lift positioning question

[bbs993tt]

Hi all,

Long time lurker and appreciate all the knowledge shared here.

I'm building a new house that will have a 4 car garage that's 40' wide. There will be 2 double garage doors instead of 4 single ones. At some point I would like to put 2 lifts in 2 of the adjacent bays.

I don't think there are a lot of options, but from a planning perspective, how do I know where to position the 2 lifts with respect to each other? Do I want these lifts to be right next to each other (inner posts butting up against each other) or is it better to have some space in between? What other planning issues should I be considering?

Any insight from those who have been through this would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Junkman]

I would increase the garage to a 5 car, so you can have an empty bay on each side of the lift. I would also consider the height of the ceiling, since you need room for the cars when they are on the lift. I have 10' ceiling in my garage, and I find that it isn't enough for my cars. My new Ford Explorer, is quite high, and even though I haven't put it on the lift yet, I know that it is going to be a problem to raise it enough that I can comfortably walk under the car to work on it.
Also, make sure that you consider where you are going to place your work bench, and tool boxes. It is a lot less expensive to add square footage in the building stage, then it is to retrofit additional space later on. What I considered adequate in 1983 when I built the home, it grossly inadequate today. The one thing that I did do back then, was to make the cellar 10' high, and there is plenty of room for the duct work, and to install a dropped ceiling if that is desired by the next owner. I even installed plumbing drains in the cellar floor, in the event that the next owner wants to put a full bath down there.

 

[Jim Riseborough]

I would do 4 single doors, so you can have more space between the cars to drive in and open doors, or with the lifts, have room to walk between them if you have a car in each bay.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Are you talking about 2 post lifts or 4 post lifts? Are they just for storage, or for working on the cars?

 

[Ray916MN]

40' wide for 4 cars is going to be tight.

You're going to have a tradeoff between the width between the lift posts and room between the lifts. Wide 4 post lifts which are tight for full size trucks with their mirrors deployed are typically 10' wide. Typically 2 post lifts are going to require even wider spacing. Buying a narrower lift will get you the possibility for some room between the posts, but it is probably going to be tight trying to walk between the posts or between the a lift post and vehicle and of course if you have wide vehicles a narrower lift is going to be harder to get vehicles on and off.

Working with similar dimensions for the bays in my workshop, I planned for 18' wide doors and 10' wide lifts (no space planned between lift posts), but my workshop is 48' wide and I needed to lift/park full size trucks.

If you want 4 cars in 40' of width and lifts, I strongly suggest you look at the widths of the lifts which meet your needs and plan your layout accordingly.

 

[Autorotica]

24' is the minimum width in my mind for a 2 car garage. 12' per bay. With 40' I would call that a 3 car.

Chris

 

[bbs993tt]

I would increase the garage to a 5 car, so you can have an empty bay on each side of the lift. I would also consider the height of the ceiling, since you need room for the cars when they are on the lift.

Thanks for all the responses. Unfortunately, I have taken all the space I can for a garage and 5 car isn't possible. Ceiling height is no problem. It will be 20' high over the bays where I want to put lifts.

I would do 4 single doors, so you can have more space between the cars to drive in and open doors, or with the lifts, have room to walk between them if you have a car in each bay.

Unfortunately, I didn't think of doing lifts until too late. The foundation is down and framing is already up.

Are you talking about 2 post lifts or 4 post lifts? Are they just for storage, or for working on the cars?

4 post mostly for storage

40' wide for 4 cars is going to be tight.

You're going to have a tradeoff between the width between the lift posts and room between the lifts. Wide 4 post lifts which are tight for full size trucks with their mirrors deployed are typically 10' wide. Typically 2 post lifts are going to require even wider spacing. Buying a narrower lift will get you the possibility for some room between the posts, but it is probably going to be tight trying to walk between the posts or between the a lift post and vehicle and of course if you have wide vehicles a narrower lift is going to be harder to get vehicles on and off.

