Clearence for car hoist

[Mr98z71]

Hi, I'm new here and I primarily made an account so that I could ask the following question because I could not find this being discussed in forums.

I recently bought a house, came with a 46x36 pole barn shop with 10' ceilings. I was looking for a place that had a shop with 12 foot ceilings but couldn't find any. I'm trying to make this shop work, got a few quotes to install tray type trusses, seems like that's going to cost me roughly $17,000 to do based off the quotes I received. Wondering now if it would be best to have to roof lifted to give me 14 foot ceilings instead?

I seen online you can get buildings with miracle trusses but not sure if I can retrofit those trusses on my building.

 

[Ray-CA]

Depending on the construction, you might also be able to lift the entire structure and add the additional height at the bottom. CMU's, poured wall etc.

Ray

 

[Stuart in MN]

What kind of lift are you planning on, and what car will you be putting on it? While it may not be likely, it's possible that the existing 10' ceiling will be adequate.

Is the quote you got for replacing all of the trusses? Pole barns typically have 4' spacing on the trusses, so you may only need to modify one or maybe two of them. As you probably know, modifying trusses generally requires engineered drawings.

 

[Mr98z71]

My trusses are 5 foot on center which is kind of odd given our high snow load PSF factor around here... I'm just under 6 foot tall, my truck is 5 feet from the frame to the roof, I could get away with 11 feet. Looking at a 2 post lift, bendpack possibly

That quote was to replace 3 of the trusses. I have the original prints of the building and was able to get in contact with the original truss manufacturer who pulled up my drawings on their end and engineered me a truss that would give me 12 feet of Clearence at the center of my building, 12 feet wide. Unfortunately, this truss has to be 2 ply so I cannot build them in place like I had hoped.

 

[R6 Racer]

5 foot on center trusses.. WOW
Im amazed that that was passed an inspection anywhere snow load is even talked about.

That aside $17,000 seems a bit steep but costs do add up quick when you have someone do it for you.
I did the center bay of my 32 x 40 shop last year. I was able to install scissor trusses that gave me 14 ft at the peak, 13 ft with an 8 foot depth & 12 ft with a 16 ft depth by 8 feet wide. With you wanting a 2 post their might be an issue. The 2 posts lifts I have seen have posts that are over 10 ft. I have not looked hard tho as I'm after a different type.

I hired an engineer who produced stamped drawings for the job that included all the specs for 5, 3 piece trusses along with all the other changes & additions that would be required. I took those to a truss company & had them build & deliver 5 of them for me.
Installed the 5 new ones to 5 of the original ones & then cut off the bottom of the old ones.

There are obviously more details but basically that was all there was to it. The whole job was right around 5 k if I remember correctly.
It took more time making all the subtle changes & doing all the additionals than it did to install the trusses.
One of these days I'll make a build thread for it.

Steve

 

[Scud67]

My lift is designed for "low ceiling" applications. The posts are 9' 3" tall and can be used in a garage with 10' ceilings. My ceilings are 11' 6".

 

[CraigStu]

First I am not sure why you need to replace three trusses. Heck just one would give you 10 feet minus thickness of a truss. That might limit your lift width but at most you need to replace two trusses. Second, could you call back to the truss company and explain you need a truss design you can build yourself in place?

 

[iowa4x4dieselman]

Could you place the lift in between the trusses and just make a "box" for the top of the lift?

 

[GRivera]

17k is very steep- I paid that for Shirk Pole Bldgs to build my 30x40x2’ pole barn.

Do you have the option of putting an “addition” on your pole barn? If so, you can build it to spec with the right ceiling.

 

[Mr98z71]

I told my truss manufacturer that I wanted to build in place but the only way a tray truss will work is if it is a 2 ply truss and I was told that those could not be built in place. Where my door is located currently, the trusses go parallel to the door, so if I want to drive in to the hoist, I'd have to alter 3 trusses at least.

 

[Mr98z71]

I contacted an engineer but he wants $400 just to come take a look and is wanting to install a ridge beam with posts dropped in the middle of my floor space.

 

[Mr98z71]

So I ended up getting a quote for 10 new trusses, would give me 12 foot ceilings in the middle of my shop for $2000. I can do this myself, just looking for ideas on how to get new trusses in place without removing the roof.

 

[ed_v]

Hate to tell you, but you’ll have to remove the roof. It will make the job easier anyhow.