r8rs4lf Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 We are in the planning stages with our new addition to our home (1200 Sq. Ft.) which includes a 21' X 21' (441 Sq. Ft.) two car garage, who really cares about anything else right? I'm looking to add a vehicle lift inside it to store my 1966 El Camino up in the air and give me more floor space when I need it. Here is something like what I'm talking about. I mentioned this idea to my Architect and he told me he could raise the cross beams to something like 9' instead of something like 8'-6" for more clearance. I haven't done any calculations as far as the amount of space I will need since I got back late last night. I guess I need to measure the height of the El Camino and the height of the proposed garage door as well. I was just wondering if any of you have this in your garage and what exactly I need to measure for. From what I understand, these residential lifts are designed to fit in "standard sized" garages where no modifications need to be done. Any input would be great! Brands????? Sites???? TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detjoe Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 cool! I would think it might need to have more than 9' of head room??? the higher the bigger. The hardest design challenge is going to be fitting the doors and then having a taller celing, so the framing in the front area is not going to be cheap...but as you know, for a lift it is worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r8rs4lf Posted June 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 I just measured the El Camino. 16'L X 3'H @ the hood, so that would be backed into the garage. I also measured the height of my current garage door which is 7'-1/4" from floor to garage door rolled up. I'm assuming I would measure 3' (height of El Camino's hood to floor) down from the garage door to get the headroom which is 4'-1/4" minus another 4" for the ramp thickness. That measures a little under 4'. Can that be right? Looking at this pic, the garage seems to roll up alot higher than mine does now. It looks like it goes up then over. Mine is basically as high as the opening of the garage door. If you look at the other garage door, that is how mine is set up. It looks like I'll have to go the the city and find out what the height limit of a garage is and go from there. If I go by that 64" (pic) from the floor to the bottom of the ramps and add 55" (height of the cab of the El Camino), I'd need at least a 10' ceiling. This is hella confusing this early! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detjoe Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 plan for a truck even if you dont plan on using it for the SSS, IMO you never know when you might need to get something big up there to work on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon1178 Posted June 2, 2006 Report Share Posted June 2, 2006 plan for a truck even if you dont plan on using it for the SSS, IMO you never know when you might need to get something big up there to work on. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbyrne Posted June 27, 2006 Report Share Posted June 27, 2006 I just measured the posts for my lifts. They are 136" (11.3'). The roof of the car won't go any higher than this so I would plan for about 12". You won't complain that it's to high but it's won't be good if it isn't high enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePDB Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 I just measured the posts for my lifts. They are 136" (11.3'). The roof of the car won't go any higher than this so I would plan for about 12". You won't complain that it's to high but it's won't be good if it isn't high enough. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I totally agree. Nothing sucks more than not being happy when you spent a lot of money. Coming from a construction family background. Getting more height is hard without raising the wall height. standard doors are 7' but we have an 8' door and it doesn't look out of normal. Just about the only way I can think to gain more height is raise the wall heights... even with a cathedral ceiling, you probably wouldn't gain enough height. I hope that makes sense! It's hard to explain. I guess depending on where the addition is going- maybe you have an option of putting a taller ceiling in the garage. Another option would be putting a pit in the floor. It doesn't give you the ability to park 2 cars in 1 spot (OBVIOUSLY) but it does give you an option of being able to work under a vehicle. A buddy of mine has one. IMO it's a trap waiting to happen though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS_bnoon_SS Posted June 30, 2006 Report Share Posted June 30, 2006 I plan on having one of those some day. We're going through residing the house and garage this year, but the next major home purchase is a 3 stall garage, or a second 2 stall behind the current one and make the current one a drive through with a door on the back too. We found out that our city limit is 17 feet tall, which is a little shorter than I would like, but I can still make the lift work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r8rs4lf Posted August 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 We finally got the plans to the city and I got some good news. My planned 2 car garage was supposed to be 21' X 21' with a 5' easment in the rear, but the city said I can have the garage all the way up against the rear block wall. So what I'm going to do is push the garage 1' towards the back and add on 4' more to the garage making it 21'W X 25'D. I also had the architect draw up a 10' high ceiling so having the lift should be no problem. The El Camino is 17' long which would give me somewhere around 6-7' from the front of the car to the rear of the garage depending on the placement of the lift. I also should have no problem walking under the vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChevySSandChevy8.1 Posted August 17, 2006 Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 I had one before, they are very useful. Just make sure you make the ceiling very high in anticipation that you might one day put something taller than the el camino up top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r8rs4lf Posted August 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 I had one before, they are very useful. Just make sure you make the ceiling very high in anticipation that you might one day put something taller than the el camino up top. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I can only do what the city allows me to do which makes no sense to me since this garage is going in the back, not even visible from the street.. They told the architect there was a total distance from the slab to the the very top of the roof. He made the ceiling height from there. I believe 10' was the max he could get out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chpspecial Posted August 17, 2006 Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 The only thing that might work for you is to raise the wall height, and lower the roof pitch if it is possible, that will raise your interior roof height a bit. Check with your architect to see if you can do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r8rs4lf Posted August 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 The only thing that might work for you is to raise the wall height, and lower the roof pitch if it is possible, that will raise your interior roof height a bit. Check with your architect to see if you can do that. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I believe he already did that. The only thing that would get me more height is to go with a flat roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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