Building a Mezzanine Step By Step

AMCguy · Jan 27, 2014

I ran out of space in my 32'x32' before I even completed it. By building an 8'x32' mezzanine, I'll gain an additional 25% of floor space. I have the headroom and until now it was just wasted space. I'll be moving some of the larger items taking up space on my main floor to the new space.

I started by removing my fully loaded cabinets. They will go upstairs when I'm finished. This took two days, mainly because I had to sort through them and I had nowhere to put the stuff. I had to refill them where they are going to sit while I'm building.

More pictures of my progress to follow.

Cudajas · Jan 27, 2014

looks like an interesting project!

Oh and I love the Gremlin....details...more pics???

Chilliwack Murray · Jan 27, 2014

I'm watching this one...

venturesomerite · Jan 27, 2014

Sounds good. A mez was a great thing in my shop, I put my office stuff (desks, computers, file cabinets) up there

EOC_Jason · Jan 27, 2014

This sure looks interesting! Can't wait to see the finished product.

Majordisorder · Jan 27, 2014

I'm about to do something similar except across a 20' bay. My wall will be six feet out from the back with 8' joists sitting on top of it. Looks like it will be a nice shop.

AMCguy · Jan 27, 2014

Cudajas said:
looks like an interesting project!

Oh and I love the Gremlin....details...more pics???

Yay! a Gremlin appreciator. I'll be happy to de-rail my own thread right here.

This is one of three I have and one of of twelve I've owned. It has been with me for the last fifteen years. As pictured it had a 360. It ran a best of 11.36 @ 120 mph. in the 1/4 mile. I sold the engine a couple of years ago to a fellow in Oshawa. I'm currently building a six cylinder that should make about 300 hp and I'l be putting a 5 speed in it.

AMCguy · Jan 27, 2014

A little more progress.

I attached a ledger board to the back wall. It is secured to each wall stud with two 3/8'' x 4 1/2'' lag bolts. There is a cripple in each corner and one in the middle as well.

MackMan · Jan 27, 2014

Subbed, been thinking of this in my similar size garage.

TheOtherChris · Jan 28, 2014

I am also interested in this idea.
What is the height of your walls from floor to ceiling?
Are you planning to clear span the entire 32 feet or will you have support wall or post(s)?
Stairs for access or ship's ladder?

AMCguy · Jan 28, 2014

I built a stud wall to support the centre of the beam that runs across the front. The beam is a two ply 2''x10'' glued and screwed together and the 2''x8'' rim joist is glued and screwed to the back of it. The joists are attached with joist hangers.

The wall will give me another 16' of wall space downstairs, something I need more of. It will also separate the back of my shop into a mechanical area and a metalworking area.

carcajou · Jan 28, 2014

Great way to maximize floor space.

akdiesel · Jan 28, 2014

AMCguy

Great build. Looks like you about 16' ceilings, so this should give you approx 7' head room below the mezzanine after sheet rock and lighting.
What kind of access are you planning for the mezzanine?

AMCguy · Jan 28, 2014

TheOtherChris said:
I am also interested in this idea.
What is the height of your walls from floor to ceiling?
Are you planning to clear span the entire 32 feet or will you have support wall or post(s)?
Stairs for access or ship's ladder?

I have 172 1/2'' floor to ceiling. I took that height, subtracted the floor thickness of 8'' (7 1/4'' + 3/4'') and divided by 2. That gave me 82 1/4'' both upstairs and downstairs. It's not as high as I would like but that's what I have to work with. I will be spending as much time upstairs as down so I decided to not make one higher than the other.

I'll be building a flight of stairs with a proper 12'' tread and 10'' rise at the far left end. I want to me able to carry something as heavy as a cylinder head up the stairs so I'm going to need both hands even though I'll have a handrail.

Pat Brady · Jan 28, 2014

Cool place!! Nice car. :thumbup:

larry4406 · Jan 28, 2014

AMCguy said:
I'll be building a flight of stairs with a proper 12'' tread and 10'' rise at the far left end.

Here in Virginia and MD we build to the IRC Code. It requires maximum stair rise of 7.75". Prior Codes (BOCA/CABO) allowed up to 8-1/8" rise. I have never seen a 10" rise on a stair and would think it to be uncomfortable for use let alone non-compliant.

Good use of space. Hard to tell on your front ledger span if you are ok.

twertsy · Jan 28, 2014

That Mezzanine is a lifesaver!! You won't believe how much **** you can get out of your way. Don't want to hijack your thread but I have 30x60 and 16ft. ceilings. Built 2 room "sleeper" upstairs for when I'm at the shop too late, then the rest is 30x8 on the side and a 4 ft. mezzanine on the back wall. Below the "sleeper" is a 10x20 shop dedicated to woodworking.

Rails aren't finished because CNC router table is going up there when it arrives. Pic 1 is before back wall mezzanine, 2 and 3 are after, pic 4 is "sleeper," Pic 5 is below the side wall mezzanine. Oh yeah Larry, built to VA code

Cudajas · Jan 28, 2014

AMCguy said:
Yay! a Gremlin appreciator. I'll be happy to de-rail my own thread right here.

