I'm planning on building a detached garage for my house. Has anyone installed or built a garage with a hydraulic lift in it. I was looking at a Bendpak 9000lbs or 10000lbs weight rating. How high did you need to build the walls to make room for a car at the top of the lift? I'm planning on a 24'x24' floor with a 16' wide and 8' high door. The door will be offset to the right. I had a guy from Tuff Shed give me an estimate of 16k to build a garage. That didn't include a foundation, electrical, phone, water, sewer, paint, etc. Any ideas or experience would be appreciated. Pics would be better. Thanks.

I don't have a lift in mine but may I suggest pricing out an 18' garage door. The 2 extra feet are great. This one is 24X46.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g136/Caman355/34.jpg

You will find plenty of advise on this one Jim, but first, does your zoning allow a bigger garage? 24' might come up short in the long run. 26' or 28' deep will give you room for shelving, tool chests, compressors and tools etc. You might find 24x24 tight once you get 2 cars in there.
Your Truss manufacturer can also be a huge asset in planning. They can design trusses that give you more ceiling height than traditional flat ceiling garage. I dont have expertise with the lifts but Ive read that even 10' ceilings are tight but can work with the right lift.
You will get alot of help on this, its always fun spending somebody elses money :D

Most lifts recommend a 12' ceiling height, minimum.

I am getting ready to build too in the next 6 months or so. the garage will be 24'.5 x40' deep and 12'high celing. I am planning a lift too but havnt got that far yet.

I have a 4-post lift and 12ft ceiling at the peek of the ceiling and it works great for my Camaro, with about 4" to spare and about 2" of that is for me to raise it up to release the locking device. The biggest thing is you will have to install 2-more door panels and extend the 2-tracks to be able to raise the door panels high enough to clear your the roof of the car.

if you have or thinking about a conversion van they are higher than 8 foot. so you need a higher door. if you own a surburban or expedtition you want 14 foot celings to put it all the way up. 12 foot is fine for a camaro. but you will never know what you own in the future and kick yourself in the butt should of bought this door or should of made ceilings 2 foot higher. double door is great also so you can park 2 in garage. make sure tho you have enough room around 2 cars for tools and etc. and add 2 more feet to it. stuff laying around packrat and etc throw it in garage and ill find a place for it later. dont ask i know :mad: also access for roof area helps alot to put stuff away in attic

I have ten foot cieling and have to sit in a chair but that makes it nice for me.I would reccomend a block founation and come out of the ground 2 feet and then use ten feet lumber....

I was planning a garage build with scissors trusses to help accommodate a lift. I went before my zoning people last year with a preliminary sketch which they said I could build. I borrowed the money over the winter to find out they changed the zoning over the winter and now I can't build it.

My .02 is don't hesitate, build it now before they change they mind!

Jeff

My garage is 24X30 I asked about extra height when I built it but didnt want to spend the extra $3000. :sad:It seemed like it was huge when I built it but it is full now. I would give double the price to install a lift now so I could stack the cars. 24X24 may be a little small in my opinion.

I'm planning on building a detached garage for my house. Has anyone installed or built a garage with a hydraulic lift in it. I was looking at a Bendpak 9000lbs or 10000lbs weight rating. How high did you need to build the walls to make room for a car at the top of the lift? I'm planning on a 24'x24' floor with a 16' wide and 8' high door. The door will be offset to the right. I had a guy from Tuff Shed give me an estimate of 16k to build a garage. That didn't include a foundation, electrical, phone, water, sewer, paint, etc. Any ideas or experience would be appreciated. Pics would be better. Thanks.

As stated, consider it bigger than 24x24. I built a 24x24 and wish it could have been longer. The width is fine but legnth could have been better at 28' or 30'. I did have the room for it however zone laws would have needed to be taken care of with a variance. I didn't want to wait the months it would have taken for it. Remember a 24' garage isn't 24' when you consider stud and wallboard (plywood) thickness. You already loose about 6" on each side :(

Kev

My garage is 24X30 I asked about extra height when I built it but didnt want to spend the extra $3000. :sad:It seemed like it was huge when I built it but it is full now. I would give double the price to install a lift now so I could stack the cars. 24X24 may be a little small in my opinion.
Hey Andy my lift sets right in the middle of the garage to give me the 12ft i needed. The roof of the car sets right in between the rafters. If i get a chance Today ill take some pic. It sets in this garage....

