Building a loft

[Kmember]

Greetings from WV!!
I'm in the process of building a 30'x48' garage and wanted to build a workshop in the rear with a loft over top the workshop. It has 12' ceilings, is this possible? If so how high should the ceiling be in the workshop? Thanks Kmember

 

[sick467]

I have a 50 x 50 shop with 12 foot ceilings. It also has a loft above a 30x30 section for storage. My loft is incorporated into the engineers trusses, so it's not all the great for walking around upright in most places, but it's certainly great for saving space down below for projects and such. The loft has 2x10's as the floor joists on 24" spacing which span the 30 foot room beneath it. I don' think this span would normally be done, but half the joists are made into the trusses. It is very firm and the builder gave it a 25 lb/sqft rating for stored item weight.

The real question is how much headroom do you need in the shop versus the loft? Going larger on one takes away from the other. My personal preference would be to have the higher ceiling in the shop. Aside from walking upright in the loft...you probably wont be putting too much up there with any real size to it.

 

[nadogail]

Welcome to the forum from Southwestern California.

 

[erlski]

Welcome to the Forum! Sounds like you got a good sized garage to work with. Good Luck with your project.