help deciding on lift placement

[gtcs]

I am building a new shop and have hit a snag I need to resolve soon.

My building is 30x40 with doors on the 30 side, the salesman for my building talked me down to 10' sidewalls, so now I have to offset the lift a little towards the middle of the building. My goal was to be able to put 4 cars in the building, and since some of my cars are smaller it will work. Barely.

Now the actual question.
Should I put the lift in the front part of the bay or towards the back wall?
I keep changing my mind and am almost out of time before the concrete pour.

 

[UpstateNY]

2 or 4 post ?

 

[boobag]

i'd probably put it towards the back. unless you were going to be switching cars frequently on the lift.

 

[gtcs]

Its going to be a 2 post, but I am also trying to decide between symmetrical and asymmetrical. My thinking is towards an asymmetrical as most work is done on 2 door cars.

 

[vpd66]

I have the same size shop has you and have almost the same problem. I bought my shop already built and have had it for 13 years. Now at almost 50 years old I've convinced myself a lift would be nice (don't like rolling under cars no more). I have one 12ft door on a gable end. I also have a 8'x10' room in the back left corner (has you drive in). The best placement I've come up with for a 2 post lift is straight in about 10 ft off the back wall. This will "hide" the left post next to the wall for the room but still give me plenty of room on the other side of the right post. It will also elminate any dead space in front of the lift. I know I will have move anything in front of the lift to get to it, but the way I work in my shop now I never "down" anything in front of the door anyway.

 

[bfarroo]

If your undecided and are pouring larger pads for the lift for more strength just set it up for both areas. That way you have the possibility to move it if you want and it really isn't going to add much to the cost of anything.

 

[6768rogues]

I put my lift far enough back so there is a parking space in front of it. Everyday parking is not on the lift and if I want to work on something that does not fit on the lift, I can do it right inside the door.

 

[James-W]

My vote would be to put it more toward the back of the building. But you still need to leave enough room to work all around the vehicle on the lift.

 

[mikeburris]

My vote would be toward the back, but you are going to do most of your work on the sides and front, so be sure to leave plenty of room for moving carts, etc in the front. If you are going to end up with too many things in the front you might like it toward the door, where you have plenty of room in front. If you need in and out a lot, you will likely lose that option from time to time with the lift in front of the door and you will also need a high lift door. I like the asymmetrical.

 

[jlckmj]

That is almost the size of mine, I would put it in the center of the garage, but like others have said, toward the rear so you have enough room to park daily drivers in the front half without it interfering with the lift when it is empty.

During the winter, we park the daily drivers toward the front just inside the door, put my C10 where the lift is, if I wanted to, I could put one up on the lift, and park one under it, making my 24 x 40 a 4 car garage.

Jim

 

[Forever Fixin]

I have the same size garage except 12' walls with a two post symmetrical. I opted to put it towards the rear so if I end up with a project that takes more than a day or few I still have space to park in front of the lift by the door. Also the air compressor is closer to the rear so I don't have to pull out so much hose when using air tools, and it also allows for use of the jib crane for engine work if I pull the vehicle in backwards.

 

[coljar]

I have the same size garage with a 10' open ceiling and put it slightly towards the back with room to still put a workbench on the back wall.

 

[gtcs]

Ok, sorry this is on paint but I'm on a tablet.

I thought of this placement today, the red is supposed to be the lift and the blue cars, not to scale but you get the idea.

With this I can put a car in the front of I need to, but I have plenty of room in front and rear, and can put any length car on it.

Anybody see anything bad about this placement?

Its not so much for reinforcing the slab as it is for in ground lighting and power

 

[Badhabit]

Two things I see. You will have to put your benches on the side as you will not have room in front of the cars. With that post in the center of the shop, it will make it tight to get around to work on the cars. How many are daily drivers and how many are projects? How big are the cars? 20' isn't a lot for working on a car. I have a 42' stall and if I back the first one in and drive the second one in, that leaves about 3' in the center to work on either vehicle under the hood, work a floor jack etc. I would put the hoist so that you can put a car on the hoist and still drive one in behind it but don't think about putting a bench on the end wall in that stall anyway.

H

 

[gtcs]

This building is all projects for the forseeable future. Daily drivers are in the attached garage. I didn't think about it taking up all the 'work' space between the cars. Then again, the thought I'm having is that this side is one long bay for working, but I can 'stash' others during hail season.

The workbenches are going to be on that side anyway, so it will be the primary work space. What prompted that placement is the upcoming suspension overhaul on my 88 F250