Removing 2nd story

[1965gp]

Along with the rest of us i built my shop too small and am out of room. My original garage is a 3 car garage with an unfinished room above it. I have had all kinds of ideas for the room but the one that usually wins is 'junk storage'.

After 7 years of having car parts and Christmas decorations in the 2nd floor I finally had good idea...

My wife won't go along with expanding the garage but has no issue with a shed that she can't see.

I could easily fit all of my 2nd floor junk in a $2500 shed.

How hard would it be to remove the second floor so I can put lifts in the three bays? My thought was to clean up the second floor and build a small showroom with flooring or 'catwalks' between and around the cars.

So I convey the right idea- Imagine cutting three 10x20 holes in the 2nd floor to allow the lifts to bring the cars up through the second floor. I would leave as much of the 2nd floor as possible.

Now imagine that 2nd floor decked out like a bar with spotlights on the cars, neon on the lifts underneath the cars, vintage fridge, pinball machine etc.

I could cut the original floor or take it all out and build new.

I think it would be awesome-add a couple of the new window style a/c units and you have a hell of a man cave for the price of the lifts and a shed.


Thoughts, suggestions, ideas, any input is appreciated!!

This pic kind of show show the truss' are set up:

 

[1965gp]

Also- I figure I can build it to where I have floor boards to place over the 10x20 holes if I do not have a car on the second level or if we wanted to have a party or something like that up there.

 

[jetnow1]

Looks like you have stick framing rather than truss framing. Cutting holes in the floor
should not be to hard but you will need to frame the openings to support the remaining
floor. You would need some kind of railing around the openings. Covers to go over the
holes to use the floor when lifts not being used would probably be to heavy to move.
Do you really need 3 openings, I would consider making one bay a lift bay, using the others as is. Talk to an experienced contractor or engineer about how to frame the remaining floor in any event, as you have given no sizes of spans or existing framing
any more would be just guess's or speculation on our parts.

 

[ishiboo]

Is there room for 3 lifts? Stuff looks pretty darn close together in there.

In platform framing, the floor joists and floor sheathing are responsible for keeping everything together. You would need to leave some joists and flooring to keep the walls from bowing in or out, or otherwise sufficiently strengthen the space.

As for using the upstairs for other activities, it looks like there would be a ton of bounce. Is that regular 2x12 lumber with bridging spanning the full garage depth, minus whatever was added over the top of the righthand bay? That all looks really insufficient for a second floor.

 

[Professur]

Guy has a three car garage with a second story for storage .. and it's too small. %$*&@#$

 

[bczygan]

No problem doing what you want, except panels to cover the openings. Those would not be strong enough to walk on unless the yod structural members allowing them to span the opening. And they woyuld need to be sufficiently sized to support people, so you would be using something like 2x6's at 16" on center. Very heavy panels, and bulky. Where would they be stored?

As mentioned above, perhaps a combination of methods could be used. One opening, leaving most of the upstairs intact. Or two, if you prefer, meaning the only 1/3 of the upstairs would be usable.

Removable floor panels would be heavy, bulky, and expensive, even if done in metal. Imagine 6 panels, each 2 feet 8 inches wide x 10 feet long with 3/4" plywood on top of 3 2x6x10' long joists. And a center panel 4' x 10'.

Where would you store these? And that is for one 10x20 opening.

It's all doable, especially using LVL's to open up the openings.

Think about it.

Bill

 

[scotty t]

you would need TALL lifts or a LOW ceiling.

 

[1965gp]

I agree to all of this. My thinking was to consolidate the 2x12's and make a joist out of them (or buy new- I think you can buy them glued together as a power beam?) so (3) 2x12's as a joist, supported by a 6x6 on each end.

The two joists would be about 3 feet apart between the cars- each supported by a 6x6 on each end. I would have these 3' sections between the cars and something similar on the edges.

I haven't figured the floor boards out. One thought was to have individual 2x6's that you set in one by one, then you have 2' sections of floor board to lay on it. Or possibly find a way to suspend it from the ceiling? I dunno about that.

Another possibility is to put net across them- like you see on boats (I have no idea what this would cost). Basically you would have the feel of a bean bag on the floor... Make the net removable by connecting it to poles that somehow lock in.

The contractor that built the garage extension will most likely be doing it.

I intend to buy the taller lifts and probably lower the floor to be even with them.

I will take measurements and photos when I get home. I either figure something out or sell my 66 GTO and 02 Firehawk.

Thanks for all of the input so far- giving me lots to think about. This all came up while I was on a work trip and was trying to figure out how to raise the 2nd floor to make room for lifts.

 

[1965gp]

One more thing is I would have to change the garage door to open straight up. I have one of these already and it works great.