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r216/skeeter55/Image117-1.jpg

I have a 28 x 60 garage with 14 ft ceilings on half of it for the lift which is 12 ft tall. I built it two story on one side for additional storage space ( 1100 sq.ft upstairs ) and if i ever wanted to sell it would make for a great mother-in-law suite.
Like someone said above, the Truss company is everything. They made the first part of the garage with 28 ft truss and no poles or supports on the floor getting in your way. The part of the garage with the lift has the scissor type pitch for the lift. Also 18ft garage doors are the way to go.
All i can say is - spend the extra money now and build as it as big as you can. Once you start putting cars and parts in there it Fills up fast. Bigger is Better !
The extra car space under the lift is great too.
************************************************** ******************
1967 Camaro SS-RS Conv. 427
1968 Camaro SS-RS Conv. 350
1968 Camaro RS-Z28 302
1969 Camaro SS-RS Conv. 396
1969 Camaro RS Z28 X-Ram JL-8
1969 Camaro SS-RS 350

Jim, visit with your builder and a Truss company, they are very helpful with ideas to maximize useful space.
This pic is our project, which is adding onto a small 1 bed old farm house. We are adding a 12' x 32' living area on the main floor, and a 22' x 26'wide garage. Above the garage is a 14'x26' loft for more living space. The truss company was fantastic with ideas on this. Our home addition is split in 2 and each one has a vaulted ceiling designed into the trusses. The garage area has 8' overhang in front of the main garage door for protection from rain and snow. The back of the garage is a 12'x40' extended overhang to give us a screen porch and covered patio area.
If you look at the garage itself, you could have the trusses designed that half of your garage attic is storage and the other half could be vaulted to accomodate a lift.
The side walls can be virtually any height too.
My truss contact was having a blast with our project, as it incorporated ideas he had never drawn up yet. The combo of front overhang, rear porch, loft and vaults all combined was fun for him and there was NO CHARGE for his work. Its part of the cost of the trusses.
Here is a pic of our layout so you can see how the trusses really give you alot of options. :)

http://www.carsbyjim.com/storage/MiscStuff/TrussDesign1.JPG

I should have mentioned I live in San Jose, so I don't have a sprawling 5 acres to build on like some of you in Iowa that paid 250k for your house and land. The benefit I do have is that I live in an unincorporated part of the county, so I go to the county, not the city for permits. The county let's you get away with things the city won't. My lot is 9100 sq ft, which for this area is a big lot. I have 12' between the house and fence. I have to plan the size of my garage around the addition I want to do to my home. My neighbor, who is building a spec house next door, said if it is just a garage with no living quarters, then I can build 2-3' away from the property line. I can't add on to my house and build a garage so big that I can't swing the angle to get into the garage. I didn't even think about what to do with the garage door going up. It would be a little difficult to lift the car with the garage door overhead, huh? Well, planning and more planning I guess. Thanks for all the input. Keep posting pics if possible, it gives me ideas. Thanks.

You better check on the 2-3ft rule. I have no idea in San Jose but here is Mesa, AZ, to build 2' from property line, the building can be no taller the 10'. If you go 7' from line then there is no restriction. Also had to add gutters so no water flows into neighbors yard. Another requirement.

Zoning laws are all over the place from one community to the next. Here in Aurora IL detached can be three feet off the side and five foot off the back.Hasn't changed in years. For attached it must be 8 feet off the side and thirty feet off the rear and front. Just changed last December from 20' foot rear yard. Don't even get me started on the flood plain requirements.

Jeff

I do know that the highest point of the garage can only be 16'. I'm going to the county building tomorrow to get a permit to change the approach for my driveway. Maybe they will have some info there on building restrictions.

As far as the door is concerned, put in an industrial roll up door. The one that rolls up into a drum. I built my 24'x20' garage and used one. It has 12' walls, scissor trusses to give me even more room with the vault at the center of the garage. The roll up door rolls up into a drum that doesn't stick out from the front wall more than about 1.5'. Also, I did an 8' tall garage door that is 16' wide. The taller door is very nice for getting my tall truck into and still leaves enough room above the door to mount the door with the tall walls. Let me find the pics.
Here's the original thread here.
http://www.camaros.net/forums/showthread.php?t=84315
And here's a direct link to "most" of the pics, but I don't have them all up or any of the door there.
http://www.67rs-ss.com/garage/garage.htm

Also, are you building it or having it built? If you're building it, I used some cool software to help design mine and once complete, used it to print out a complete list of materials.

Hi James, I am a licenced contractor building a garage for a customer as I write this. The customer who is happens to be a friend of mine also wanted the high ceilings for a lift. We looked at the type he wanted and went with their suggestions on height. I believe the lowest was 10'8" and recommended height was between 11'4" - 12'. We were able to go with 11'6" but I wanted to go higher but my customer is short and said thats were he wanted it. I am putting a high rise pac on the tracks to get it higher and also went with a wall mounted garage door opener to get more height. The building is brick veneer and I used the block foundation and longer 2x4 studs to help get the height he wanted. We also went with a storage type truss and put in a aluminum drop down staircase for added storage(wife wanted this), we also put in a bathroom, lounge area and also a side entrance with garage door for his large lawnmower. If you need pics or info, just ask. Keith