Working with similar dimensions for the bays in my workshop, I planned for 18' wide doors and 10' wide lifts (no space planned between lift posts), but my workshop is 48' wide and I needed to lift/park full size trucks.

If you want 4 cars in 40' of width and lifts, I strongly suggest you look at the widths of the lifts which meet your needs and plan your layout accordingly.

24' is the minimum width in my mind for a 2 car garage. 12' per bay. With 40' I would call that a 3 car.

Chris

Appreciate the input and again, it's too late to change the garage size

 

[froggert]

I think you'll have to stagger the lifts a little bit to get them to fit width-wise in the door opening. Look up the specs of the lift you want to get and lay it out on the floor with blue tape.

 

[Autorotica]

Thanks for all the responses. Unfortunately, I have taken all the space I can for a garage and 5 car isn't possible. Ceiling height is no problem. It will be 20' high over the bays where I want to put lifts.

Unfortunately, I didn't think of doing lifts until too late. The foundation is down and framing is already up.

4 post mostly for storage

Appreciate the input and again, it's too late to change the garage size

Look into caster kits for the 4 post lifts... 4 posts do not have to be anchored to the floor and can be moved. Make the lift like furniture. Put it where you think you might want it and then try it out. If you dont like it there then move it.

I love 4 posts lifts.

Chris

 

[bbs993tt]

I think you'll have to stagger the lifts a little bit to get them to fit width-wise in the door opening. Look up the specs of the lift you want to get and lay it out on the floor with blue tape.

Look into caster kits for the 4 post lifts... 4 posts do not have to be anchored to the floor and can be moved. Make the lift like furniture. Put it where you think you might want it and then try it out. If you dont like it there then move it.

I love 4 posts lifts.

Chris

Great ideas, will do both. Thanks!

 

[ADoerr]

Sounds like you may only be able to install 1 lift. Do you have to have 2 or do you just want 2?

 

[astroracer]

40' outside dims is about 39' inside. Minus two 16' (what size are they?) doors and you are down to 7' to split between the two doors for spacing. That's less then 2 1/2' from the wall to the door openings. Hardly enough room to open a fullsize car door. There will be no room for benches or storage alongside the parked vehicles and still have easy access to them.
Putting a four post in there will have it butted right up against the wall and you will not be able to walk around the car on that side. Same problem parking another car alongside the lift on the other side. Especially a four post as they take up a lot of room at the corners.
Not a good layout. Lots of room for parking but no room for working or storage.
How deep is it? If it's fairly shallow, 24' or 26' you will have issues opening the gargage doors with cars on the lift. Make sure you talk to your gargage door contractor about using high lift tracks.
Mark

 

[thickhead]

I think both the Bendpak HD-9STX and HD-7P right next to each other may work for you when pulling two cars into the single 16' door.

 

[bbs993tt]

Sounds like you may only be able to install 1 lift. Do you have to have 2 or do you just want 2?

More want than have to have right now but if/when I buy one more car, I'll need the second one.

40' outside dims is about 39' inside. Minus two 16' (what size are they?) doors and you are down to 7' to split between the two doors for spacing. That's less then 2 1/2' from the wall to the door openings. Hardly enough room to open a fullsize car door. There will be no room for benches or storage alongside the parked vehicles and still have easy access to them.
Putting a four post in there will have it butted right up against the wall and you will not be able to walk around the car on that side. Same problem parking another car alongside the lift on the other side. Especially a four post as they take up a lot of room at the corners.
Not a good layout. Lots of room for parking but no room for working or storage.
How deep is it? If it's fairly shallow, 24' or 26' you will have issues opening the gargage doors with cars on the lift. Make sure you talk to your gargage door contractor about using high lift tracks.
Mark

Garage doors are 18' wide and I think garage is 22' deep. The door on the side of the garage where I want lifts will go straight not turn but go straight up the wall.

I think both the Bendpak HD-9STX and HD-7P right next to each other may work for you when pulling two cars into the single 16' door.

Looking at Bendpak and Atlas. Atlas has one that's wide enough for my cars but narrower footprint than the comparable Bendpak.

