Two four post lifts

[ineedagarage]

My garage will be 40x28x12. They will be two garage doors on the 40 side. Going put in a bendpak HD-9ST 4 post now and maybe another down the road. The foot print is 8.3 foot wide can I get by with a 16 foot door or will I have to go with a 18? Any pics would be great thanks all.

 

[ket-tek]

My garage will be 40x28x12. They will be two garage doors on the 40 side. Going put in a bendpak HD-9ST 4 post now and maybe another down the road. The foot print is 8.3 foot wide can I get by with a 16 foot door or will I have to go with a 18? Any pics would be great thanks all.

My attached garage is very close at 38x28x12, I have a HD-9XW in that garage, I highly recommend the XW over the ST any day since you've got the room.. I installed an ST as well in a detached garage and the post are so tight against the ramps as well as the angled gusset on the cross tubes if you are to put anything on it other than compact cars it's a real tight squeeze.

You could put 2 XW's in an 18' door because although the width is 20' for two of them the outside measurement of the corner posts is over a foot away from the loading runway...

2 ST's on an 18' would no problems at all, might be tight on the 16' because the ramps are right against the posts.

I have the XW in front of a 9'w door and there is tons of side-to-side room coming through the door to the runways..

 

[ineedagarage]

Thanks I'll look into the XW.

 

[kaffine]

Are you planning on just storing cars on the lift or also working on them? If you are planning on working on cars on the lift I would look into doing 2 10 foot doors so you can have a little space between the lifts.

 

[3x9RT/SE]

I recommend after your Bendpak 4 post lift,get a two post.I started out with a four post,and just got a two,and love it.Idealy,one of each.

 

[Carl B]

I have two 18' garage doors on my garage, on the 42' side. I would NOT recommend 18' doors.

First - you have to have more reinforced header. Second they are heavy. Third with wind loads they have to be reinforced at least here in Florida.

IMHO - a far better solution is the two 10' doors suggested - or better still two 9' doors with a couple feet between them. Leaving a couple feet between them will give you more room to open car doors without hitting other cars - and that extra two feet in the center is a good place to put electrical and compressed air outlets.

FWIW,
Carl B.

 

[darkk]

We have the BendPak HD 9XW My son is 5'10" and the lift still has two locks to go so you can see how high it will go. The right ramp is also movable.

 

[ket-tek]

Idealy,one of each.

 

[ket-tek]

I have two 18' garage doors on my garage, on the 42' side. I would NOT recommend 18' doors.

First - you have to have more reinforced header. Second they are heavy. Third with wind loads they have to be reinforced at least here in Florida.

IMHO - a far better solution is the two 10' doors suggested - or better still two 9' doors with a couple feet between them. Leaving a couple feet between them will give you more room to open car doors without hitting other cars - and that extra two feet in the center is a good place to put electrical and compressed air outlets.

FWIW,
Carl B.

Good points to bring up as well. I've got three 9'w x 8'h double faced insulated 2" doors and they are heavy.. an 18' would surely be a beast..

I initially had two 16' doors on the plans to be a four car, but since the garage is a full finished 2 story structure and I wanted free span with no poles, I had to either use TJI's (which would have decreased my ceiling height) or add 2 Prelam beams parallel with the bays to support the floor above, so the jackstuds holding the Prelams are in the wall space between the three doors.

I'm happy in the long run, since the garage is heated and air conditioned year round, I loose way less air when pulling a car in or out only having to open the correct door and not the whole side of the building like a 16'-18' would essentially do.

 

[dmeadow]

I was just flipping through a Hemmings magazine in the bookstore. There was an ad there for a lift that was designed to go in a double door garage to lift two cars at a time!

It would probably save you quite a bit of space with only four posts instead of eight, and probably some money since you wouldn't have to duplicate the hydraulics, etc.

 

[ineedagarage]

We have the BendPak HD 9XW My son is 5'10" and the lift still has two locks to go so you can see how high it will go. The right ramp is also movable.

What size is your garage door?

 

[ket-tek]

I was just flipping through a Hemmings magazine in the bookstore. There was an ad there for a lift that was designed to go in a double door garage to lift two cars at a time!

It would probably save you quite a bit of space with only four posts instead of eight, and probably some money since you wouldn't have to duplicate the hydraulics, etc.

Yeah Bendpak makes a double car 4 post.. My personal opinion on it is unless it is very long term storage of collectable or show cars it's more hassle to use since you'd have to move two cars out everytime you wanted to get one off the top. Eliminating the columns in the middle is nice though.

I think it would be very cool in a small 2 car if the posts were against the walls and you had a tall ceiling where you could store two cars above and have full work space in the garage still. Almost like a fully rising floor.

It more expensive than two 4 posts as well, at $7000+ for the double.

 

[ineedagarage]

So let me ask this which would work better 3 9' doors or 3 10' doors? Could I even have 3 10's do I have enough room between each door with a 40' span? Also whats the minimum span between garage doors?

 

[ket-tek]

40' is plenty of space for three 10'w doors, just split it evenly.

I have a single 38' long prelam beam that acts as the header for all three of my garage doors.