Attic Lift review

I did a search for attic lifts in a few different word/phrase configurations and mostly came up with threads about a variety of auto lifts; 4 post, two post, scissors...and of course all the posturing about who's choice is the "best"......whew glad I'm not going down that path. I'm sure there must have been some discussion on this site of these attic lifts but I didn't find them so I'll just start this and hope for the best.

When I built my shop building a little over a year ago I documented it here. Unfortunately I didn't think enough ahead to include a lift for the attic, I just installed a fold down ladder. All of this topic is the result of that great manly art of accumulating excess stuff...…….you know, things we MUST hang on to even though we don't have any idea when we'll have a real need for it, or those things that only get used once a year or so and otherwise are a nuisance (see pic below for Xmas decs as an example). For decades I've just muscled those kinds of things up the fold down ladders I've had before and managed to not disable myself in any way. Now in my 70s it ain't as easy as it once was so an alternative was needed.

There are a number of commercially available lifts from companies like Versa Lift and Aladdin that are probably decent products and they appear to sell well with mostly favorable reviews. While doing my search I stumbled across a small company down here in Texas that makes a similar product to those offered by the other companies but with a favorable (to me anyway) twist. They offer a bit more lifting power (roughly double the weight capacity), and a willingness to do "custom" sizes within specified limits. Since this was to be a retrofit deal that customization appealed. Their website gave some parameters for required space/clearances and using those numbers I picked a location that best fit my existing limitations. Had I done a better job of planning at the start of the building process I probably would have put it in a different spot, but given overhead clearance it wouldn't have been much different.

I chose to do the 4' x 4' size (though once I framed the opening the width actually was a bit narrower). With the framed opening actual dimensions I placed my order and got in their production que. They quoted three weeks which ended up closer to four. This isn't a particularly complicated assembly and I originally planned to install it myself, however a couple of things changed my mind. There's an odd thing in the Texas sales tax code that says if they shipped it to me they had to charge sales tax, but if they installed it there is no sales tax. Well, their installation fee was less than the sum of shipping cost and tax, so it was a no brainer to have them deliver and install. Their guy showed up on the scheduled day bright and early (no small feat as they are about a 3+ hour drive away). He was pleased to see the prep was done well (apparently not all home owners have accomplished that) and began taking the components upstairs. When he said "Oh oh" the fun began. It seems that the production crew and the front office aren't completely on the same page. The cage shown in the picture below was built to a 5 foot high dimension, while the website and the order confirmation document they email out say very clearly that they build it to a 4' height. My installer buddy fretted over that for awhile as I'd framed it in a space that had about 4.5' of clearance. Fortunately I've got a welder and he gladly cut 6" off the legs and rewelded the pads so it would fit. If any who read this would choose to do one of these I'd suggest you make a point to clarify with the order department on all the requirements before hand. Anyway, a small glitch that was easily rectified in this case.

All in all I'm very happy with the choice. The size and weight capacity work very well for the items I've hauled up there so far. The Versa and the Aladdin wouldn't have been as accommodating because of the design of their overhead structures, they're really better suited for smaller packages that resemble the size of file boxes and the like. The lift goes up and down smoothly and relatively quickly, about 15 seconds for the 10' height. It has done everything I expected, so what more could I ask. I'm sure there are folks on here who have or can build their own system that could function as well or better...………...bravo to you, we all bow to your skills. For those of us that either don't have the time or interest to do that, this is a good alternative. If you want to visit this companies site the url is; https://theatticlift.com/

Uncle Bob that is an amazing idea.

Just read your garage build and that looks beautiful.

This added feature sure does make it seem to make it a great deal easier to use the attic space.

How thick is the platform?

For example, when its fully down on the garage slab I assume you still have to lift stuff up onto it vs rolling on to it. Clearly in the attic you can just roll off it.

Good question Larry. That's one of the "custom " features they incorporate. If you look at their site you'll see that it's something like a cage, the lower portion hits the ceiling face, the upper forms the platform even with the storage deck as you noted. My ceiling joists are 2x8 so in my case the number you requested is roughly 8 1/4" (joist + ceiling drywall + deck thickness). They ask the customer to give them an accurate measure of that so they can fab to the job. As an added comment, the lift platform has a slight "lip" around the top presumably to keep stuff from rolling/sliding off the edge which could cause fouling/interference as the platform goes into the ceiling hole. I'll add some more pics later to demonstrate how that looks.