This is one of three I have and one of of twelve I've owned. It has been with me for the last fifteen years. As pictured it had a 360. It ran a best of 11.36 @ 120 mph. in the 1/4 mile. I sold the engine a couple of years ago to a fellow in Oshawa. I'm currently building a six cylinder that should make about 300 hp and I'l be putting a 5 speed in it.

Nice! Love to see it AMC powered too!

My brother owned a few many years ago. One was 403 olds powered. Sadly he never got it on the road and sold it.

Good luck on the 6 project and the mezzanine. Now back to your regular thread!!!

Jason

AMCguy · Jan 28, 2014

twertsy said:
That Mezzanine is a lifesaver!! You won't believe how much **** you can get out of your way. Don't want to hijack your thread but I have 30x60 and 16ft. ceilings. Built 2 room "sleeper" upstairs for when I'm at the shop too late, then the rest is 30x8 on the side and a 4 ft. mezzanine on the back wall. Below the "sleeper" is a 10x20 shop dedicated to woodworking.

Rails aren't finished because CNC router table is going up there when it arrives. Pic 1 is before back wall mezzanine, 2 and 3 are after, pic 4 is "sleeper," Pic 5 is below the side wall mezzanine. Oh yeah Larry, built to VA code

Great space you have there. You sure have a lot more stuff than I do.

bygasper · Jan 28, 2014

I did the same thing in my 51x72' shop. Is a lifesaver and such a better use of space. I need to upload the pictures. I also made a portion of the railing removable so I could load heavy things up or down from the "loft" with a tractor loader.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AMCguy · Jan 28, 2014

larry4406 said:
Here in Virginia and MD we build to the IRC Code. It requires maximum stair rise of 7.75". Prior Codes (BOCA/CABO) allowed up to 8-1/8" rise. I have never seen a 10" rise on a stair and would think it to be uncomfortable for use let alone non-compliant.

Good use of space. Hard to tell on your front ledger span if you are ok.

Thank you for the input. Now you have me thinking I may have screwed up. As you can see in my last photo I already have my wood for the stairs purchased. I can buy longer stringers and add more treads if I need to though.

My mezzanine floor height is 91 1/2''. I got 12' 2''x10'' for stringers. I don't know why I was thinking 10'' rise but it works out to eight treads and puts the bottom of the staircase right where I want it on the shop floor.

I do plan on carrying heavy objects up and down these stairs. Plus my knees are getting old faster than the rest of me. The last thing I want to do is crash and burn out there.

Any advice is appreciated at this point. I may start another thread about stairs if necessary.

AMCguy · Jan 28, 2014

bygasper said:
I did the same thing in my 51x72' shop. Is a lifesaver and such a better use of space. I need to upload the pictures. I also made a portion of the railing removable so I could load heavy things up or down from the "loft" with a tractor loader.

Please do upload pics. Railing is my next step and I'm still looking for ideas.

I have a lift in the bay on the left of the pictures. I plan on a removable section of railing also. I plan to put what I want upstairs into the back of my pickup, put it on the lift backwards and run it up to mezzanine level. The back of the bed will be less than a foot away from the floor. All I need is a piece of plywood or something to use as a little bridge.

Bruce4310TX · Jan 28, 2014

watching this also i have 14' walls plenty of room to build this

Chilliwack Murray · Jan 28, 2014

I assume you have a 4 post lift. I'd be a little concerned about stability moving heavy objects on or off a vehicle on a 2 post lift.

AMCguy · Jan 28, 2014

Chilliwack Murray said:
I assume you have a 4 post lift. I'd be a little concerned about stability moving heavy objects on or off a vehicle on a 2 post lift.

It's actually a two post. A pretty heavy duty one.

Rather than balance the truck and load and then unbalance it by unloading it while high in the air, I would likely have the truck a little tail heavy while loaded and then a little light in the tail once unloaded. About the heaviest thing I'd attempt to put up there would be an engine or motorcycle or maybe a lawn tractor.

67carl · Jan 28, 2014

AMCguy said:
... I do plan on carrying heavy objects up and down these stairs. Plus my knees are getting old faster than the rest of me. The last thing I want to do is crash and burn out there.

Any advice is appreciated at this point. I may start another thread about stairs if necessary.

I've seen several threads where guys have used a regular winch, some kind of truck mounted boom winch (from Harbor Freight) or fabricated an elevator type platform (again using a winch) to lift things up to a second floor. I would think that would be more desirable than lugging heads up and down stairs. Pic below has a manual winch but no reason why you couldn't add a power one. Just a thought...

MN4x4 · Jan 28, 2014

AMC guy:

Definitely re-work the stairs. IF you need to keep the run (length) as short as possible, I believe it is legal to have a 10" tread instead of a 12". Coupled with a 7-1/2" rise you should be close to what you want.

