hpuck

Hello-

I am wanting to get some opinions on a garage under construction. It will be in-floor heated, have 10' ceilings and be insulated, is 17' X 22' and will be used for storage of my 911 and my wife's car over the winter as well as for some minor repairs i.e, brakes, oil changes and other minor repairs and cleaning.

I am considering a 2 post lift and a 4 post lift with a sliding built-in jack. I have had conflicting views on storing a car with the suspension unsupported on a 2 poster and my contractor is nervous about me placing deep lag bolts into the slab with the pex tubing and rebar.

I have till Monday to decide as the 6" slab is being poured. I can easily measure where the tubing is and work around it if I go with a 2 poster.

I would really like to hear from your experiences.

Many thanks,

Bill,

autobonrun

Very nice garage. I was going to suggest you install a 11' minimum ceiling but I see you're already well on the way. 10' will be fine if you just want to work on your car but you'll wish you had the additional clearance if you ever want to store one over the other.

To get the most of your 10', I would definitely install a Liftmaster wall mount garage door opener so you don't have a chain lift taking up a foot or more of your clearance.

As far as a lift, a two poster is better for maintenance. I like the 4 poster for storage. I've heard conflicting opinions about leaving the suspension unsupported. However, many have the 2 poster with no issues with the suspension.

future

2 poster every time 4 poster's are only really good for wheel alignment and not much else.

luvmy356

I don't know if you would have enough ceiling height to use your two post lift as car storage. It depends on the height of the car on top, plus you have to account for the suspension drop. I have 12' ceilings and if my wife truck or my Eurovan is on top, I can just get a Porsche underneath the drooping wheels.

And if you go with a two post lift, you should relocate your pex tubing away from the area where the 2 post lift pads will be located. My lift manufacturer had specified a 30"x30" area on the slab clear of any wiring and tubing. The Greg Smith Equipment website has all the specs for their lifts with the dimensions of the lift base. 30x30" seemed like an overkill at that time, but I was glad we did it as I had to shift the location of the lift slightly when it came time to install.

And 2-post lifts require more width. Do you have room on the right side of your garage?

I do like the ease of 4 post lift for parking/storage. You just drive up without much thought, where the 2 post, I have to get out and move the car around a few times before jacking up the car. For my 4 post lifts, I also kept the floor area around the base clear of pex as I ended up bolting those to the floor as well.

matt777

Go to www.garagejournal.com for lots of threads on this topic. I'm going with a 4 poster because it is primarily for storage and movable in my large 2 car garage. If I used it primarily for wrenching then I would go with a 2 poster but they are not easily movable and require manual placement of the arms before lifting.

Mike J

I have 10'6" with my two post, and can just get the 911 high enough to stand under it, definitely high enough to drive the car.

Too bad you could not get move height, another 2' make all the difference.

Cheers,

Mike

993inNC

Well its a bit late now, but with a bit of pre-planning, you could have had the contractor cast a couple of footings specifically for the lift and poured the concrete with the bolts already in place. That would have taken car of the weight issues as it pertains to the pipes being all around the bolts. Depending on how thick the slab will be, you may still be able to pre install bolts before the pour. If the concrete is done well enough, the lift will never affect the pipes. And I would suggest definitely going two post. The fours take up so much more room and are much harder to work with when under the car. Your other option may be to go with a 4 post on coasters and forget bolting it down. Gives you more flexibility since the floor space isn't enough for 2 cars side by side.

hpuck

I thank you all for your comments. I believe I can fit a 2 post lift in my space and my contractor has reviewed the specs and agrees. Pre-placing the bolts is a good idea. I need to get a template of the base plates and map them out ASAP.

I will post pics when all is said and done.


Bill

993inNC

You should probably buy the lift, template out the bolt pattern and attach the bolts to it before you pour concrete. You could use rebar rods to elevate the template to the right height. The once the pour is dry, remove the template (concrete to the underside of it.) If those bolts aren't in the absolute right spot........well you can do the math

Edgy01

Whatever you do with (for a lift) see if you can get the bolt pattern (for installation) NOW prior to the pour so that you can actually place the bolt studs in as part of the pour. Otherwise you have to play around with placing them later when the tubes, etc. are out of sight. I would definitely place the bolts now.

hpuck

I will either try to pre-place the bolts or (most likely) map out a 30" X 30" area where the lift is most likely to go and make sure there is no pex there.
The lift I am looking at is this one. There is no definitive drawing of the base plate and bolt pattern- unless I drive there and see it in person. Since the garage is wide enough to accomodate this lift I can pretty much figure out where I want it to reside.
Thanks for the comments and interest.


http://www.directlift.ca/hr8000.htm

993inNC

Thats the one I have. Easy to put together, good customer support (I had a seal start to go bad on one cylinder and then the other and got 2 new cylinders free while under warranty, no issues.). Still going on the original 2 cylinders and have the others for backup.
My only "gripe" would be: its a little taller than its claimed to be. I have a tray ceiling from 9'3" up to 12'+ to accommodate the vehicle at full raised height. My poor planning initially (5 years earlier mind you) was that I needed a bit wider area to mount the lift. I bought that one because it should have fit under my lowest truss but it was about an inch or better to tall and I had to shave a spot for the right tower to fit...........not a big deal I suppose, but to post a dimension and be wrong........
Other than that, for the money. can't be beat and it blended in well with my color scheme