Looks good. I have a 2nd floor in my garage for storage, and have a trap door to the garage. My lift is under it and will take me up 7’ but I am thinking of mounting a 2” beam to the 2nd floor ceiling and using a push trolley with either electric hoist or chain pull to help get heavier stuff to and from the 2nd floor do I don’t gave to lug it up and dow the stairs.

pbon, you're probably talking about something like the pic I'll attach here. I call it a "Universal Chinese Winch" as they are everywhere it seems and I have one that I use mostly to drag stuff on and off trailers. Not surprisingly, if you go to any of the sites for these attic lifts they all use pretty much the same power head attached to either a pulley or jack shaft to lift the platforms.

Yes, one of those if power. The part I don’t understand is how to make it a push trolley and have it balanced rather than flopping around on a hook. I think I would need 2 push trolleys so the winch base has 2 supports. Or maybe I could modify a push trolley with angle iron. A chain pull with 15’ would be simpler and work for my purposes. I would never lift more than 300-400 lbs.

Your lift came-out looking good, and it appears it does what you need it to. I needed room to move larger items that the size of the floor of your system.

I have a 2,000 lb.-rated jib hoist I added a 2,000lb. rated HFT winch to, for getting heavy items into the loft of my 2-car garage. I don't lift anything even 1/4 of that. It works well. I just used it today to put a commercial pinball machine up-there, now I wish I took a pic of moving the two separate pieces up with it. Here's a thread previously:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=348003&highlight=jib+hoist

I used the gable end space above the high-lift OH garage doors for a platform for each side of the two OH garage doors. I made a crossways 1 X 4 pair below the travel of the doors so I could hang some 4 ft. LED Costco luminaires. They really do a great job of providing plenty of illumination below the doors when they are open. The storage in the two triangular spaces above the doors (due-to the gable-end roofline) is just right for storing things like Christmas decorations, things which are bulky but lightweight.

Pic #2 shows the 1 X 4's mounted, on the right; the left side OH door does-not yet show the 1 X 4's mounted. Don't be too-critical of the droopy zip cord wire for the luminaires, that was while work was progressing, I have them secured properly with screwed-in wire brackets.

Pic #3 is a shot of using Simpson 'butterflies' attached-to the garage door tracks to suspend the 1 X 4's below the OH doors, as the anchor points for the LED 4 ft. luminaires. Pic #3 shows the brackets without the 1 X 4's.

I have Liftmaster jackshaft garage door openers, and two remote-controlled luminaires. One is between the OH doors, just in-front of the wall, and the other is at the door entry into the attached dwelling.

Drift, nice/simple/effective adaptation for light below an open door.

That's part of the beauty of this forum, multiple solutions for broadly similar objectives with the ability to "borrow" some or parts of those alternatives. Read the thread you linked and enjoyed how you dealt with the...………..let's be charitable and call them skeptics...……...but it also gives the rest of us good insight into how you thought through the potential issues and what solutions you employed. Thanks.

I did the hatch and hoist.... with a beam and trolley for safe and easy unloading.

I also use lifting straps for most all lifting jobs, easy and safe...
inexpensive project with great returns....

I have since added a counterweighted pulley system to assist in opening the hatch...VERY HEAVY....and added safety yellow paint around the hatch opening.

I have my engine building bench up stairs, keep the mowers and blowers up there seasonally, and lots of storage for projects and furniture.. I also have a third floor with real stairs for long term storage.

If I had young children around I guess a safety fence would be a good ideea also.

Mike B

My hatch is built into a raised part of the floor that is like a giant countertop. My lift is under that area. I used hydraulic struts from lift support depot. Took me a while to get the geometry right but I can lift and close about 200 lbs of door with 1 hand.

That's a nice system! I did a quick 'n dirty homebrew, with a 2'X4' platform hanging on a single cable from a HF 120V winch. I have a rope tied to it to keep it from spinning while lifting. 'Some day' I'll get around to rigging up multiple cables so it stays straight. I only wish I had made it bigger; as soon as I started using it, I found things that woudn't fit. I may enlarge it when 'some day' gets here. It would be nice to store my table saw upstairs for the 364 days a year that I don't use it. My loft is 900 square feet, with an 8' ceiling, so I should be using that space to keep the shop uncluttered.