 

[astroracer]

18 foot doors, wow, that's one foot to the wall and one foot between doors... Not a lot of room. There isn't a lot you can do here bud. Putting the lifts next to each other, in the middle of the garage will be your best bet. If you can put a couple of feet between them at least you can walk between them. 22' deep will barely get a fullsize car inside. This garage will be crammed full when you have a few cars in there.
I really wish you would have asked these questions before the plans were finalized. Not a lot you can do now...
Mark

 

[Catmochanic]

What about the Bendpak HD-9SW or HD-9SWX double wide 4 post?

 

[bbs993tt]

18 foot doors, wow, that's one foot to the wall and one foot between doors... Not a lot of room. There isn't a lot you can do here bud. Putting the lifts next to each other, in the middle of the garage will be your best bet. If you can put a couple of feet between them at least you can walk between them. 22' deep will barely get a fullsize car inside. This garage will be crammed full when you have a few cars in there.
I really wish you would have asked these questions before the plans were finalized. Not a lot you can do now...
Mark

Oh well, like I said, didn't even think of this until after construction began. Thanks for the input anyway.

What about the Bendpak HD-9SW or HD-9SWX double wide 4 post?

I don't think it saves any space at 202" wide compared to 2 x 100" for the HD-7 models. Am I missing something?

 

[scotty t]

how about one lift per door? instead crammed tight to each other.

 

[KaiserJeep]

Side by side lifts? Go with one symmetric, and one asymmetric. The inner posts could almost be lined up with each other....

 

[Autorotica]

Side by side lifts? Go with one symmetric, and one asymmetric. The inner posts could almost be lined up with each other....

Great suggestion!

Chris

 

[59 wagon man]

1 - 2 post to work on cars ,it can also be used to stack 2 cars for storage and a 4 post for strictly storage

 

[Flipper88]

Something to keep in mind when you are thinking about dual lifts is the total imprint on the floor. This might open a can of worms but what brand and model lift are you looking at? My Atlas BP9000 Measures 136 3/8” (Just over 11’) from edge of plate to edge of plate. So putting two of my size lifts directly side my side and touching with no walk through room would take up 22’ of space and with an 18” door that could cause issues. Might need to offset them just bit.

Edit- Just read it again and saw you are wanting 4 post lifts.. I know nothing about them so good luck in your search!

 

[Ironcrow]

Bendpak car stacker:
http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/parking-lifts/pl-14000.aspx

 

[thickhead]

^
Actually, how about the PL-7000XR?

 

[Ironcrow]

Well, that's cool too. But, when he said he had 20 feet ceiling I'm thinking stack them to the sky!

 

[Flipper88]

The BendPak PL-14000 is just over 23’ tall

 

[bbs993tt]

Side by side lifts? Go with one symmetric, and one asymmetric. The inner posts could almost be lined up with each other....

Not sure I understand this. Can you explain a little more? Thanks.

^
Actually, how about the PL-7000XR?

I had not seen this one but it doesn't get the car as high as I want it to be.

Bendpak car stacker:
http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/parking-lifts/pl-14000.aspx

Unfortunately, too tall

how about one lift per door? instead crammed tight to each other.

Good idea, but the lifts would need to be next to each other on the side of the garage where the ceiling height is much higher.

 

[KaiserJeep]

Something like this... where the two posts closest to each other are almost inline with each other (relative to the vehicles).

 

[Ironcrow]

The BendPak PL-14000 is just over 23’ tall

Well, darn it! Cove the ceiling. Who could resist being the first Garagejournal member with a PL-14000?

 

[02HD9294]

Better choice is Bendpak HD-9SW two car lift.

http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/parking-lifts/hd-9sw.aspx

 

[Al G]

Oh well, like I said, didn't even think of this until after construction began. Thanks for the input anyway.



I don't think it saves any space at 202" wide compared to 2 x 100" for the HD-7 models. Am I missing something?

It eliminates a post in the middle of your door opening.

