# I bit of extra shop storage



## tdsapp (Apr 23, 2009)

When my wife and I saw our house for the first time we fell in love with it. What I really loved was the three car garage with the 12' ceilings. My wife and I had been discussing putting in a loft over the garage door for some extra storage. 

The week before Thanksgiving my Mom and Dad came into town and Dad helped me build the loft. 

This is what we had to start with...



















I had actually cleared the center of the garage a few days before so I could do a brake job on my car. I had to clear a few more things out from the wall below the garage door but that was an easy task.

We started by nailing on the joist hangers on two of the boards, and then putting up small ledgers. We used the small ledgers to support the weight of the big boards while we nailed them to the wall. 











We nailed up the real ledger boards to the walls and created a support for the side that did not have a wall. (Between the two bay and one bay doors is a header wall the that is a few 2"X12" boards laminated and across the garage ceiling. We used that board to support the short side between the bays.) 










After that we added the 17' 2"X10" to the front of the loft and started adding the joist. They hung on joist hangers on the back wall and we end nailed the joist onto the 17' board. 










We used a 2X4 as a ledge for the joist until we got them nailed in. We then removed that board and moved down to put the rest of them up. The joist in the hangers were also toe nailed into the board at the wall. 










After all the joist were up we added a second 17' 2"X10" to the front for extra strength. We then started adding the decking to the "floor".










Here is what the underneath of the loft looks like before we added more support boards under the flooring.



















Here is the storage space I ended up with after we were done. I have a few more things to do but it's done!!!




















It took us three days to get it done but it is well worth the time we took to build it. It also provides us with much more storage for the house than using the "lofts" that HD sells that uses the black pipes and such.

Now I have room to put all of the stuff that was keeping me from using my router. (Just to keep it on the Router topic..  Now my next project for the shop is to get more electrical outlets and more light in there. 


Tim


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

Perfect solution to the problem Tim. Looks like you can have all the stuff stored up there making floor space for a great shop set up 

I like the way you think! :dirol:


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## Gap_308 (May 2, 2009)

And so it begins. Maybe plastic sheeting as a curtain to slow the dust build up. Looks good.


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Looks like a great solution for a space to be made usable. It should hold a lot of "stuff".


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## Duane867 (Oct 25, 2008)

did the same thing my self about 12 years ago to my father in laws garage.

My advice is make it off limits to your kids and your wife or it will be taken over by bike's boxes of clothes, you'll never store any of your own stuff up there the rest of your life if you don't LOL !


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

That is an ambitious project; I plan to use some of the space above the garage foe storage just need to get some plywood down and then start moving "stuff" up there. I just keep asking myself why don't I just get rid of it? I just don't seem to come up with a good answer for that one. I will say you have come up with a good idea of where to put it, up and out of the way.

Where in the big "D" do you live? We used to live in Houston, 17 years worth. Moved to little "D" in 03, we really like it here. 

Looking forward to some shop shots as soon as you getter set up.


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## CanuckGal (Nov 26, 2008)

That's a great storage solution. Oh how I would love 12 foot ceilings!


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## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

Nice work, Tim! 
Gene


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## tdsapp (Apr 23, 2009)

Thanks for all the comments guys... It was fun and it did resolve a big storage issue. 

Duane, I kind of took your advice about what to put on it... I put all the stuff I wanted up first.  I cleared a ton of camping stuff from the floor and several boxes that were on the floor. I found some floor space that I had not seen in 2 years. I also cleared off two sets of shelves that had just documents and such that my wife has to keep. (She is a special Ed teacher and has to keep records for 4 years past graduation... The school will not store them so we keep them to keep her from having problems later.) 

Gap_308, good idea on the plastic... I had not thought about how much saw dust I will be putting up there over time. 

I did learn one really cool thing from my dad during all of this... I had a ton of saw dust on the floor from some of the projects I worked on before he showed up. I swept and swept and swept and there was still dust around. After we had made all our cuts for the loft we again had a ton of saw dust. We swept up the bulk of the offending material and dropped it in the trash can. The floor was still a mess when my dad told me to go get my leaf blower. I plugged it in and turned it onto low and started at the back of the garage and started blowing everything towards the open front door. I was amazed at how much it was able to get into every nook and cranny and blow everything out the door. 

