Lift placement - how far away from the wall?

[sevensandeights]

My garage build has finally started! The excavator came last week with the dozer and leveled everything off to grade. He will be back to dig the footer a week from tomorrow.

I have a question about where to place my imaginary lift. It's imaginary because I don't have a lift yet nor will I for a few years but I am planning for the future. I do know that it will be a 2 post version.

How close to the wall are your lifts? Any regrets or suggestions. I plan to have a 24-30" wide workbench or tool storage area along the wall adjacent to the lift. I was thinking about 6' away. Does this sound right?

The lift will be in the back left corner of this schematic. I need to know where the lift is so I can plan my door placement. Thanks!

 

[caper]

This is something I see people do wrong all the time.Nothing worse that having it so close to the wall that you can't walk around the post to get from the front wheel to the back.Ducking under the arm or walking around the whole car gets old really quick.Make sure you at least have a couple feet between the post and the wall so you can walk around it.

 

[ghnl]

If you are only going to park on the lift (ever) then you don't need much room along the side (enough to open the door I guess). Since I assume most of us will want to work on the car from time to time then you need to plan on enough room to do so.

 

[ket-tek]

My 4 post is 36" away from the wall, and it's enough room to change tires and walk all the way around the lift comfortably.

Though the more room the better obviously, and It would be nicer to have about 6 ft.. I based my location on the lift being centered in front of the bay door it is in, so it just is what it is..

 

[tatra]

enough room to be able to pull an axle out with out interference.................

 

[Nutty 5.0]

What tatra said. In my case I had to be up close to the wall. Yeah, its inconvenient to have to walk under or around the car, but anything I'm doing in the garage can wait the extra few seconds. As long as you can get an axle out, you're fine. When they pour the floor, make sure to pay attention to where you want to put lift, which is in the back corner in your case. Explain it to the concrete guys when they're pouring so they put the engineered crack(s) away from the lift. That's what happened to me; I didn't think about that and most lift manufacturers tell you it should be on one "pad".

You can look at my garage in my sig for what I'm talking about.

 

[sevensandeights]

Thanks! I didn't think about the "one pad" theory but it makes sense. I am probably going with a 4" floor but will thicken a large area in the back left corner to 6" for the lift.

 

[jkeyser14]

The one thing I might do different is flip the direction of your stairs (but keep them on the same wall). Then I would locate the bathroom under the stairs. Put the plumbing and hot water tank below the stairs. It will free up a little extra space.

 

[bill9860]

Out of necessity I will be 18-24" from the wall. At least a little room to avoid having to walk around. Overall my floor is 5" 4000 psi but there is a 6 x 15 area that is 8" where the lift will go (somewhere in there). Plenty of maneuverabililty for ultimate lift placement and type of lift (symmetric or asymmetric) and varying widths

 

[aemp]

my lift is 3ft from the outside of the post to the wall and 9ft from the end wall. never had any problems and ive had all size car/vans on it.my only other advice would be if u cant get the lift straight in front of the door, angle the lift to suit,it might not look best but the easier you can get on it the better its to use

 

[Bfoughty]

I second Tatra... far enough to give you room to pull an axle. And front clearance so that you can put a work bench and still have room to walk around the front and work. IIRC mine is 12' from the front and 6' from the side wall.

 

[jimmie jam]

Thanks! I didn't think about the "one pad" theory but it makes sense. I am probably going with a 4" floor but will thicken a large area in the back left corner to 6" for the lift.

i just went through the same thing last year. i added 600sf to my existing garage. it has 13' ceilings for my lifts. i did the entire slab 6" with 4000psi with double mesh and #5 steel crossed @ 5' on center. do the whole slab this way then, like me, you can put your lift/lifts anywhere you want. it will only cost a few hundred more to do it right.

 

[Nutty 5.0]

i just went through the same thing last year. i added 600sf to my existing garage. it has 13' ceilings for my lifts. i did the entire slab 6" with 4000psi with double mesh and #5 steel crossed @ 5' on center. do the whole slab this way then, like me, you can put your lift/lifts anywhere you want. it will only cost a few hundred more to do it right.

Did the same and ditto!

 

[swharris]

I've asked this question before since I'm going to do the same thing(build & add a lift), and the one thing I've not seen mentioned is that you will want to have enough room to get a engine hoist in front of the car and be able to maneuver it pull a motor out. Maybe not an issue if you are working on modern cars and dropping sub-frames out the bottom, but I'd still want enough room in front since that is an area you do quite a bit of work on cars

 

[nate379]

I just poured a 14x24 PATIO and I have about that in steel I used 6 sack air entrained mix, not sure what psi that is?

Put 6" grid mesh, and then did Xs of 10ft long #5 rebar on each 6ft "square" (used a cricket to cut lines). Then the edge has 2 runs of #2 rebar. Edge is 12" thick, center is 6"

i just went through the same thing last year. i added 600sf to my existing garage. it has 13' ceilings for my lifts. i did the entire slab 6" with 4000psi with double mesh and #5 steel crossed @ 5' on center. do the whole slab this way then, like me, you can put your lift/lifts anywhere you want. it will only cost a few hundred more to do it right.

 

[SteveU]

I've asked this question before since I'm going to do the same thing(build & add a lift), and the one thing I've not seen mentioned is that you will want to have enough room to get a engine hoist in front of the car and be able to maneuver it pull a motor out. Maybe not an issue if you are working on modern cars and dropping sub-frames out the bottom, but I'd still want enough room in front since that is an area you do quite a bit of work on cars

Even if you are not actually puling the engine out of the car this comes in handy to change timing belts on some vehicles. Changed the timing belt on my wife's 93 corolla & had to unbolt the motor mounts & lift the motor to gain access to a few bolts while it was on the lift.