With my doors, if I understand you correctly...the lift ramp would have to be almost 6' away from the outside wall. No way to get through the garage door and drive onto the lift in that scenario.

I'm thinking the most room I'd really need is to pull an axle out of a housing. 3' would be plenty for that right? I'm trying to imagine standing with back to wall and pulling a rear tire off the car...how much room I'd need to set the tire down between me and the lift?

I'd love to have 5 or 6 feet for sure, but with a 9' wide door and only 30" between said door and outside wall, that makes it pretty tough.

My other choice is to put the lift way in, up closer to the bathroom and put my office desk, computer and stuff at the end by the garage doors somewhere.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vista-Mon.../i-p8fxz53.jpg

That makes the shop layout easier, as well as entry to the lift...but I need an office in there somewhere to make the money back that is paying for all of this... :D

Keep in mind the car is not sitting on the edge of the ramps and the ramps are offset from the posts.

Put your office in the RV. :D Its just wasted space when the RV is parked in there anyway....

Don

I'm trying now to decide if I can squeeze my office into the back area between the bath and the back garage door.

Imagine a mezzanine built the same height at the bathroom ceiling covering the area between the bath and garage door, open, no walls, just a corner post. The desk and file cabinets under it with a set of stairs going up on the front towards front doors.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vista-Mon.../i-pRCrZwx.jpg

This would let me put my tool box under said steps, move the lift way toward the back (and possibly make it super easy to get level) letting me be more creative with placement of lift from the outside wall.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vista-Mon...tSwtDZt-XL.jpg

That small area just might work out pretty well for my office freeing up a bunch of other more usable space.

ANYTHING "UP" is free..... use if for storage - and hang stuff off the ceiling that doesn't get used much etc..... It's the first floor that costs money - the rest is always under utilized.


Lower the upper floor so you have head room -- put things like tool boxes and working tools (benders etc) under that space.

In my old shop in Seattle --- I wanted a "mezzanine" and didn't want an extra post in my way ------- finally figured out that I was going to have a post anyway because the lift is a post ---- so put the mezzanine post right beside it (thus just making it a bit wider)..... The door still opened fully on whatever I was working on.... and it gave me a great place to hang AIR - and other handy stuff.





https://lateral-g.net/forums/attachment.php4?
attachmentid=64108&stc=1&d=1515094992

Here's another thing that was super helpful down the road...... I built in a double wide door in the wall -- that way -- with a chain hoist -- I could haul anything up there I wanted basically all by myself --- rather than hauling stuff up the stairs!







https://lateral-g.net/forums/attachme...1&d=1515095219

If you’ve got the head room, an office above the bathroom on a mezzanine would be ideal. Tape out a 12’x12’ or even 14’ square from the back wall to the side wall and imagine that space “up”. Lights under the mezzanine with tool boxes and benches would make a nice bright work area with plenty of room for the lift and vehicles.

I’d be doing a mezzanine no matter what....either storage or an office you’ve got the height and it just makes sense. :thumbsup:

Happy belated birthday, Lance
:cheers:

Hmmm.... Hadn't thought about moving the office up... Have to chew on that one a bit. And thanks!!!

Did some lift shopping at Barrett Jackson last week and think I have the one I want narrowed down. I used the dimensions from it to create this latest layout of the shop.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Vista-Mon.../i-8RbbhWD.jpg

The RV is on the left backed in, the box to the right of it is the drive on 4 post lift, my desk is on the outside wall next to the file cabinets on the bathroom wall. My tall tool chest is next to the desk and a future workbench\tool chest is next to it.

The lift is far enough away from the entry garage door to make getting a car or truck onto the lift easy enough and the lift is centered on the crown of the floor which should make it real easy to get the lift exactly level for suspension and alignment setups.

The electrical panel is right beside the people door on the lower right wall which makes that a good place to park a rolling steel worktable with places for drill presses, welders, vises and other fabrication tools.

I'm thinking about adding a mezzanine over the area where my desk is at some point but won't need to be done right away. Where to put the steps up to it is the main issue I can't get over.

I think it's going to be tough to get a car on and off that lift being so far from the wall. Do a mock run with the biggest thing you plan to lift and place the lift there.

This is another prime example of why I like a two post lift. They take up much less space. I realize you can park on and under a 4 post, but I don't want to work under the hood on a two post and it's tough to life a hood under one.