Put stairs up into your loft since you have area and height for a second work area?

MushCreek said:

That's a nice system! I did a quick 'n dirty homebrew, with a 2'X4' platform hanging on a single cable from a HF 120V winch. I have a rope tied to it to keep it from spinning while lifting. 'Some day' I'll get around to rigging up multiple cables so it stays straight. I only wish I had made it bigger; as soon as I started using it, I found things that woudn't fit. I may enlarge it when 'some day' gets here. It would be nice to store my table saw upstairs for the 364 days a year that I don't use it. My loft is 900 square feet, with an 8' ceiling, so I should be using that space to keep the shop uncluttered.

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This is a pretty good post for thought experimenting. I chuckled at your table saw comment because in nearly 50 years of owning one I've had much the same usage experience at times. When you need it it's a terrific tool to have at hand, and I always enjoy how many times it comes in handy. The rest of the time, it eats space. My old Rockwell table finally died a couple years ago from multiple organ failure and I got a Bosch contractor saw, the type that folds with wheels. It takes up less space, is a better saw than the ol Rockwell, and I love it.

Your comment about the platform you built being too small is part of why I didn't choose the commercial units I referenced, they are about the same size as yours and limited to around 150 pounds. I don't have very many things that don't fit this one, long objects are the challenge now.

Something to consider for adding stability to yours that could be accomplished comparatively quickly would be to make an H bracket to hang on your hook that has four down legs of cable/chain/whatever. Clamp a stop mechanism on the hook to control rotation. Just find that roundtoit.

I tested mine with 500 lbs., and it handled it fine, but I make a point not to put nearly that much on it. I mostly put all of the stuff up there in one day, and haven't used it much since then. If I were going to store something like the table saw, I'd need to make it a bit more refined. I'm also considering just getting another winch for the saw alone, and simply crank it up out of the way. My ceiling downstairs is 12'+, so plenty of head room.

pbon said:

Yes, one of those if power. The part I don’t understand is how to make it a push trolley and have it balanced rather than flopping around on a hook. I think I would need 2 push trolleys so the winch base has 2 supports. Or maybe I could modify a push trolley with angle iron. A chain pull with 15’ would be simpler and work for my purposes. I would never lift more than 300-400 lbs.

Click to expand...

Like this.....mine is a one ton and has lifted over 1800#.

larry4406 said:

How thick is the platform?

For example, when its fully down on the garage slab I assume you still have to lift stuff up onto it vs rolling on to it. Clearly in the attic you can just roll off it.

Click to expand...

Seems to me what they want to do is hang the "ceiling" on short 10 inch cables from the floor of the elevator. Then when it's lowered to the garage floor the cables wad up and you only have to heave your cargo up a couple of inches.

Does the lift stop at the top automatically in the correct elevation to the ceiling floor? That is, is there a limit switch to limit the up travel?

Uncle Bob said:

Drift, nice/simple/effective adaptation for light below an open door.

That's part of the beauty of this forum, multiple solutions for broadly similar objectives with the ability to "borrow" some or parts of those alternatives. Read the thread you linked and enjoyed how you dealt with the...………..let's be charitable and call them skeptics...……...but it also gives the rest of us good insight into how you thought through the potential issues and what solutions you employed. Thanks.

Click to expand...

One thing I'm not shy-about is asking for opinions of my acquaintances for advice on doing something on the properties. I have multiple G.C's I consult. I have a number of P.E.'s I ask for opinions, and who review what I propose to do before I decide to do whatever I'm spending my $ upon. I'm fortunate to have a very-experienced E.E. under the same roof (my wife, 41+ years an E.E.). I don't "shop" for what I want to-hear. If one of these professionals says, "not a good idea," I'll ask them what needs to change, and I listen.

After a site visit with my friend who's a P.E. to discuss my ideas for the jib crane powered lift, using a wood template which I had built with the advice of my machinist, I made changes in the template recommended by the P.E., and sent it to the machinist. I ask, I listen, then I follow their advice.

