40'x50'x14' how much loft is too much loft?

[wjmcfarl]

Slab is all poured and builder is about ready to start welding up the shop beams and we discussed the option of a loft yesterday and wanted to get some opinions.

The building is a 40'x50' with 14' eaves. Looking at the sketchup below I am thinking of making a 20' wide by 25' long loft in the back left corner. It seems perfect as I will have most of my carpentry tools and storage cabinets and workbench in that section anyways and I don't need more than 8' of clearance overhead from the slab to the bottom of the loft beams.

Builder said he will use 12" beams and purlins to frame out and support with one 4"x4" steel post and the rest welded to the shop exterior framework so it should leave that whole area pretty open. All together the loft materials and labor will come out to about $7000-9000 depending on material options and whether I install the decking myself.

If I do a smaller loft 16'x25' it would keep the garage more open but I will only have 5' head room at the eaves and I definitely want plenty of space to possibly enclose the loft at some point in time and create a man cave or something.

Thoughts? Too big a loft? Best loft height from slab to bottom of the beam? Anyone with a similar design got any pictures?

 

[dfiler2]

I think lofts are a very good use of space, the 20 x 25 seems very reasonable. I have a 26 x 40 loft in a 40 x 80 building.

 

[plout99]

I have a 32 x 48 with a loft over half. You do want more than 8 ft that way standing sheet goods up vertical will be much easier. You also have to factor clearance for lighting when standing sheet goods up, 9 ft is plenty much less and it will cause aggravation.

 

[aggie113]

I have a 30x40 with 18" to the rafters. Future plans are to install overhead space where I don't need the headroom. So pretty much everywhere but the area where the two post lift sits. Idea is to use it for both storage and to enclose an area for a mancave/apartment type area above the garage.

 

[78SC4X4]

My build allows for a 40x24 loft. I would definitely go the 20' to midline so you have more space with adequate headroom. You'll still have the highbay from end to end on the other side.

 

[wjmcfarl]

Awesome and thanks for all the replies! I am gonna go with the 20x25 loft. I will see about going for 9’ ceiling below the loft so there is enough room for sheet goods.

 

[Fasthotrod]

I have a 40x50x14 shop, 4/12 pitch, open span ceiling. I wanted an office space that had a 1/2 bath and a closet to store stuff, along with some cabinets and workbenches so that I have a place to tinker when I want to. (And don't want to take over the kitchen table, which makes the wife happy.) I also figured it would be a good idea to tie in a slop sink for cleaning up while I'm working in the shop.

During the design phase, I decided to build the office ceiling to be able to support some weight... a mezzanine or loft, which ever you prefer to call it. I knew that I wanted a staircase to be able to get up there, that way I'm not trying to drag boxes of heavy **** up a ladder. Let's face it... I'm not getting any younger, and I don't want to fall on to hard concrete at that height. I could also use the space under the stairs as a water closet for the pressure tank, water heater, filter, etc...

The office space is about 16' x 16' with about 3' of that being the width of the 1/2 bath and closet. Add the stairs to the side of that, and we're at about 16' x 20' of floor space. I attached a rough sketch that shows the basic layout for the walls and plumbing locations. The staircase is to the right side of the drawing. The 2nd sketch was the basic idea of the office/loft.

I used 2x12's at 12" on center to span the office space, and decked it using adhesive and screws to tie down the 7/8" thick AdvanTech tongue and groove flooring. I built some railing to go along the outer edges to prevent anyone from falling off the deck or the staircase.

There's quite a bit of headroom on the staircase side, but that quickly disappears as you get closer to the outside wall. A smaller set of shelves along that wall would work great for storing tote boxes and such, or laying down long, flat objects like conduit, Unistrut, ladders, etc...

Hope this helps.

Mark