Anyone ever made their own deadman lift?

[Eddie Ormerod]

Looking for ways to make my own deadman lift. I'm getting ready to hang drywall or OSB for my shop ceiling. I saw some where that someone made their own deadman lift instead of going to HD and renting one.
Eddie

[Rob Will]

If time is worth anything, I would go rent one.

Rob

[Brian Kerley]

All you really need is a couple of 2x4's. Make a T shape, add one piece of cross-bracing, and it'll hold the sheet up to the ceiling. Now, if you are talking about an actual lift, where you have a hand-crank, etc., not quite sure how you'd build that.

[Scott Loven]

Looking for ways to make my own deadman lift. I'm getting ready to hang drywall or OSB for my shop ceiling. I saw some where that someone made their own deadman lift instead of going to HD and renting one.
Eddie
I just put OSB on the ceiling of my shop without a lift, ceilings were 10 ft high. I screwed some blocks of wood to the left and right of where I was going to put the sheet. I had someone help get the sheet up in place and then turned the blocks of wood so they would hold the sheets up while I positioned the sheets and screwed them in place. I had so many tools on the floor that I didn't think that I could get the dry wall lift in place. I once used a 2*4 with a "TEE" piece on top with a piece of foam attached to it. I could hold the drywall sheet up with one hand to the ceiling and pull the dead man in place with the other hand. It held it in place until I could get the screws in place.
Scott

[Alan Schaffter]

I made a 3' wide ladder-like frame with two 12' 2X4's and a few cross braces. I attached some door hinges to the top cross brace. I attached a 10' +/- 2X4 crutch to the middle of the bottom cross brace with another hinge. I added a stop strip near the bottom to hold the drywall while the frame was in the near vertical position.

In operation, I temporarily screwed the hinges to a ceiling joist, set a sheet of wallboard on the (sloping) frame resting, it on the stops, walked and pushed the whole thing up from one end using the hinged crutch, and used the crutch to hold/wedge the frame and wallboard against the ceiling joists. Once I had the wallboard positioned and attached with enough screws to hold it, I lowered and removed the frame and finished screwing the wallboard in place. I did the entire 10' flat/pitched ceiling in my 900 sq. ft. shop that way single-handed.

[Jared Greenberg]

All you really need is a couple of 2x4's. Make a T shape, add one piece of cross-bracing, and it'll hold the sheet up to the ceiling. Now, if you are talking about an actual lift, where you have a hand-crank, etc., not quite sure how you'd build that.


Used this method just recently. Scrap 2x4's were used. Figured that by the time I ran to HD, filled out the paperwork, drove back, did the ceiling and then drove back to drop it off, half of the ceiling would almost be done.

Save your $ and save your time, use the 2x4's.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

All you really need is a couple of 2x4's. Make a T shape, add one piece of cross-bracing, and it'll hold the sheet up to the ceiling. Now, if you are talking about an actual lift, where you have a hand-crank, etc., not quite sure how you'd build that.
That's about what I do. I use a two piece main stretcher and a C clamp to get adjustable height.

[Steve Kohn]

http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Professional-Drywall-Panel-Lift/dp/B000ICB824/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1202331987&sr=8-4


Amazon has them for $63 bucks. Incredible deal.....

[David G Baker]

Alan,
I thought I invented the Sheetrock lift you described. I made one just like you described about 15 years ago except it was for an 8 foot ceiling instead of 10'. It worked great and I was able to do the ceiling of a very large bedroom by myself. The next ceiling I did was sheeted with 10 foot 5/8" sheets so I rented the sheet lift. Work went faster with the rented unit.

[David G Baker]

Steve,
Great price on the lift, but the shipping price is real steep for the under $70 unit.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I had to hang some drywall overhead. Just a couple of sheets of 3/8".

Google :
free hands drywall support

I made up something similar using scraps of plywood.

[Mark Grotenhuis]

I bought that amazon drywall lift over a year ago, it works well, only recently did I have to tweak it with a welder. It doesn't like to lift sheets over 12' long without flexing a little too much, but a welder and a simple metal plate fixed that problem. Great investment. I use it a lot.

[Kevin- Marcotte]

A couple of years ago I bought a similar lift from ebay. It works awsome. I used it to put steel on the ceiling of my garage with 12' sidewalls by myself. In my opinion the lift is faster and safer to use than trying to get sheetrock or osb raised to the ceiling and then try to wedge braces under to hold in place. One idea would be to buy the lift then sell locally at a good price when finished.