There are things about my jib crane/electric hoist I would like to do to make it safer, one is to add a cable travel limit switch and cable guides to prevent the possibility of cable jumping-out of the pulleys. I actually use it infrequently, but of-course it only takes one accident. I don't ever stand-underneath it, and I usually don't have anyone in the same room with me when I operate it (no one to worry-about, other-than me). In its current configuration, I haven't had-to lift anything even half-of its rated function, for the separate components. It hasn't given me any indication of any-sort of malfunction, of straining to do what I ask of it, or wear of the cable, the pulleys, or its structural members, all of-which I continue to inspect periodically. It works for me. Once I add the additional features mentioned, it will be better for use.

The below-OH garage door brackets for the lighting regardless of the position of the OH door was something I planned, then discarded potential designs until I arrived at this. I was going to do it in square aluminum tubing, because I figured that would be strong and light, but decided that PT 1" X 4" beams would be less-expensive, easier to work-with, and function with no compromises I could foresee. I already had eight four-foot twin-bulb T8 florescent lamps in a two-car garage (remembering half of these were in the loft area, which is equal-to the rear half of the garage floor area), but I had shadows and less-lighting in the front-half of the 2-car garage, under the OH door travel. This simple, cheap, effective design gave me much-needed lighting where I needed it most.

I like finding uses for Simpson galvanized brackets around my projects. They save fabrication time, they're inexpensive, strong, and effectively save me work time. Here, they allowed me to arrive at a simple-to construct installation for establishing needed lighting regardless of the position of the OH door.

Honeyduer said:

Does the lift stop at the top automatically in the correct elevation to the ceiling floor? That is, is there a limit switch to limit the up travel?

Click to expand...

Yes, it's the same limit switch you see on these typical winches. If you look at the pic I posted above showing just the winch unit it uses that round block just above the hook to trigger the limit switch which is that loop the cable routes through. On this attic lift it's one of the platform cables (the nearest to the power head) that has a clamp on the cable to hit the trigger. It was set at the exact point of travel when fine tuning the operation at the end of the installation process. However there is no limit switch at the bottom of the platform travel, so it's up to the operator (me) to stop the platform exactly at or slightly above the floor. Lowering it too much would allow the support/lift cables to unwrap from the jack shaft on the cage assy upstairs...….not a good thing.

You don't really need to have the lift platform the same thickness of the ceiling. Besides being more costly and adding unnecessary weight, it means you have to lift your stuff up on to the lift platform when it's in the down position on the garage floor. My lift is built with 1x2 steel tubing with a 5/8" platform on top and 1/4" bottom face with weather stripping attached around the perimeter.

In the up position, the lift platform fits up into the ceiling opening with a stop on the hoist that ensures the lift platform is flush with the attic floor. When done using it, I just lower the platform to a point where the bottom face is flush with the garage ceiling and sealed by the weatherstripping from the cold air coming from the unheated attic.

One important point that should not be overlooked is the attachment of a safety stop on your lift to ensure it will automatically stop its downward direction if something breaks. While there are many ways to do this, I installed a retractable safety belt just in case.

Glen

I have a 350# AL fold down ladder to the attic. They are attic trusses and it is for "light-weight" storage. I built a lift in a single truss bay using 1" sq. tubing and a plywood cap. four eye bolts at the corners. I framed the structure across the rafters and mounted a 12V winch which I had and run it off an extra battery that stays on a tender. For a while I had the winch mounted to the trailer hitch on the PU and ran it up through a pulley for the lifts but that became problematic for some of the larger lifts. It has proven to be an inexpensive and good system and l keep the "light storage" in mind with its use.

Back to Larry's question on the previous page, here's a pic of the platform as it slips into the hole in the ceiling. The angle iron around the bottom is intended to **** up to the drywall of the ceiling, the comment about the upper limit switch setting is what corresponds to that. Note too that the manufacturer set the side braces at an angle so that the platform will self center if there is any swaying during the lift process. The platform is dimensioned to be approximately 3/8" clearance all around to the hole size you communicate for fabrication.

Just a comment about some of the offered alternatives. All of those are appreciated as alternatives that may or may not be applicable depending on what the objectives are. I offer my evaluations as to what is relative to my choices for my situation without any idea that they are ideal for everyone.