New Garage questions

[hansen1]

I am getting ready to start the construction of a 36x48 dedicated shop. I have read many threads on this forum and thought I would ask the opinion of many of you on several areas. This garage will be used for vehicle fabrication, woodworking, general vehicle maintenance. Most of the benches and equipment will be on wheels so I can reconfigure the environment to meet the project at hand.

I will be installing a 2 post lift. I was thinking of installing the lift at an angle in the rear of the shop. I was looking to minimize the disruption of the space from the columns. This location would provide just under 48" between the post and the walls as well as about 6' from the bumper to the corner. I need to plan this in advance since I will be putting in radiant tubing and want to work around the area where the lift will be installed.

Once I have the location of the lift selected, is there any reason to increase the thickness of the floor in that area? The floor will be 6". I am not sure yet on the strength of the concrete.

To accomadate the lift, I was planning on 13' interior side walls. Is there any reason to go higher than that? Maybe for a bridge crane though I don't know if it is possible to span 36'.

Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kbs2244]

Instead of the 45 angle think about a 30 degree.
It might be easier to line up with as you are pulling in.
Your ceiling height depends on what you are lifting.
Sport cars don’t need a much as vans with ladders on the roof.
A 36 foot span bridge crane is doable.
But you are at the edge of DIY engineering.
Get some help there.
The amount you want to lift will have a lot to do with the depth of the cross beam.

 

[bmacz06]

Since your space is very wide I would highly recommend that you set it up so you can drive straight in. The majority of the work is on the front of the vehicles and you would be unecessarily limiting your access by angling it in the corner.

I would put the posts 10' to 12' from the back wall and about 2'-4' from the side wall. With the size of your space I don't think you will see much disruption. I also believe it would be more difficult to have to clear out all the space needed to drive in on an angle.

12' side walls will be plenty and if you want more head space you can opt for scissor trusses.

My set up is 22' X 40' with 12' side walls and scissor trusses. There is plenty of room with this set up. My side post is 18" from the side wall so it is a little tight on that side but I do not have the width that you do.

The 6' floor will be plenty for the majority of the lifts that you will be looking at.









22'

 

[blkhonda1991]

seems to me like angling the lift is an inefficient use of space...and we all know every bit of space in a garage is precious id just place it straight inline with the door

 

[mustangmike68]

i agree with the last 2. put it straight in the back about 2' from the side. you will have to have the floor clear to drive it into the corner ,less space for work benches and tools.

 

[sam 8]

Not to pile on, but I agree with the others on the positioning of the lift. I think you can use the space better with other positioning.
I am pretty **** and have been accused many times of over-thinking stuff.
I plead guilty to the aforementioned charges. Planning kept me alive in my career, and old habits are hard to break.
When I was planning my now in-progress shop addition, I got a floor plan program and laid out the actual sizes of benches, welders, my mill and big bandsaw, and even went so far as measuring the lift I was interested in, then spent a few evenings moving the pieces around the space on the computer. It helped me "see" things a bit better, and will save a bunch of screwing around when we finish up the build here in a couple of weeks and I finally get to move in.
You are on the right track with the drawings you are doing. Think about all the other shiznit you need to get in there and how much wall space you are going to need, etc.
You'll come up with something that will suit your needs well.

 

[rsanter]

installing the lift at an angle is an interesting idea and I can see how it looks like it might be more space efficient.
to tell if it really is you will neeed to lay out all the stuff you will put in the garage.
my gut feel is that it will not be a benifit unless you were going a little deeper and were planning to install several lifts

routing the tubing is easy, if you are unsure then you could leave both spots available for the lift install and decide later or know you have the option to move it later

bob

 

[Bib Overalls]

I don't think wood working, yard equipment, automotive body work, or mechanical work mix well in the same shop. Wood working creates a lot of dust. Just what you need when you are building that 10K hemi. Lawn mowers and the like bring dirt in with them, and body work is just nasty. Incidentally, I tried to do all of that in my 30" x 40' and gave up on it. I'm doing my mechanical work at a friend's shop. And will until I can construct a second shed for the woodworking equipment, lawn mowers, and swimming pool stuff.

 

[mustangmike68]

forgot other question. lifts usually requires 3500psi concrete at about 5" to 6" for a 10,000 lb 2 post . best check with the type of lift your thinking of getting. 13' sidewalls should be enuff.

 

[ddawg16]

How about a different approach?
Why not make a small 'addition' off to one side that would be big enough for the lift and anything that you would want to put on it...basically, the addition would have a large door front and rear...you could drive it straight on directly from the outside....or just drive straight through into the garage. That way if you have a project that leaves it up there longer than planned...it's not in the way.

