Loft for car storage... ideas?

[matstng]

I was talking with a friend over a couple beers and the thought came up to put a loft in for car storage.
Anyone ever seen or done this?
How could the car be put up there? (I've got a 2 post lift directly in front of where I'm thinking the loft would be so it could be used.

The plan would be to have the following under the loft. A restroom in the corner, a sink against a wall and maybe a mini bar, TV, carpet with a couch and chairs for hanging out.

I'll take a pic of the area tonight.

Reason for this: I've been storing a car for a friend for over two years and I don't see it coming to an end any time soon and I want it our of the way.

Maybe I should get a 4 post lift and be done with it but that's too simple

Comon, let's hear some ideas.




As I'm typing this I realized this would require at least one post to the floor that would be in the middle of everything which brings this to a quick end but I'd still like to hear some thoughts.

 

[JJThrasher]

Elevator, hoist, drove on lift, outside ramp. Plenty of ways to get it up there. The loft would need to be pretty strong though.

 

[gjz30075]

Maybe I should get a 4 post lift and be done with it but that's too simple

I don't know if your friend is paying you anything but it would be nice if he purchased said lift for you.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Any reason not to reverse the idea and build a deck for people space over top of the car storage spot?

 

[saabman]

I have a friend that built a car storage loft. He uses a Bendpak 4 post lift (with caster kit) to get cars up and down.

 

[matstng]

Any reason not to reverse the idea and build a deck for people space over top of the car storage spot?

Now this is an idea..... I like it but I'd still have a post in the middle of my shop.

I have a friend that built a car storage loft. He uses a Bendpak 4 post lift (with caster kit) to get cars up and down.

Got any pics of your friends lot?
I thought of this too but if I have a 4 post I don't "need" the loft.

I first was thinking of a folding ramp but it would have to be so strong that it would be to big to fit anywhere within reason.

 

[RickP]

A co-worker of mine used to build parking garages -- he said the loading on them was lower than an office building (pounds per square foot). How wide is your shop? You could span a two-bay garage pretty easily. Steel would be the easiest way, but doubled 2x12 joists can span up to 21 feet.

You wouldn't need to get the car on/off the loft very often, right? Heck, you could make the whole platform tilt if you had a strong enough hoist in your shop.

 

[rsanter]

I saw one time where someone put a couple of sections of pallet racking together in front of a 4 post lift
Raised the car on the lift and used ramps from the lift to roll the car onto the pallet racking.
If I recall it was an English type sport car so not all that heavy.

Bob

 

[gahrajmahal]

safer to have the people lounge over the cars. Then chop out a portion of the roof for an outside deck too!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Honestly, why should you pay for more room when you have the room taken up by the friend's vehicle.

Talk to your friend and let him know that you need your space back. If he's a good friend, he'll understand, if he gets pissed, well, he's probably been taking advantage of your friendship.

On the flip side, maybe you're fine with storing it.

 

[cyamaha2007]

I did it at our family farm. We have a 53ft flatbed semi trailer that i chopped down to length. The trailer clear spans 40ft i believe. I store someday projects any seasonal toys up there. We plan to add 2 more this fall to give us 24ftx40ft of over head storage. This will allow us to back cars in instead of setting them up there sideways.

 

[SteveCh]

Put the car outside with a car cover on it. Much, much less expensive than construction.

 

[Ryf]

as someone who has stored other peoples **** too long, if they aren't paying for storage then its time to call it quits on the favor, imo, if you spend money to do this you will start feeling taken advantage of.

I wouldn't modify my arrangements to suit helping someone else (unless he gave me a kidney or other organ) if building the loft is something you want to gain your other additions and your using it as justification, I get that, sometimes it needs to be someone elses fault. otherwise, tell him its time to rent a storage unit and make it someone elses problem.

if not that, then your looking at cutting holes in the floor, putting in post footers, and having at least 1 if not more posts, I would put the posts in line with the lift posts at the end of the lift, put some air chucks and electrical boxes on them so if you have to live with them they have some benefits. if you cant deal with posts then how wide is the garage?

