2nd Floor Shop Above Garage - Getting Tools/Stuff Up and Down

[Ted Christiansen]

Hello all,

We are moving to an area that doesnt have basements, and we will be living on lots that are fairly small - 8000 ft^2.

We need the garage, so one option is to bulid a second story onto the garage for the shop. That's the easy part. The harder part is how to get materials and tools up and down without carrying them up the stairs.

Anyone seen any good lift ideas, i.e. an elevator, or hoist type setup?

Regards,

Ted Christiansen

[Brad Townsend]

This is what I use to get heavy stuff up and down from the attic in my shop. These are very reasonable in price (I paid about $130 for this one) and you can get them at Harbor Freight or Northern Tool. This one is rated up to 1100 lbs.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/btownsend/P9250013.jpg

[Jim O'Dell]

My concern would be a roof structure that is not designed to handle the weight. I'd want to double or triple up the rafters where the lift would be hung. Now note: that is my version of overkill, I'm NOT a structural engineer, nor did I stay at Holiday Inn last night. :D If you were building the the structure, then definately get a structural engineer's take on what needs to be there, both to handle the weight when bringing up equipment, and for the floor system to handle the weight. The walls in the garage could need some revamping to handle everything properly. The thought here is to go slowly and make sure everything is set up properly. Brad may be able to offer some more specific pointers since his shop is upstairs. Jim.

[Ted Christiansen]

Jim,

Good advice - I had planned to get a structural engineer's input. Thanks.

Regards,

Ted

[Brad Townsend]

Brad may be able to offer some more specific pointers since his shop is upstairs. Jim.
Just to clarify, my shop is not upstairs. The shop is down below and this is attic storage. The heaviest thing I have put up there is a 200 lb. mower deck. No structural engineering help here!:D While I think it would handle it, I would be a little nervous about hoisting my Unisaw up there.:eek:

You will note from the pic that I did reinforce the roof structure at the points of attachment following the instructions of the contractor who built the shop for me. The other issue was access. I had him build in a 4' x 6' hatchway and I installed a pull down ladder, however I still wanted to have the full 4x6 opening for hoisting stuff up and down. I solved that by installing the ladder in a frame that is hinged on one end and swings up and out of the way when needed. If you are putting in a full 2nd floor, you would certainly be putting stairs in, but the hoist/hatchway combination is sure handy for getting the big stuff up and down. Like Jim says, get some professional advice if you do this, as you will be lifting things far heavier than I ever plan to.

[Doug Shepard]

I haven't seen this, but there was a woman at work I used to talk with a lot before she retired. They moved into a new house about 5 yrs before retiring and was telling me about her husbands 2nd story workshop above the garage (coverted from an appartment for the previous owners in-law). I asked her the same question about getting stuff up and down. She mentioned her husband had been able to find a surplus or scrap version of those HD outdoor staircase lift platforms for wheelchairs and used that to get things up/down. There's apparently an inside staircase from the garage as well, but he tore out the outside stairs and put the wheelchair platform lift in it's place.

[David Less]

Ted,

I am also going to build a second story shop above my garage. I recently got a variance and lost the friendships of my neighbers on both sides. I plan on using a set of twin doors in the front. These will open to 6' allowing me to get equipment in using a rented fork truck. I even plan on putting a Knapp Kombi up there in a few years.

Louie

[Tom Hargrove]

I recall FineWoodworking having a story on a second floor workshop within the past 2 years or so. You might check their archives.

Most areas are zoned against like big garages on small lots. I suggest you check with a local real estate attorney before you sign a contract to buy, since such a garage might be allowed in one neighborhood, but not another neighborhood of the same city. You might have better luck permit wise adding above an attached garage if the new shop area blends in with the second floor of the home. I would be cautious of a realtor's promises about zoning.

Enough has been said about the need for structural or architect's review.

Good luck.

[Bill White]

What in the world could a neighbor get torqued about a second story (if you wish to elaborate)?
Bill

[Wes Bischel]

What in the world could a neighbor get torqued about a second story (if you wish to elaborate)?
Bill

Any change can set some people off. (DAMHIKT:( )

My Dad has a door above the garage doors with an A frame and Unistrut track over it. The track allows a trolley to move materials into or out of the attic. It works surprisingly well.