As for the concrete....4000 PSI....and I would think more in the area of about 12" or more....say about a 4'x4' pad under each post....a yard of wet concrete is a lot cheaper than a broken piece of 6" concrete....

 

[hansen1]

I appreciate everyones thoughts and opinions. This is my first dedicated shop and I want to get as many ideas as possible.

Due to the home owners association, I have to keep the outside some what controlled and to look like the house. I am pushing them with what I have put together so far. This will be the biggest outbuilding in the area.

I tend to lay things out in advance also. I was struggling with doing that since I have to have the radiant tubing and concrete installed before I could lay things out. Maybe the suggestion of pouring extra concrete in a couple areas would give me options.

Regarding the ceiling height, the trusses are something the builder is calling "attic trusses". The main horizontal will be a single thick laminated beam that will allow the center section of the attic to be used for storage. I should have about 14' x48' of storage. The engineered specs say about 240 lb's per square foot. I figured the lift's average around 12' tall so I started at 13' to give some extra room. What I don't know is how much space a bridge crane would need above the lift. The crane is on the wish list but don't want to prevent me from having the ability. Anyone have experience on how much height is needed for a bridge crane that would span 36'?

I haven't found a lift yet. I have been looking for a used one the last couple of years. I was leaning towards a Rotary. Reading the other posts, it seems like Bendpak is discussed a lot. I know Rotary seems to have the most in the dealers and shops around here. In fact there is a shop going out of business right now that has 5 lifts available. I am trying to see what the cost will be for one or all. If I have to buy them all, I will be asking others on this forum if they are interested. Any thoughts or feedback on Rotary lifts would helpful. Seems like the typical price at auctions, etc is around $2100.

I forgot to mention a key reason for turning the lift. I will be parking a vehicle in the corner once I build it. This will be parked the majority of the time since it is a off road vehicle only. I am trying some different layouts in Sketchup. The one below is moving the lift to the other side and making it straight.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[rburke65]

I know it's still considered a big secrete around here, but you would probably get more potential buyers for the other 4 lifts if we knew where you lived....atleats tell us if you East or West of the Mississippi. Thanks.

 

[pattenp]

I have a Challenger 2 post have have attached the bay layout specs. Your corner setup looks like you're not leaving enough room in front of the lift. Can't tell from your straight on set up as to how much space you're leaving in front of the lift.

 

[bmacz06]

Your second drawing is much better.

One thing you might consider is a combination of attic trusses and scissor trusses. This will allow you the option of shorter walls (not sure how high your community will let you build) and head space above the lift with storage in the rest of the space. If there are no zoning restrictions, money is no object, and you truly need that much storage 13' above you than ignore this advice.

 

[SteveU]

Look at OldCarGuy's setup, he has both a Mohawk 10K 2 post lift & bridge crane in his one garage. With the Mohawk you can route the hydraulic lines in the floor so the bridge crane could be much lower than with most other 2 post lifts. As far as angling the lift, mine is at a slight angle to accomodate the expansion joints in the floor. The closer to straight you can have it the easier it is to position your vehicle to get all 4 pickup points.

 

[hansen1]

I haven't heard back from anyone yet on the 5 lifts. I am located in Colorado, just outside of Denver.

The actual building will be set into a hill so that the back of the shop will be 6' below ground level. That is why I thought if I wanted to go up an extra foot, it may not be that big of a deal.

 

[mustangmike68]

I bought a used rotary SP9 for $1,000 about 2 months ago. I really like it so far. I emailed rotary and had installation instructions the next day. it is a floor plate model, I would have preferred clear floor but i can't be to picky. bendpac is also popular in nevada.

 

[rsanter]

the back part is into the hill...mmmmmmm
too bad you cant keep going into the hill and have a really big shop where they wont even really see the back part because it is buried...
it sounds expensive but cool

personally I would go as tall as you can afford and as tall as they would let you. that gives the iption to make the outside just look like it a 2 story building. you have the option of tall pallet racks for storage and also the option of a loft in part of it for either storage, office, hobby space...etc

bob

 

[SteveU]

Height wise, I had an astro van on the lift tonight at a height I could walk under without ducking and it was still at least a foot under the hydraulic lines which I believe are at 12'. If you're serious about the bridge crane you might want to look around to see who makes shorter lifts, Mohawk 10K is under 9' if you run the lines in the floor & 7K is even shorter. A Mohawk lift is going to cost more than most but you could probably save enough by being able to go shorter on the building to more than make up the difference.