The only thing I did wrong was when I was done with the floor I lifted the blower up to keep it from blowing everything back in and aimed it towards the garage door. All the dirt and spider webs that had formed on the inside of the door started blowing everywhere. I went ahead and blew the door clean and redid the garage floor again. I did end up with a nice clean floor though. (We used the same trick to clean the coils of the fridge... Our fridge runs so much better now...)


CanuckGal, when we were looking at houses we created a wish list to give the real estate agent. I went as far as putting on the list a three car garage with 12' ceilings. When we found this house it had everything we had on the wish list except the covered patio. Now that I have room in the garage for bigger projects I might even tackle that issue next summer. 

xplorx4, There are many things that I did get rid of while moving things around. We also had a garage sale about a month or two ago and sold many things. (but not the drill press or the router table I had for sale at $30.00 each. I ended up selling them on Craigslist...) There are a few items up on the loft now that I would like to get rid up but my wife has other ideas about them. So... SWMBO has them stored just in case we need them later. 

xplorx4, we live in the Frisco area which is north of Dallas. I have lived in the North Dallas area for about 10 or 11 years now. I love the area but I really hate the heat during the summer. 


Tim


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## tdsapp (Apr 23, 2009)

By the way... I know that no one asked but I noticed that I did not put in the final size. It's 17' 10" wide (4 sheets of plywood plus 22" of a 5th sheet.) Due to the garage door and how it's mounted I was unable to use the full 8' of the plywood... We had to trim off 4" of length off each sheet so we have a depth of 7' 8". From the deck of the loft to the ceiling there is 32". 


Tim


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Tim

Nice job 

I would suggest you add a frame to hold a fold out ladder from the deck and in the center of the garage...don't make the same error I did but putting it over the big garage door,I did add a kill switch to kill the power for the door when the ladder is down,it's just a little spring loaded switch but it will save the door and me if I'm up getting things down.... 


I should note I put in two pull down ladders, one in the front of the garage and one on the back side of the garage, if you are like me once the stuff is up in place I always want the stuff in the back side.. LOL..



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## tdsapp (Apr 23, 2009)

Bob, 

Thanks for the suggestion but we ended up doing one better than having to use a ladder. My garage is a partial underground garage so the door into the garage is about 5 steps up and has a landing. I was joking with my dad that I wish I could move the garage door support and add a ramp with a electric lift from the railing to the loft. 

We could no do that but we did the next best thing. We were able to move the garage door support from the ceiling to the loft and get it out of the way. We then used the "extra" 2X4s and plywood from the build to deck the top of the shelves next to the wall. They are some really stout shelves and can easily handle the weight and are stable. Once we did that we just needed to put a step ladder on the landing. Three steps up and I can walk across to the loft without ever having to carry things up a ladder. 





























I find that I have been setting the stuff on top of the shelves, slide it back a bit, and then walk up the steps. From there I walk over and either slide the stuff to where I want it or I set it on my creeper and roll it over.


With the loft so deep I have been putting light stuff close to the edge, heavier stuff at the walls. I am going to try and leave a path down the middle of the loft so I can move from end to end without having to unload everything.


Tim


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Tim

That dog will hunt, good job

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## Duane867 (Oct 25, 2008)

tdsapp said:


> Thanks for all the comments guys... It was fun and it did resolve a big storage issue.
> 
> Duane, I kind of took your advice about what to put on it... I put all the stuff I wanted up first.  I cleared a ton of camping stuff from the floor and several boxes that were on the floor. I found some floor space that I had not seen in 2 years. I also cleared off two sets of shelves that had just documents and such that my wife has to keep. (She is a special Ed teacher and has to keep records for 4 years past graduation... The school will not store them so we keep them to keep her from having problems later.)
> 
> ...


Ha Ha ! Good man ! 
BTW I'll be over to pick up that 75' (?) Ray I spied in the right port in your pick this weekend.
Have it washed, waxed, and topped off when I arrive please.


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## tdsapp (Apr 23, 2009)

Duane,

That would be a '76 actually. It has to have new break calipers before it can go anywhere. Anyway... I would have to move the 89 out of the way before we could get it out of the garage. 


This is the reason the loft did not go all the way from wall to wall. I am planning on eventually putting in a two post lift in the single bay so I can park both of the cars in a single bay. (And it's easier to work on them.)













Tim


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## CanuckGal (Nov 26, 2008)

Some people just have everything. Or in some cases, 2 of everything..LOL.
NICE!


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## kmcbride21 (Nov 12, 2009)

*Excellent solution*

You can never have too much storage. That's a nice job.


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