Pluribus
Well-known member
Hopefully there are enough challenges to make this one interesting. 
The space is an existing 20' deep garage with no access on the gable ends, so I'm stuck with that shallow depth. Right now, there's a small door, so framing and a header change is in order. My ceiling height is 10', or just shy of it if you include the drywall. Trusses run fore/aft, or parallel with the 20' measurement. I would like to have some form of door that gives me about 8'6" of height clearance and about 16' of width.
As for the lift, I plan on buying a four post lift for mostly vehicle storage purposes, but it will be used for occasional repair and restoration of. 9,000# capacity would be more than enough for me. I've noticed that at least one company uses air for the release of the safety locks. Do all of them? This garage has air, but I may be building another one that won't. For simplicity's sake, a mechanical release would seem to be preferable to me. Pros/cons? While we're talking about lifts, I noticed in a random Google search that Challenger Lifts had a four post lift that ran on 115v instead of 220. I ask all this because in the future, the lift may be moved to where it's used mainly as storage in a building where there is no power. I'll just bring a portable generator in for the few times a year I need to operate the lift. My existing garage does have 220 outlets. Pros/cons again?
If I go with a standard overhead door, roughly how close to the ceiling can I get for the underside of the door including any stiffening ribs, since I'll want to be able to clear a car stored in the lifted position? Obviously, I'd have to remove any lights where the door would be, also. My understanding is that a roll up door can't really be insulated very well and would be super-expensive, so I'm assuming I will be looking at some form of overhead door. I'm open to alternatives and education though!
Thanks in advance.
The space is an existing 20' deep garage with no access on the gable ends, so I'm stuck with that shallow depth. Right now, there's a small door, so framing and a header change is in order. My ceiling height is 10', or just shy of it if you include the drywall. Trusses run fore/aft, or parallel with the 20' measurement. I would like to have some form of door that gives me about 8'6" of height clearance and about 16' of width.
As for the lift, I plan on buying a four post lift for mostly vehicle storage purposes, but it will be used for occasional repair and restoration of. 9,000# capacity would be more than enough for me. I've noticed that at least one company uses air for the release of the safety locks. Do all of them? This garage has air, but I may be building another one that won't. For simplicity's sake, a mechanical release would seem to be preferable to me. Pros/cons? While we're talking about lifts, I noticed in a random Google search that Challenger Lifts had a four post lift that ran on 115v instead of 220. I ask all this because in the future, the lift may be moved to where it's used mainly as storage in a building where there is no power. I'll just bring a portable generator in for the few times a year I need to operate the lift. My existing garage does have 220 outlets. Pros/cons again?
If I go with a standard overhead door, roughly how close to the ceiling can I get for the underside of the door including any stiffening ribs, since I'll want to be able to clear a car stored in the lifted position? Obviously, I'd have to remove any lights where the door would be, also. My understanding is that a roll up door can't really be insulated very well and would be super-expensive, so I'm assuming I will be looking at some form of overhead door. I'm open to alternatives and education though!
Thanks in advance.