Help with framing storage area.

[jb442]

I'm fortunate to have a 3 car garage, and, on the "third" side, the cieling is vaulted and is essentially just wasted space. I would like to build out this area for storage. I'm pretty handy, but I haven't done much framing before so I thought there might be someone out there who has done something like this or knows about framing, etc.



I've attached a picture of the garage so you can see what I'm working with. (Sorry if I get the terminology wrong in the following...) The area is about 13'6 x 8.0' ~ 108 sq.ft. My plans were as follows: Line "B" -- 8' 4x4 from main beam to wall. Wall "A" -- Remove drywall and double-stud down to the mudsill. I would then connect seven 2x4, 13'6" joists, spaced at 16", from wall "A" to the 4x4 at line "B". They would sit on top of the stud that was attached to the existing studs in the wall. Between each of the A-to-B joists, I would bridge across them at various locations with 2x4's (not sure how much is really necessary).

So, my questions are... Does this sound feasible & safe? I would like for the area to hold as much weight as possible (within reason, of course). To finish, I would top it off with 11/32" plywood... Oh, and lastly, the garage door opener would be re-mounted to the bottom of the storage area.

Any ideas & advice is appreciated... Thanks for your help!
-John

 

[kbs2244]

What is above the low ceiling area?
They have left you an example to follow.
Can't you just continue with what they did?

 

[blkhonda1991]

What are you planning on storing up there? and how are you attaching the 4x4 beam to the existing beam? One thing that i dont agree with is the 2x4 spanning 13.5 feet especially in a storage situation. And i would probably throw in a jack stud under the framing where you are attaching it to the existing studs.

 

[jb442]

What is above the low ceiling area?
They have left you an example to follow.
Can't you just continue with what they did?

That is a room on the 2nd story of the house... I could possibly tie into that area, but I'd have to remove the drywall first.

What are you planning on storing up there? and how are you attaching the 4x4 beam to the existing beam? One thing that i dont agree with is the 2x4 spanning 13.5 feet especially in a storage situation. And i would probably throw in a jack stud under the framing where you are attaching it to the existing studs.

I have a lot of plastic storage bins with auto parts, etc. that I'd like to store up there... As far as the amount of weight, I'd guess somewhere in the 250-500 lb. range. To attach the 4x4 (or larger?) I was going to fabricate a custom joist hanger out of 1/8" mild steel plate to hang over and/or bolt through the larger 8x16 beam. I'm trying to find a wood-span calculator, but I haven't found one yet. I could definitely substitute the 2x4's with 2x6s for the added strength. As far as a jack stud, I think that's what I had planned, I just didn't know what it was called. I was going to double-stud, and place the new 2x4/2x6 on top of that stud.

 

[6768rogues]

If you go to your local building department or library they should have span tables. It sounds too light weight to me, especially if you might crawl up there while looking for something.

 

[jb442]

If you go to your local building department or library they should have span tables. It sounds too light weight to me, especially if you might crawl up there while looking for something.

After finding an online calculator on the American Wood Council's web site, it does seem like it was a bit too light-weight.

Here's where I found the tables and calculators:
http://www.awc.org/technical/spantables/index.html
http://www.awc.org/calculators/index.html

Also, after a bit of drywall removal, I found that there is another beam on side "C"' which looks ideal to support a lot of weight. Check out the pictures for my details on my new design.



I would utilize the 9x5.5" beam and attach multiple 2x10/2x12" down-legs to a header board running from C|A-to-C|B. Then, instead of running long joists from A-B, I would run 8'0" 2x6" joists, 16" spaced, from C-D which should hold more weight than I could probably fit up there. The same size header board, 2x10/2x12" would be attached to wall D as well.

I'm not sure if I'm getting into the point of overkill or not, but it seems to me that this design would support the weight. Let me know what you think!
Thanks, John.

 

[swgray]

Maybe I'm different, but how much access to this space do you expect to have? Or need? With all that framing, it doesn't look (based on the pictures) like much room will left to put a tote up there.

I think you'd have an easier time doing whats shown on here. I believe similar items can be had from other places, too.

 

[jb442]

The picture is deceiving because of the lens that I have on the camera.
This picture shows how the totes will fit:

Since the area is ~13'6" feet long, you could fit about 7 rows @ 6 per row, which is 42 totes. You are right though, accessibility would be an issue with that many up there - I'd just have to put the least-likely-to-be-used in the back.

Thanks for the link... I like the idea of hanging them from the cieling too, and I may have an area where that would work.

 

[Junkman]

In the end game, you are going to find that anything that makes it up there, will never make it out of there. You will wind up storing things that eventually you will be throwing out. You might be better off just adding a small mezzanine for a small amount of storage space, and leave it at that. They don't call me the Junkman because I don't save everything. I have recently been disposing of "stuff" that I have moved 4 times in 35 years for no reason, except that I had the space to store it. The only good thing is that now scrap values are up......