BTW - I planned my stairs in CAD before I built them so I didn't go through this. I can't remember how many times I revised it, but it was more than a dozen! Don't let a little thing like this discourage you.

EOC_Jason · Jan 29, 2014

67carl said:
I've seen several threads where guys have used a regular winch, some kind of truck mounted boom winch (from Harbor Freight) or fabricated an elevator type platform (again using a winch) to lift things up to a second floor. I would think that would be more desirable than lugging heads up and down stairs. Pic below has a manual winch but no reason why you couldn't add a power one. Just a thought...

Or you could use the excuse to get yourself a small forklift!

NUTTSGT · Jan 29, 2014

I'd agree to rework you plans for the stairs. A 10" rise is alot if you are using them all the time. When you do work it out and think it's right, lay it out on one stringer. Once that is done, cut it out, put it in place and see if it's right. If it's correct, then trace it off for the other stringer(s).

twertsy · Jan 29, 2014

As others have mentioned, I'd be cautious using the lift, particularly a 2 post. I have a simple winch from HF that I built a platform for and it works great. You can see it in the pics I posted earlier. As for the stairs, I definitely recommend a redesign on the risers. It'll be much easier on your knees and a little gentler incline.

OccupantRJ · Jan 29, 2014

larry4406 said:
Here in Virginia and MD we build to the IRC Code. It requires maximum stair rise of 7.75". Prior Codes (BOCA/CABO) allowed up to 8-1/8" rise. I have never seen a 10" rise on a stair and would think it to be uncomfortable for use let alone non-compliant.

Good use of space. Hard to tell on your front ledger span if you are ok.

That was my first thought also. A step of 10" sounds a little extreme. I have heard that the magic combo is 17 to 17-1/2" with tread and riser dimensions added together.

BEAVO · Jan 29, 2014

nice....subscribed

Thumper68 · Jan 29, 2014

I can't tell you how much more space you get having that extra storage/work space, I built mine soon after the shop was finished and it has been every thing from sleeping space during the winter to a place for the kids to play out of the rain. Right now it's storage, sleeping loft, and where I have my drafting board.

I went with a ships ladder for access, which is hinged on the top side so it can be lifted with a counter weight to keep it out of the way. Behind the ladder is the sheet goods storage, for plywood and other large sheets stored on edge to maximize space.

AMCguy · Jan 29, 2014

EOC_Jason said:
Or you could use the excuse to get yourself a small forklift!

I have one. I picked it up a couple of months ago.

My setup won't lend itself to using the forklift easily though. I want the side of the mezzanine over the open area of my shop to have a solid railing. I could use the forklift in the bay with the lift, but the lift has a baseplate. I'll have to make a ramp affair in order to drive over it smoothly. It's all doable, I just thought lifting the truck was a unique idea.

AMCguy · Jan 29, 2014

Well I have to admit that a 10'' rise on the stairs was stupid. I have no idea why I thought that was standard. That's what I was thinking when I bought the 12' long 2''x10''s to use as stringers. I pissed off the guys at the lumber yard by digging through almost the whole lift just to find two boards that were perfect. Oh well.

So I've decided since I can't have the bottom of my staircase touch down where I originally wanted it to, I may as well build it nice and long. My mezzanine floor is 91 1/2'' high. If I go with 11 risers they'll be 8 5/16''. If I go with 12 risers they will be 7 5/8''. I'll have to get 14' stringers for either. I have enough 2''x12''s for either so I can decide at the last minute.

Question: I won't be notching the stringer, I'll be hanging the treads from the inside using stair tread brackets. Will 2''x10'' stringers still be adequate? They will be just over 12' long.

jdub63 · Jan 29, 2014

I mounted my stairs on a hinge and lift them out of the way when not in use... standard roll around stairs with the bottom removed...

mbatarga · Jan 29, 2014

jdub63 said:
I mounted my stairs on a hinge and lift them out of the way when not in use... standard roll around stairs with the bottom removed...

Oh - that just gave me an idea for my shop!

AMCguy · Jan 29, 2014

I made a little more progress.

I sheeted the wall with 1/2'' fir ply and the floor with 3/4'' fir ply. It sure is dark under there now. I'll pickup some 4' shop lights. Probably four per side. They'll tuck up between the joists.

The space up top seems huge. The only other time I've had this perspective is when I'm on a ladder cleaning the dead flies out of my light fixtures.

twertsy · Jan 30, 2014

Hey AMCguy, that wouldn't be a Viper engine lounging on the back of the recliner there (kidding) would it?

OccupantRJ · Jan 30, 2014

That's going to be very nice for use. I noted you were going to install a fixed handrail. Why not make a short section to lift out of stake pockets to allow you to use the forklift? A large hinge can be sectioned up and used as a pinning device to prevent the top of the removeable section from being wobbly. When the section is dropped into place, both the upper and lower areas of the section become pinned into place. Just have the lower stanchions come into engagement before the upper set of pins.

Building a Mezzanine Step By Step

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