Idea for moving heavy items into basement workshop

[wanderer]

I’ve attached pictures of the stairwell of my basement workshop. It’s very difficult to get heavy items in. It just so happens that above the workshop are 12 inch floor joists with a 5 foot span and nothing on top of them. Loadbearing walls on either side of the stairwell.

It occurs to me that I could get a piece of beam material and attach them to the ceiling using U bolts and then a trolley and hoist to carry things down to the basement. The problem is that the staircase is too long. The only thing I can think of is to make a two piece staircase so that when I want to do this I can just slide part of it away.

The last part of the idea seems kind of half-baked though and I’m hoping somebody has something slicker.

 

[bullnerd]

When I was in HS my buddies dad brought home a bridgeport and a lathe.

We re enforced the steps with wood underneath, laid plywood on top of the steps and slid everything down using the winch on the front of a truck parked outside.

Half baked version: Find one of those used old school single post lifts, Put it in the floor below the stairs with a platform on top, put the whole staircase on wheels!

 

[Stuart in MN]

I’ve attached pictures of the stairwell of my basement workshop. It’s very difficult to get heavy items in.

How heavy are the items? 100 lbs, or 1 ton?

I'd first confirm the stairs themselves are up to the load, and then slide them down on a piece of plywood (and/or round up a few friends to help.)

 

[lilredex]

I'd be more concerned with how you will get them out......when you move.

 

[garandman]

How heavy are the items? 100 lbs, or 1 ton?

I'd first confirm the stairs themselves are up to the load, and then slide them down on a piece of plywood (and/or round up a few friends to help.)

Yeah, a drill press or table saw is a few hundred pounds, a small lathe 700-1,000, and a knee mill over 2,000 lbs.

We used an electric-powered stair-climbing dolly to put a safe in the basement. We bought it to deliver 350 lb 3D printers. Before that we used a furniture dolly and a block and tackle. You can rent them.

 

[Whitworth]

What do the floor joists hang on? Just nailed in, or metal hangers or actually rest on a beam?

I would not trust anything hung on U bolts. Eventually you will overload it.

You would want your trolley beam resting on something substantial like lally columns.

 

[wssix99]

Speaking as someone who tried to take a 500 lb safe up stair stairs like this with my wife, only to have the safe slip out of our hands, see the wife tumble down the stairs, with the safe tumbling down above her...

If this is going to be just some heavy equipment you need to get down there once or twice - call a piano mover. They have the equipment, skill, and insurance to do the job. The money you spend will be saved in all the work you will need to do for a retrofit and you'll also avoid the chance of a hellish experience.

BTW - The safe bounced over my wife's head and the corner gouged her in the ribs just to the side of her spine. ... and then tore the hell out of the drywall. Got lucky.

 

[The Cobbler]

remove the stairs completely when you want to move stuff. get a sort of gantry crane to lower the stuff into the basement . rig up some bracketry on the stairs so you can remove/replace bolts easily .

 

[The Cobbler]

Speaking as someone who tried to take a 500 lb safe up stair stairs like this with my wife, only to have the safe slip out of our hands, .... Got lucky.

you were damned lucky!

 

[mikegt4]

When I built my house I addressed the same issue by including a Bilco door access to the basement. Actually I did it so that I could get a 40' wood sailboat mast into the basement but that's beside the point. Now I can open and remove the doors (30 seconds worth of work), remove the steps (1 minute) then use my front loader to lower the machinery down to the basement floor level. My Weiler lathe just made it through the opening, the Millrite was very easy. Tool boxes, workbenches furnace or water heater and other bulky items are not much more than an inconvenience now. Of course the OP is dealing with an existing situation so he can't do what I did.

I can't see if the ceiling over the stairs is flat or follows the slope of the stairs. If it is flat then one could install an I-beam/trolley but the beam would have to be able to extend out through the door to facilitate lifting the machine off the truck, trailer, ground to start the whole process. As the OP said, the stairs could be made in two sections, the upper part removable or hinged to swing out of the way so that the load could drop straight down once inside the door. The door opening is going to be the dimensional size restriction, the structure supporting the beam the weight restriction.

All that being said just how often will equipment or other heavy items move in or out of the basement. My guess is only a few times which leads to something along the lines of what Bullnerd suggested. More often than not the machines would have to be broken down to smaller components to make the move easier, once again the door size dictating access.

 

[wanderer]

I can't see if the ceiling over the stairs is flat or follows the slope of the stairs. If it is flat then one could install an I-beam/trolley but the beam would have to be able to extend out through the door to facilitate lifting the machine off the truck, trailer, ground to start the whole process. As the OP said, the stairs could be made in two sections, the upper part removable or hinged to swing out of the way so that the load could drop straight down once inside the door. The door opening is going to be the dimensional size restriction, the structure supporting the beam the weight restriction.

