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Latest addition to my garage (storage solution)

C

CarpePoon

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jan 5, 2002
Messages
1,905
Location
Grand Blanc, MI
I always hate garage clutter with rims/tires, a snowblower being stored in the middle of summer etc... I have a ton of attic space in my house that was not being used. The builders even put switches and lights up there so I figured I'd make use of at least the space above the garage.
I started with a 2'x2' access hatch the builders put in. But with 11' ceilings and an 8' ladder, it just wasn't going to cut it.
So I installed some attic stairs and put down some flooring above the entire garage.
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Well, I almost killed myself (twice) trying to put the christmas tree box up there so I decided to build something in the form of a 4'x4' platform hoist.
Controller for the hoist
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The inconspicuous ceiling hatch when closed.
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Coming down.... takes about 5 seconds for a full trip from ceiling to floor and vice-versa
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Ready to load... Its rated for 5x more weight than I would ever put on it. I'll never load it with more than set of rims/tires or snowblower/lawnmower. The shiny thing in the middle is a flush mount ring that I connect a cable to when its in the up position and not in use (just a safety thing with a car parked underneith.
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A set of 17" winter rims/tires for my GXP. The factory 18's and also my wifes factory 18's will go up in the winter.
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Going up....
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Ready to store. I still have a bit of structural reinforcement to do. I'm also going to replace the cable drum axle (torsion bar) with a longer one to spread the load to two additional joists.
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Love it very clever.

Our garage is packed, i showed your design to my dad, he says we need one for the entire size of the garage :laugh:
 
that
is
SWEET!

We always thought we'd like to install an attic door/stairs like that, but never got around to it.
Beats climbing through that tiny hole inside one of the closets!
 
Good job, very cool! What is the platform made of? Just simple wood framing?

Now if they could only get something that moves vertically through buildings, maybe you should try and sell this to a company who makes elevating platforms. :laugh:
 
Thanks for the comments guys. This was surprisingly simple and very cheap to make. In total it was probably around $170-200ish I had the idea in my head for quite some time and just decided to grab some tools and do it.
I started looking around and found this https://www.bpghome.com/products/versa-lift-ultimate-attic-storage-system/ but its small, slow, and can only lift a pathetic 200lbs. For an insane $1100+. But it gave me the idea, I just supersized it. I had to remove a 4' section of one bottom chord on a truss, So I doubled up the outside chords and brace everything around it to keep the garage and roof structure to code.
Other than that it was just buying:
4 wall/ceiling mount pulleys, eye hooks, cable clamps and turnbuckles from tractor supply (turn buckles are needed to adjust it to level)
some garage door cable drums, and 1" football ball bearings from Grainger.com
A torsion bar from a local garage door store for $4
A 1400lb electric winch and 100' of 4mm steel cable from harborfreight.com

The platform is just standard wood 2x4 frame with a single stud running through the middle and 45degree corner braces for strength. I built that first, put the eyehooks in and supported it up in the opening. Then used a plumb-bob to align and mount the pulleys. Then mounted the torsion bar and cable drums and hooked everything up. Doubled up the truss supports then removed the temp platform supports and then adjusted and tested everything. Then I finished the platform and put on the trim/paint. Simple as that.
 
I'm really diggin' this too! I have 10' ceilings in my garage and space above that. I've been considering something like this for a while, but have no knowledge of how to actually build one. We'll see if this sparks anything for me... Nice work!
Erick --
 
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