 

[rsanter]

If you can do it is determined by how the wall construction was done. Is that second floor part of the structure that holds the walls square?
Sure you can restructure exsisting walls if they are already not but you have to figure that into the mix.
To get the effect you want you will need to get extra tall lifts. Do you have the room around the cars for all the man room stuff you want to put in there?
To close up the holes to make one big area I would think that you would need to remove the cars and put a section of floor/decking on the lift and then run the lift up and use it to safely hold that section of floor.
Will part of the lift then be sticking up and acting as a trip hazard? Like the 4 posts?

Bob

 

[kbs2244]

Judging from the first PIC he has a support beam, supported by posts, crossing at the midpoint of the front to back joists.
If so, you are talking major structural carpentry.

Get an experienced carpenter, at the least, involved.

 

[Bib Overalls]

Three lifts on the ground floor will cut the space up and make it difficult to use for other purposes. Maintenance, projects, etc.

Consider opening up one bay for a lift and use the rest of the second story as a party room. That way you retain some functionality, have the option of two stacked car garaging, and retain first floor space for doing man chores.

 

[DougWil]

You are cutting big holes in your floor diaphragm which provides lateral support for the building and doing so creates discontinuity in the diaphragm which must be addressed.

See a structural engineer.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Do you have room for a 3 car lift ? They are like 23' tall. Store three cars in one bay leaving the other bays open to work in. Then you only need to open up one bay and still have storage upstairs meaning no reason to buy a shed.

 

[1965gp]

I will have the contractor that did the garage expansion look at it and see what he thinks. after measuring the floor area there isn't enough room to do what I wanted. If I could get the floor scenario worked out I am looking at two more lifts at the most. It would solve my parking problem but it would be very difficult to do anything in the garage.

Probably not worth it at this point.

 

[brownbagg]

first thing must be learned, a garage is where you keep cars out of the weather, a shop is where you work on cars and hobby and the cars are either kept outside or in another garage. the owner has a garage and not a shop

 

[kbs2244]

Very true but many a garage doubles as a shop.
Not everybody can have 2 seperate spaces.

 

[firebirdparts]

I have taken off a 2nd floor, and I have also built a shop new that has a big hole in the floor (for a lift) and stick built roof. so I have done it twice. Dougwii is right. You have to hold up the weight of the roof and also give the building an incentive to be vertical and square in a storm. With a stick built roof, the floor is in tension. When you cut those holes, the tension will be broken up. Supporting the floor is easy; the roof is not, unless you drop supports straight down from the ridge pole. A "little bit" of floor around the edges will do a very good job of stiffening the structure. I did not think about this until later, and I added it. Good for storage too. In your case, this is probably going to be okay. The remains of your floor will be very stiff.

Judged on the distance between your cars, though, I'm not sure you can do any of it. you can't park cars that close together with 2 post lifts between them.

 

[1965gp]

I do have a shop area- and you are right. The garage portion is strictly for storage and allows easy in/out.

This is the shop area:

I still need to figure more storage. The goal is to fit the wife's SRT in the garage in case of a hail storm.

Right now I can fit all of the cars inside with the exception of our K5 which is at the body shop. I don't like having to park a car under the two post but that's where I am right now.

My Grand National is getting the brakes worked on. Once it is done I will try to send the 66 GTO out for paint. With the 66 at the body shop I can fit everything except the wife's car and my truck inside.

That will give me 6 months to either find more storage or decide what to get rid of.

 

[Markfothebeast]

I have a similar issue. Mine is that I NEED those cars for my garage! And that sweet F-Body T/A.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Kevin54]

Let me get this straight....your wife won't let you add on, but she will let you get a shed? Then you want to tear off the second story and raise things so you can put lifts in ALL three bays? To go with the second option is going to cost to rip it off, build walls, and add a roof back on. Can it be done.....sure it can. But do you have the funds to do this, or are you going to try it on a small budget? Don't get me wrong, you have some super nice cars and such, but why doesn't your wife want you to add on vs. doing what you are anticipating? Also, if you go with a second story on top of what you have, I believe your walls need to be 2x6 instead of 2x4. Any wall over 10' is required to step up in lumber side so it can carry the weight.

I believe I would talk the wife into adding on. With the cars you show, a lift would be beneficial, but could you get by with something like a 24' wide addition that was tall enough for the lift(s)

 

[1965gp]

Your not telling me anything I don't know!

The easiest plan is to put doorways in the back of the existing garage, pour a 30 x 20 slab and build three walls and a roof that's 14' high.

But.... If we do that it does a really good job cutting our lot in half.

If I put a shed on the far side of the tandem garage no one see's it from the patio of the house, don't have to take out any 40' trees, and we still have a very usable backyard area.

I think it has more to do with she doesn't like the fact that the garage footprint appears as big/bigger than the house (it's not). We live in a very normal neighborhood and even though I followed the HOA guidelines to a T- no one else in our hood is too excited about my shop.

 

[Bib Overalls]

I'm having a difficult time visualizing the layout of your backyard and the placement and orientation of your house, garage/shop and entry drive.

Without knowing more than you have told us I think adding on to the back or possibly to one end makes the most sense.