The beam and trolley are what I had in mind. Heaviest must have been the planer and it was probably 500#. I called a piano mover. $350. Air compressor was probably 400, carried down with a buddy. The structure supporting the stairs is suspect, I reinforce it when I bring stuff down. Hence me rethinking it.

Next item to bring down is a new drill press. Maybe 150#. Tired of calling a buddy, too big for the wife to help with and too big for me to do alone.

 

[bullnerd]

When I built my house I addressed the same issue by including a Bilco door access to the basement. Actually I did it so that I could get a 40' wood sailboat mast into the basement but that's beside the point. Now I can open and remove the doors (30 seconds worth of work), remove the steps (1 minute) then use my front loader to lower the machinery down to the basement floor level. My Weiler lathe just made it through the opening, the Millrite was very easy. Tool boxes, workbenches furnace or water heater and other bulky items are not much more than an inconvenience now. Of course the OP is dealing with an existing situation so he can't do what I did.

I can't see if the ceiling over the stairs is flat or follows the slope of the stairs. If it is flat then one could install an I-beam/trolley but the beam would have to be able to extend out through the door to facilitate lifting the machine off the truck, trailer, ground to start the whole process. As the OP said, the stairs could be made in two sections, the upper part removable or hinged to swing out of the way so that the load could drop straight down once inside the door. The door opening is going to be the dimensional size restriction, the structure supporting the beam the weight restriction.

All that being said just how often will equipment or other heavy items move in or out of the basement. My guess is only a few times which leads to something along the lines of what Bullnerd suggested. More often than not the machines would have to be broken down to smaller components to make the move easier, once again the door size dictating access.

My Grandmothers neighbor was a machinist and he had a similar bilco door setup, but they were home made and much larger than standard Bilcos. He had a boom on the back of his flatbed truck and could just back up to the doors, and lower away. Never saw a basement so full of tools. Had to have a 16' lathe down there! It was as long as one wall.

 

[rsanter]

Best idea I ever saw was in one of the home machinist magazines.
He dug a pit on the outside and installed a retaining wall.
Put a door where the window was.
Installed an I beam and frame above the pit.
When bug or heavy things have to go in or out, it was easy as pie

 

[DGersic]

The beam and trolley are what I had in mind. Heaviest must have been the planer and it was probably 500#. I called a piano mover. $350. Air compressor was probably 400, carried down with a buddy. The structure supporting the stairs is suspect, I reinforce it when I bring stuff down. Hence me rethinking it.



Next item to bring down is a new drill press. Maybe 150#. Tired of calling a buddy, too big for the wife to help with and too big for me to do alone.

Escalera stair climbing hand truck would handle those easily.

I collect large, heavy objects (pinball machines)



150 lbs I’d do myself with a regular refrigerator hand truck from your local big box hardware store. Most games are in the 150-200 lbs range, and I’ve moved dozens up and down by myself.

400 lbs, going down, I’d probably do myself, but probably shouldn’t. Going up, no way.



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[nadogail]

Idea from a rebellious free thinking wanna be engineer.
1. Fill the basement with blocks of ice.
2. Slide the heavy items on the ice blocks.
3. Remove the water as the ice melts, a wet vac or a sump pump might be good for this.
4. Dry out the damp basement.

 

[Jackfre]

Whatever you do...no one below the load.

 

[James-W]

Remove the stairs and install an elevator. Use the front part of a forklift as the elevator lifting mechanism. You can move a lot of weight with a forklift.

 

[bob15]

Something flat bottomed like a safe, roll it on 3-4 pieces of 1/2" or 3/4" black pipe.

Trolley system: super strut https://www.unistrutohio.com/wp-content/uploads/Unistrut-Trolley-Image.jpg

I bought my stuff through mcmaster carr

 

[aventino68]

Remove the stairs and install an elevator. Use the front part of a forklift as the elevator lifting mechanism. You can move a lot of weight with a forklift.

+1 for the forklift

 

[Whitworth]

Next item to bring down is a new drill press. Maybe 150#. Tired of calling a buddy, too big for the wife to help with and too big for me to do alone.

Take drill press apart. Head, base, table and column.

 

[BD1]

I've slid boilers down stairs on planks but not that much weight . Get a price to have it done and then the cost of a outside basement entrance. You're gonna be bringing stuff in and out anyway.
I built a hillside ranch with full walkout. Now being retired, my shop is the basement.


