Ceiling Height ???

[jeostang]

If the lift I'm looking at requires 12' 1 is there any reason why I should not go higher then 12'5? My plan is to do a vaulted ceiling on one side, the. 8.5' on the other for loft space. Should I even look at doing a vault ceiling on the lift side an just do 12.5' walls?

 

[2level]

Reason to not go higher than 12.5'? Possible height restriction by AHJ. Bigger volume of air to heat/cool. Aesthetics, maybe. Have you decided on a roof style yet?

 

[jeostang]

Thinking a 4:12 gable.

 

[Ray916MN]

How tall of a vehicle are you going to lift? Without knowing this, how does the lift manufacturer know how high the ceiling should be? If a lift, lifts to 6' and you put a double decker bus on it, do you think a 12' ceiling height will suffice? Have surface mount lights or a ceiling fan, you need even more height.

Using the ceiling height specified by the lift manufacturer for your ceiling height is like believing a shoemaker who sells you a pair of shoes that you won't have to duck for 6' doorways. How the frick can the shoemaker know this? Of course the lift maker will be able to specify a ceiling height if the lift is a 2 post with a top cross bar, but otherwise you need to add the maximum height the lift will lift to and then add the height (undercarriage to top for 2 posts, standing height for 4 posts) of the vehicle you want to make sure you can lift to full height. Pretty much the same way you figure out how tall you'll be in a pair of shoes.

 

[finn]

Two post lifts generally have an overhead crossover for the hydraulics and cables. The overhead crossbar effectively defines minimum ceiling height requirements. The double deck bus won’t go very high before it hits the limit switch mounted on the crossbar.

Lifts with a floor crossover don’t have the same constraint, but the manufacturer would likely still define minimum ceiling height.

Nobody specified maximum ceiling height, for obvious reasons.

 

[firebirdparts]

12.5 walls (and higher) are okay. I suppose the reasons people don't do that are appearance of the building, it's a long way to store stuff upstairs, and it's a little harder to heat. I am just making these up, but that is what you asked.

 

[RWorth]

If you're putting in a lift you play with cars,if you play with cars you will need every square inch you build + 3"s. I would build the largest garage you have room for and can afford.

Mine is 26x40 because of my lot size. I have 12' ceilings with 12' straight walls. The building is designed as a work shop, so it has 1 10' garage door on the short side,(gable end).

With the 12 height I have a 4'x20' loft on one side, and the back 10' x 26' of shop is all loft. I purchased a 4'x3' electric platform lift to get heavy items to the lofts.

I built a 13x28' tent on a slab beside the shop last year for more storage. There will never be enough room if you play.

 

[glentre]

You don't say if you have a 2-post or a 4-post lift or what kind of vehicles you have. For my 4-post, for example, I had to go with an extra high, extra long model because I have antique 1930's era cars which are much taller than today's models. Could not store one on the lift and one under with the standard height lifts. No problem if I had two corvettes. My ceilings are 13 ft.

Glen

 

[matt_i]

Not sure if you have concrete stem walls to build on that shorten the stud height. I would investigate the cost of 14 foot framing vs. 12 foot framing members, and even then I'd not rely on them to be exactly 12'. I'd rather have a 142" dimension so I could saw them all to the exact length.

 

[Pluribus]

Are you sure they're not specifying a minimum height, rather than a maximum?

 

[Bad00SS]

I'm looking at the Rotary SPO10 2 post and it requires a 12' ceiling. I'm using a single bottom plate with a 12 foot 2x4 and a double top plate which equals 12'-4.5". with drywall it will be 12'-4" so this will allow some extra room when doing the installation. This is the cheapest way for me to build it. If you used something like a 14' stud which is the next size the cost goes up a lot. I didn't feel I had any reason for the extra cost.

 

[finn]

Go with a couple rows of blocks. Keeps the sill off the slab and is an easy way to increase wall height.

 

[mgbbob]

I went with 12' sidewalls on my metal building. It is about 15' at the tallest. 12" was high enough to handle my 11,000 lb. lift. I purchased the extra tall/wide model so that I can raise a car high enough to part my 6' tall Grand Cherokee underneath and still have room for my Jeep Wrangler on top. If you have taller vehicles then you may need to reconsider. Heating the extra space is the reason I stopped at 12'. The standard 4 post lifts could be used and maybe shorter wall height would be okay but be carful.

 

[James-W]

Reason to not go higher than 12.5'? Possible height restriction by AHJ. Bigger volume of air to heat/cool. Aesthetics, maybe. Have you decided on a roof style yet?

I agree 100 percent. Where I live, the city has garage size and height restrictions so you are limited as to what you can do, or can't do. Before doing anything I would certainly check it out.