Wes

[John Hemenway]

Cuz they are neighbors! Ours was torqued because we put up a play structure for our kids! Ruined her 'privacy'. I didn't ask what she was doing that needed all that privacy! :eek::p:confused:


What in the world could a neighbor get torqued about a second story (if you wish to elaborate)?
Bill

[richard poitras]

There is a gentleman in our wood working gild that is of age and he has a problem getting up and down the stairs in his basement, what he made was a platform out of wood and mounted garage door tracks left and right and put a wench at the bottom of the stairs mounted to the floor with long cables and pulleys mounted to the platform. The platform has the regular garage door wheels on it. It has a long cord with the controls on it and he just rides up and down on it. And you can also put lager stuff on it. It works very well and has minimum cost involved in it. … It also has a wood railing around it so you cant fall and when you get to the end of the ride you just flip up the one rail and step off .. Reel slick…its basically the same concept as a wheel chair stair lift but a lot cheaper, a wheel chair stair lift runs about $5,000 - $10,000 installed (I used to work with stair glides and lifts for the handy cap) one other note look at the internet for wheel chair lifts and you can see some Ideas on what I am talking about and maybe come up with something on your own ... good luck!

http://www.garaventa.ca/stair-lift/

[Al Killian]

My new shop is going to be on the second floor when I finish fixing the building. For a lift/hoist thing I put a peice of 3" angle iron on both sides of the stairs and and building a frame to ride on it. This will be hooked up to a hoist to lift and lower stuff as needed. The platform will have three casters on each side and have a metal tubed frame. There is room at the top of the stairs for it to clear the stairs, so the load is not forced to hang there. My stairs are five feet wide so ther is no worries about the metal takeing up much room. When not in use it will be stored against the wall up stairs.

[Roger Wilson]

Check out Stu Ablett's website. He's got a workshop under a liquor store and everything goes in and out with lifts etc.


http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/

[Bob Aquino]

Hello all,

We are moving to an area that doesnt have basements, and we will be living on lots that are fairly small - 8000 ft^2.

We need the garage, so one option is to bulid a second story onto the garage for the shop. That's the easy part. The harder part is how to get materials and tools up and down without carrying them up the stairs.

Anyone seen any good lift ideas, i.e. an elevator, or hoist type setup?

Regards,

Ted Christiansen

There is a guy over on woodnet, goes by JayR who lives in RI that has his shop up on the second floor. He has posted numerous shots of it, has some larger equipement up there. A quick search of his username should yield some results.

[jason lambert]

Just on another note you will also have to consider weight on the floor if you put some heavy tools up there like table saws etc and power you may need 3 phase and a sub box in the gurage.

[Ed Breen]

One final note. We installed a chair lift for the back porch from an outfit in Louisianna ?sp.?) about 20 years ago. It still works, and as I recall it ran about $3000. It was rated at 500 poounds. It had a belt drive and an acme screw lift. Always wanted to take out the belt and install a chain,
good luck
Ed:) :)

[Fred Voorhees]

Ted, I am one of those who has their shop on the second floor of a garage. It hasn't really been that much of a problem in the dozen or so years since it was built. Generally, machines can be broken down into manageable components and I can get sheet goods up the stairs with little problem. Now, I do have to be careful about the size of projects that I build. I am pretty sure I have an idea of how big I can got now that I recently completed a captains bed for my niece. That pushed the envelope and it was roughly 85 inches long by 53 inches wide by 24 inches high. As Jason mentioned in the above post, you may want to take into consideration, the weight of the machinery that you will have in the shop. Important! When I had my garage built, I knew that the second floor was going to be my shop, so I had my building contractor have Weyerheuser (sp?) design the structure of the buildings framework and interior workings so that the weight issue would not be a big deal.

If you would be interested in seeing a video tour of my shop, click the link below:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=57115

[Jay Keller]

I used my wife to carry the heavy stuff up the stairs.

[Timothy Aiken]

I feel sorry for that poor gal that Richard referred to when talking about a gentleman in his guild. Leaving a "wench :D at the bottom of the stairs mounted to the floor with long cables and pulleys mounted to the platform" must be a horrible existence. I wonder what they feed her to keep her strength up for all that heavy lifting. Not a bad idea though if you can get away with it. J/K ... I could not resist. Sorry if I offended anyone. I have a second floor shop as well. I try to time my heavy lifting with wood deliveries and request a boom truck to lift the wood to the second floor. The drivers always seem willing to let me put things that I want to move up or down on sheets of plywood. I recently had a contractor doing some roofing for me and he had a forklift there that I had the luxury of using and that was really handy too. It got me thinking about buying a used one.