[Steven DeMars]

I put up 440 sq. ft. of 1/2 plywood on my shop's 10' ceiling in a few hours.

Rent one . . . you will be glad you did the first time you find one of the joist is not as straight as it should be. . .

Steve, my 2 cents . . .:o

[Jim Knishka]

Don't know if you live in the snow belt or not, but many years ago I helped my dad do our family room ceiling drywall by taking the head section off a snow roof rake and wrapping an old rug around it to protect the drywall surface. Lighter and easier to hold than the 2x4 approach - I was only 12 or 13 at the time. If it's a ten foot ceiling or so it works great. Much higher the lift is probably worth it.

[Haudy Kazemi]

Here are some DIY sheetrock/drywall lift/hoist ideas:
http://www.tpluspod.com/rtl/rtlindex.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Sheetrock-Hoist-for-about-100/?comments=all

And a commercially made lift currently listed on Amazon for $80 before shipping:
http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Professional-Drywall-Panel-Lift/dp/B000ICB824/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1202331987&sr=8-4

[Peter Quinn]

Feeling a little funny about using a flammable material for the ceiling of a wood shop? Seriously, OSB for interior wall covering? Is that wise? That may turn a small fire into a disaster some day.

I've used 2X4 t-braces and/or a ledger strip screwed to the walls to place drywall before, but I'm with other posters as far as renting the lift. Its some of the best money you can spend if your working alone, and still a good deal easier than your next option if a friend helps you. Unless you are really in a hard spot budget wise or truly enjoy wrestling with sheet goods the lift is a good deal on any space over 150SF. I like using 10' sheets of 5/8" fire rated rock for shop and garage ceilings, and for that a lift is beyond essential. Or a very tall BIL on steroids!:D:D:D

[Bruce Gray]

http://www.amazon.com/Grade-Professional-Drywall-Panel-Lift/dp/B000ICB824/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1202331987&sr=8-4


Amazon has them for $63 bucks. Incredible deal.....

Harbor Freight now sells this lift. If there's a store nearby, it solves the shipping issue.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello Peter,

Feeling a little funny about using a flammable material for the ceiling of a wood shop?
There's specialty coatings called intumescent coatings which are made that will negate the fire hazard of using OSB.
When flames hit them they "puff up" and form a fire resistant barrier.
Probably won't be inexpensive though.

Edit to add - I found an online estimate listing between $5. and $18. per square foot. Generally those materials cover 250 sq feet per gal, so I'm guessing the lower figure is for material only and the higher figure would be for material + application.

[Bob Slater]

One thing I noticed about the US made lift in the HD rental department is that it is one of the best designed tools I have ever used and a pleasure to operate. I considered buying a Chinese imitation, as I had a lot of ceiling to do and typically work slowly, but it was so poorly made I had no trust in it's safety functions, nor did I want to be saddled with such a piece of crap afterwards.

[Jason Roehl]

Feeling a little funny about using a flammable material for the ceiling of a wood shop? Seriously, OSB for interior wall covering? Is that wise? That may turn a small fire into a disaster some day.


It's done all the time. A few years before I moved away, Mulberry built a new fire station (volunteer FD). The walls were OSB. Plus, if you've ever tried to burn OSB, it will, but not well or easily.

[Per Swenson]

This is going to be clumsy to describe.

But here goes, screw a 8' long piece of 5/4 1 inch below the ceiling

on a outside wall. This acts as your ledge. Screw a short length, (2 or 3 feet works) of 5/4 on the middle joist 50 inches away from the wall, so it will swivel. Set the sheet rock on the ledge, turn the short piece and screw.

Or

Rent a lift, its 40 bucks a day and its a one day job.

Or if you live in Northern NJ give me a pm.

I own two of them.

Per

[Peter Quinn]

It's done all the time. A few years before I moved away, Mulberry built a new fire station (volunteer FD). The walls were OSB. Plus, if you've ever tried to burn OSB, it will, but not well or easily.

Yea, but the fire department knows they can put the fire out should it ignite! I have burned OSB in a burn barrel, not the thing to cook a hot dog over.:) I'm not suggesting it will spontaneously combust but I like something flame retardant for a ceiling in a work area. Maybe I'm paranoid, maybe I'm dangerous? I can see the advantage to wooden material on walls for hanging things, but ceilings? What's the upshot to a wooden ceiling?