where the lifts were going to be. He ended up just laying out his pex as if he wasn't going to do his lift. He then bought a FLIR camera attachement when it came time to install it. That thing was great! Turn the heat up, and you can see right where the tubing was. He then drilled and installed the lift without hitting any tubes. You might even be able to rent or hire someone with the camera. My buddy got one from Amazon that clips to his phone.

You could still keep the slab at 4" and not worry about doing 6", but that's me.

The FLIR vs. 2" is leaning towards the FLIR.

YMMV

 

[koditten]

I had the same problem. I spent lots of time trying to predict the future. The way you lay out the stuff in your shop in reality will be miles different than what you have drawn on paper.

In the end, I just ran my pex. 2 years later when I got my lift, I mapped out my tubes using the fire department IR camera.

My 2 post actually is bolted to the floor on both sides of a tube.

 

[wssix99]

You have the luxury of planning, so you should take advantage of that and leave the IR cameras for a backup plan.

Lifts are wide and vehicles need to be balanced on them, so you won't have as much wiggle room as you expect. If you make scale cardboard cutouts of your vehicles and lifts (calculating the center points/lift points on the vehicles), I expect that you'll narrow down the locations pretty quickly.

I have a 25 X 37 garage and by the time I took in to account where my saw cut joints were in the floor (you can't mount on top of those!), the positioning of my doors, the location of my benches, etc. and how far forward/back the lift could go in order to get every type of car or truck I'd have actually in the garage while it was on the lift... I only had 6" of room to move the thing around.

The other thing to think about is that you won't be in the general area of the lift legs working and heat will spread through the slab - so you can make your PEX exclusion zones for the lift legs larger than they need to be. I think I left me 4' by 4' and (before the lift is installed) I don't even notice the exclusion zones.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I don't like your idea of just going deep. I think your pex would still be at risk when you drill your holes for your anchor bolts.

IIWY, I'd plan on 2 lifts and decide on which lifts you'll use. Then get the pdf installation diagram off their website and plan accordingly.

In fact...that's exactly what I did do and it worked great.


Phil

 

[kelpaso1]

How are you planning on building a garage without a pad to put the walls on???

 

[BIMMERBOYZ]

Some very solid advice, Thank You all. I really like the infrared camera idea.

Garage foundation is poured. @kelpaso1

 

[kelpaso1]

Some very solid advice, Thank You all. I really like the infrared camera idea.

Garage foundation is poured. @kelpaso1

Well then they probably want the pad poured to have a flat level surface to build the walls on. Ever tried building a wall on the grass or dirt driveway?

 

[walrus]

I left 2 3ft by 3ft areas void of pex but I knew where I was putting the lift.

 

[MrBalll]

May also help to know where you want your lift(s) and make a 2 x 2 area deeper just for added support. I knew where I wanted my lift and put 2 x 2 x 12 pads. Don't need it that deep, but I did it anyway.

And with the garage being so thin you really have to plan out your lifts so can easily drive through them and still have room around them. The lift could be up to 12' end to end on the posts which is half you space.

I'd put the lifts further in the garage so if you're working on a car you don't have worry about parking inside. You may be better off with one lift all the way at the rear.

But it's your choice. Just my two cents.

 

[wssix99]

May also help to know where you want your lift(s) and make a 2 x 2 area deeper just for added support. I knew where I wanted my lift and put 2 x 2 x 12 pads. Don't need it that deep, but I did it anyway.

This is not sound advice as it increases the chances that the slab could crack. (More or less, depending on how the slab is reinforced.) This is why the instructions indicate a regular flat slab. Mechanically it does absolutely nothing to provide any added support to the lift. (Even for a massive vehicle, by the time the stresses disperse through the lift legs, through the baseplates, and then the stress cone in the standard 4" of concrete the base of the slab will see less than 10 psi of pressure. - Hardly anything.)

 

[Fix Until Broke]

One alternative idea is that you could lay down 2" of foam board, staple your PEX to the foam board, cover the PEX with 2" of sand, then pour the concrete over the whole thing. Now there are no worries at all about hitting a tube. Drill as many holes as you want, anywhere you want.

A friend of mine has done this approach twice now and it works out very well. The only thing he did different the 2nd time was to put in 50% more PEX since it was not in direct contact with the concrete due to the sand which reduces the heat transfer coefficient. The first attempt with the "normal" amount of PEX requires about 30F hotter water going into the floor to keep it warm.

 

[rburke65]

I don't think the above plan is a safe guard to NOT hitting the pex tubing. I would think one couldbuildwalls on the foundation walls....I don't think walls HAVEto be built onto the floor. But....what the hell do I know. My walls were built on the foundation.

 

[BIMMERBOYZ]

The framers want a flat/level surface to build the wall on then raise it onto the foundation.

I'll try to brain storm the lift some more. Installing pex within a couple weeks.