 

[bbs993tt]

Well, darn it! Cove the ceiling. Who could resist being the first Garagejournal member with a PL-14000?

Better choice is Bendpak HD-9SW two car lift.

http://www.bendpak.com/car-lifts/parking-lifts/hd-9sw.aspx

It eliminates a post in the middle of your door opening.

I appreciate the input and since you guys keep offering help perhaps I should give a little more info for some possible solutions.

The first two garage bays which are closest to the rest of the (attached) house are for my wife's and daughter's SUVs. That part of the garage will have a normal 11' ceiling height because there's a room over that part of the garage. That room is my man cave and my idea was to have the wall facing the garage be solid windows so that I can overlook my modest car collection which will be in the two far bays.

The problem came when framing the house when I noticed that the cars will be so far down from the man cave and the geometry is such that when I'm sitting down, they're too far down to see. The "extra height" lifts don't really bring the cars up that much to help but Bendpak and Atlas each have one that raises the top car something like 142" which would be ideal.

Hopefully this explains why some of your replies won't work and perhaps will trigger a different option. It sounds like having one would be ok but that there's not enough room for 2. Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[KaiserJeep]

The problem came when framing the house when I noticed that the cars will be so far down from the man cave and the geometry is such that when I'm sitting down, they're too far down to see.

How about using full height windows, or maybe sliding glass doors on the wall of the man cave. That would give you a great line of sight....

 

[Ray916MN]

So let's assume you're hoping to use the BP HD-7PXW.

110.25' outside post width for each lift. 220.5 (18.375') for two lifts installed post to post. The outside posts will just about be perfectly lined up with the outside edges of an 18' wide garage door (door width is slightly narrower due to overlap with the casing). Position the lifts slightly away from each other if you want to be able pull in at slight angle to gain more room between parked vehicles.

If you find a wider lift than the HD-7PXW which meets your height requirements you can make it easier to park under the lifts and accomodate the width by staggering the leg placements so in the center of the bay you only have single leg width between the lifts. If you assume a lift leg width of 6" given a 20' wide space you can accommodate a lift width up to 126" (10.5').

With respect to optimizing the viewing of the lifted cars from you man room, I'd go with the suggesting of installing sliding doors. A railing just outside the sliding doors would allow you to safely open the doors. If you made the railing removable, you could use the lifts to lift things like motorcycles or engines up and into your man room if you wanted a full man room experience.

There is no silver bullet here. Find lifts that meet your requirements and do the math to figure out what will work best for you. Only you know all your requirements.

 

[bbs993tt]

How about using full height windows, or maybe sliding glass doors on the wall of the man cave. That would give you a great line of sight....

Sorry, forgot to mention that the windows are already full length. Still no line of sight.

So let's assume you're hoping to use the BP HD-7PXW.

110.25' outside post width for each lift. 220.5 (18.375') for two lifts installed post to post. The outside posts will just about be perfectly lined up with the outside edges of an 18' wide garage door (door width is slightly narrower due to overlap with the casing). Position the lifts slightly away from each other if you want to be able pull in at slight angle to gain more room between parked vehicles.

If you find a wider lift than the HD-7PXW which meets your height requirements you can make it easier to park under the lifts and accomodate the width by staggering the leg placements so in the center of the bay you only have single leg width between the lifts. If you assume a lift leg width of 6" given a 20' wide space you can accommodate a lift width up to 126" (10.5').

With respect to optimizing the viewing of the lifted cars from you man room, I'd go with the suggesting of installing sliding doors. A railing just outside the sliding doors would allow you to safely open the doors. If you made the railing removable, you could use the lifts to lift things like motorcycles or engines up and into your man room if you wanted a full man room experience.

There is no silver bullet here. Find lifts that meet your requirements and do the math to figure out what will work best for you. Only you know all your requirements.

Good thoughts, thanks.

 

[Ray916MN]

Oops dawned on me that my logic was faulty.

Assuming a leg width of 6" the maximum lift width would be 123" (10.25') wide with staggered leg placement.