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[DFB]

My motorcycle shop pal rigged up an electric (battery) pallet jack to raise and lower motorcycles into the basement of his building thru a stairwell header opening

built a platform across the forks to fit the opening and with a remote power controller makes it a one man operation too

 

[Kaizen]

The entire basement walls are all underground?


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[wanderer]

Remove the stairs and install an elevator. Use the front part of a forklift as the elevator lifting mechanism. You can move a lot of weight with a forklift.

Something like this would be cool. Safe...hmm...

 

[wanderer]

The entire basement walls are all underground?


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Yes. I have two staircases into the basement. The other one is the one we use most of the time but its curved so I added this one when we built the house because I didn’t think I’d be able to fit couches or beds down the other.

 

[jonshonda]

you were damned lucky!

Or is he? We know nothing about his wife!

 

[The Cobbler]

Best idea I ever saw was in one of the home machinist magazines.
He dug a pit on the outside and installed a retaining wall.
Put a door where the window was.
Installed an I beam and frame above the pit.
When bug or heavy things have to go in or out, it was easy as pie

good idea

 

[Kaizen]

Or is he? We know nothing about his wife!

Well that’s what is said now that the plan failed


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[kbs2244]

I like the take it apart idea.
Most tools are modular and can be broken apart into lighter pieces.
At the very least, take the motor off.

 

[matt_i]

Most ingenious is a friend of mine. He sawed up the kitchen floor and blocked out a fairly good sized hole that has either replaceable or hinged doors with the remnants.

The kitchen sits next to a pair of french doors which are next to the driveway.

He has an 8k forklift under a carport which has a long boom on it with which he rigs machine tools thru the open doors, over the opened floor, and down into the basement with a chainfall.

Its super nice down there, comfy year round without a penny extra for heating.

I've not met his wife but assume she is gold-standard in the "understanding" department.

 

[Kaizen]

Yes. I have two staircases into the basement. The other one is the one we use most of the time but its curved so I added this one when we built the house because I didn’t think I’d be able to fit couches or beds down the other.

No Brainer if you have another staircase. Make an elevator. Take this stairway out completely


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[wssix99]

Best idea I ever saw was in one of the home machinist magazines.
He dug a pit on the outside and installed a retaining wall.
Put a door where the window was.
Installed an I beam and frame above the pit.
When bug or heavy things have to go in or out, it was easy as pie

The pit, or a trap door, makes things really easy. In my case, my stairs (themselves) were the heavy load. A chain hoist and a pit makes easy work of these things:

 

[Thirdyfivepickup]

you mean not everyone has a lift like Thomas and the Restored 1930's Auto Shop???

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567&page=527

 

[rsanter]

No Brainer if you have another staircase. Make an elevator. Take this stairway out completely


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I saw a TV show about basements where a guy converted an old in ground lift into an elevator

 

[Pressingonward]

A cheap and simple method I've used to get heavy stuff up and down our stairs is the following:

1. Make sure staircase can handle the load. Reinforce as needed

2. Cover stairs in OSB or plywood of sufficient thickness to handle the load. Screw to stairs or attach brackets to hold it in place. Don't try to walk up or down the plywood, it's too slick and steep. You have a second staircase so this isn't a problem.

3. Place heavy load on furniture dolly. If you rent or own a stair dolly you can probably skip the plywood in the previous step. Use straps to hold the load on the dolly - this is critical and makes everything much safer and easier

4. Rig up a hand winch, come-along, or block and tackle at the top of the stairs, far enough back that the furniture dolly and load are between the stairs and the winch. Hook up the winch to the dolly handle

5. Start the dolly down the stairs, with just enough slack on the rope so that you can lay the dolly down with the wheels on the stairs and the handle on the landing.

6. Lower the dolly down the stairs with the winch. Put a smooth block of wood or something at the top of the stairs for the winch line to rub on instead of the floor

This is safe, cheap, and easy up to about 400/500 lbs, though you may need a helper to lay the dolly down. Works really well for going up the stairs, though the transition at the top can be difficult - pulling or blocking (stacking blocks under it to change the angle - I'm assuming the winch is mounted at or near floor level) the cable upwards works well to get the dolly up and over the top.

For a drill press weighing 150 lbs I'd probably forgo all of this and just take it down the stairs on a dolly (with the larger pneumatic tires, not one of the ones with the tiny solid tires) with a strap holding it to the dolly, but I'm young still. Taking it down in pieces might be best.

 

[FANTM58]

Could you hinge the upper portion, then use a winch to raise and lower the stairs.
And at that point, load your tools onto the bottom portion, secure then lower the stairs ..

 

[southalabama]

Gravity is unforgiving.
Be safe