Ultimate storage solution

[BigChevy80]

Hi all,
Been lurking on here for a while and thought some people would benefit from this.

I have a 20' x 24' attached garage that serves as my workshop as well as a storage area (our house is a tri-level so there's no storage area in the finished lower level).

I'd been contemplating building a shed in the backyard to store all the **** that we don't use on a regular basis so that I don't have to hassle with it being in the garage and taking away from my workspace. For the longest time I'd thought that a shed was our only solution until I stumbled upon a website concerning garage lofts.

The normal practice seems to be to build a loft above the garage door to take advantage of all the space up there, but since there's only 9" between my garage door and the ceiling that wouldn't work.

After some thinking, I came up with a 30" X 160" loft that sits 2' below the ceiling. My garage has 9.5" ceilings, so there's still plenty of room to walk under them and the amount of storage is just unbelievable! I've actually run out of stuff to put up there.

Pictures here:
http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft01.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft02.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft03.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft04.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft05.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft07.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft08.jpg
http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft09.jpg

After a couple weeks having this loft I built another loft on the opposite wall. I couldn't run this one all the way to the back wall like the other since the walk-in door and inside door are in the way, so this one turned out being 33" X 108".

I only have one picture of the second loft, as I just built it yesterday:

http://mysite.verizon.net/kimmell/loft10.jpg

Hopefully someone finds this useful, as these lofts can be built in virtually any garage in no time. The first one took me 1.5 days and the second took about 8 hours from start to finish (with a few beer/smoke/lunch breaks in there!)

-Tony

 

[nkachur]

This looks like a wonderful way to construct one will take some pictures of the lofts that the previous tennant in our house built ... it may provide some entertainment to everyone here... and the bigger joke is the fact that I am actually using them. Yours look impressive and I may have to steal your design.

 

[BooUrns!]

I'm curious as to why you used hangers on the wall but didn't use any for the three ply block you nailed to the bottom chord fo the truss? The one that's holding up the front of your structure...?

 

[TEXACMAN]

Good job ! I built something similar in my last shop . Mine was a metal building so I hung it with threaded rod and beam clamps and attached it to the wall like yours on the back. I basicly built a 2x4 frame with the full 4x8 sheet of ply on top in the back part of my shop as I needed the extra space for body parts storage for my truck restoration.

 

[BigChevy80]

I'm curious as to why you used hangers on the wall but didn't use any for the three ply block you nailed to the bottom chord fo the truss? The one that's holding up the front of your structure...?

You mean the doubled up 2x4's that hang the chains between the rafters?

There's four 3" screws in each end, for a total of eight on each. I had originally planned on using hangers for this, but Lowe's was out of the double 2x4 hangers at the time so I just used screws and it turned out OK. If Lowe's ever gets more in stock I may put some up in addition to the screws just for the heck of it, but I doubt I will ever be able to put that much weight on the loft.

Those chains really don't bear as much weight as you'd think. Even with all that **** in the loft, I can still lift up on the front of the loft and make the chains go limp. They're probably not supporting more than 150-200 lbs each. There's some heavy stuff up there too.

 

[BooUrns!]

I would apply the hanger whenever you are able to purchase them. Nails would have been better than screws as screws typically don't have the shear strength to withstand lateral forces like that. Any contractor that uses screws (especially on hangers) won't pass framing inspection in my locality.

 

[MustHang]

That is awesome !!! I have a garage exactly the same size and was thinking of doing something like this but didn't really know how to do it. I have 2 questions for you. What did you use to secure the back 2x4 to the wall, it seems to be bolts. Do you think trusses can hold that much weight easily ?

 

[BigChevy80]

That is awesome !!! I have a garage exactly the same size and was thinking of doing something like this but didn't really know how to do it. I have 2 questions for you. What did you use to secure the back 2x4 to the wall, it seems to be bolts. Do you think trusses can hold that much weight easily ?

Hi Eric,

Anyone with a ton of **** to store (like myself) will definitely love this idea! These things make use of so much wasted space you'd be amazed how fast you run out of stuff to put on them!

I used 3/8 X 3" lag bolts to secure the ledger board to the wall. As far as the trusses, I don't have any concern about them. Like I was telling someone else, there really isn't that much weight being supported by them, especially since the weight is shared between 2 trusses and not just one. You have to remember that 50% or more of the weight is supported by the wall. I try to shove all the really heavy stuff to the back anyway.

There's probably 600-700 lbs worth of stuff up in the first loft right now, and I can still pick up on the outside edge and make the chains go limp. If I can support it with my own body, I'm not too worried about the trusses!

Thanks for all the comments guys...

 

[MustHang]

Thanks Tony that should be perfect for my use.

 

[BigChevy80]

Thanks Tony that should be perfect for my use.

No prob man... make sure to post some pics of whatever you end up building!

 

[nkachur]

Well as I promised here are the before and after pics from my garage. I love this design and it has allowed me to clean up a portion of my garage. I really need a shed.
Here is what the previous occupant had put up... functional but not pretty:






and here are some of the after pics





Nathan