The plan would be to have the following under the loft. A restroom in the corner, a sink against a wall and maybe a mini bar, TV, carpet with a couch and chairs for hanging out.

if you are adding a bathroom under it, it doesn't need a post per say, you can put in a load bearing wall, depends on layout. splitting your under loft area in half underneath with your modifications would make this very possible, a bathroom would add two walls that could be load bearing, you could put the bathroom directly under the car area and would have plenty of structure if done properly. good luck with your plans.

 

[bobadame]

How heavy is the car? This one only weighs 1000 lbs. but the joists are only 2 x 6" on 16" centers. You could use 2 x 12s on 12" centers in the area where the car will be. Put it up there with a fork lift.

 

[matstng]

Thanks for the input.
Yes, I am being compensated but I am getting tired of it taking up space mainly because I keep buying cars and things are filling up. I have made hints to the owner that she may want to find other arangements. The car is a 1970 Camaro so it's not light.
It's a really good friend of mine's sister-in-laws car so it's a little sticky although this wouldn't end the friendship.

My garage is 36 x 48' with 1/4 of it being stalls/tack room for my wife's horses. There is pleanty of room to do this I just don't want posts anywhere. I like the open space.

My thought was if I built something I'd get the benifits when/IF the car is gone.

Here's an old pic of the space to give an idea. The corner is where the Cobra is and there is now a 2 post lift in the space in front of it. The restroom would be a 5x5' room in the corner.

 

[Anglia Guy]

Hey!! Bring one (or both) of those Vettes over here. That'll free up some space, dude.

 

[McKay]

Yes I am in the middle of a build that includes a loft. But not necessarily for cars. My loft is appox 32' x 45'. Ended up putting some beefy 14" TJI's on 12" centers with some steel included. Then I put down the radiant tubing and poured 3" of concrete up there. Had it engineered for 250 lb per square foot. My plan is to use it for ATV storage/ general pallet storage, putting a compressor, dust extractor etc up there. My main floor footprint of the garage is approx 7000 feet so I did not feel the need to use it for cars etc. Plan is to just use the forklift to place ATV's etc up there. I did put a 60" wide stairs up to it as well.

 

[Steevo]

You can park the bathtub at my place, but you have to leave the keys with me.
And who bastardized the fenders? What a tragedy.

 

[VWPORSCHEGT3]

steevo, kit car that comes that way

 

[NUTTSGT]

You're being compensated but you have made hints and she doesn't get it.

Either come right out and ask her to find another place or raise the rent so it'll pay for the loft. There's no reason for you to have to eat the cost, unless you want to.

 

[Ryf]

ok so seeing and getting some more info, how about renting/borrowing some kind of forklift to put itup there, and instead of a square loft (since you don't want posts in the freespace) lay up your posts next to your verticals and cut the corner, less span and no posts. less loft, but life is a compromise. from the picture it looks like the project car is very close to the distance from the wall to the vertical supports, but its pulled off the wall a bit.

 

[matstng]

Thanks for the input.
I like the idea of making the loft the "man Cave". Would not need to be nearly as strong and would be a fun escape. The only problem would be the heat, it gets hot the higher you go eventhough I am insulating.

BTW: Corvettes and 356 replica are gone. Vettes belong to a neighbor and I replaced the 356 with a 65 Fastback Mustang.

I'll need to look into supporting the loft from above and how much weight the steel framing can handle. If I keep the heavy items against the walls I can't see it weighing that much. Or I could run a beam across to the storage loft/stalls on the other side of the building.

 

[Richard D]

The loft is a cool idea. You can always use it to store your own car later. Hell of a theft deterrent!

 

[rsanter]

Seems to me that the cheaper way out would be to build a room for your man cave.
Buy a 4 post lift to put next to it and then stack 2 of the cars.
You can also use the lift like an elevator to take bulky items up to put on top of the man cave

Bob

 

[Old Moparz]

All you need is some chain & a forklift.