As we have finished our basement, I no longer have 1,000+ square feet to scatter my junk. It is currently elsewhere. Reducing the amount of "stuff" is not a viable option. Our garage is somewhere around 13' tall floor to ceiling. From the time of purchase I have always thought about building a loft in there. There is a bedroom above the garage, so the ceiling is almost certainly wood I-joists. I know there are many options of hanging shelves, baskets and what not from them and I don't like that idea one bit. I-joists are built to have stuff sit on them, not hang off them. Yes, drywall and what not is hung, but for what I think is around $500 in material and lots of sweat, it appears I could build something around 8'x19' over the double garage door with about 36" of clearance above it. Similar to this:


I would be building this almost completely independent of the house structure. A 2x4 wall anchored to the garage floor on each side and then my joists across those. Either 1/2" or 3/4" OSB or Plywood on top of that. It would be built to standard flooring specs just in case, 40 psf. Here are the options I have thought up, both seem similar in expense, but I was wondering what the brain trust thoughts are on which would be easiest to build:

Option A: One 19' long 11 7/8" LVL at each end, sitting on top of the 2x4 walls, with 8' long 2x6 on hangers running perpendicular 16" OC. (My thought is nailing in 28 or so hangers will be a pain).

Option B: Either 19' 11 7/8" or 9 1/2" I-Joists spanning that garage, sitting on top of the 2x4 walls, spaced 16" OC, with the proper blocking between them at each end and perhaps in the middle also. (My thought is dealing with the blocking will be a pain).

I know this is probably overkill, but I don't want it to take out my door, opener, and cars if something goes south. As far as getting up there, probably just a ladder and some shimmying. Thoughts? Has anybody been down this rabbit hole before?

Two things:

1. I wouldn't make it the full 8' depth because, if its 8' deep then you wont be able to reach a lot of stuff. With 36" clearance above, you're not gonna be able to get up there and rummage around. So that means it will be most efficient as more a shelf than a loft. So personally, I would only go 4' deep.

2. I think the direction you span is just a function of cost. 8' with LVLs at 16" oc means 6 LVLs. If you run two at the edges and span 2x6's between @ 16" oc, is that cheaper? If you do 9 1/2" beams, I would just go ahead and use 2x8's since youre using that depth anyways, and it will give you a stiffer surface in case youre stacking very heavy stuff like ammo cans or something.

Tagging this for later, our new house has some leftover hanging metal shelf/baskets, but they don't seem sturdy enough to hold much (have a couple empty ice chests on one of them. We have 3 individual garage doors, so I could also brace in the between each door.

I did this across a 16' by 4' span at the back double car garage of house we just sold in TX. No pics, sorry. Agree that 4' is about as wide as I'd want.

I couldn't use posts on front edge due to needing to have room for cars, including a Yukon XL that went all the way to wall underneath. I built it out of 2x4 and 1/2" plywood sheets with a ledge at the back.

The front edge support was trickier attaching to finished ceiling - would have been easy with exposed beams. I used some of those metal bracket dealies intended for decks that are basically a U shape. Bolted bottom of the U up to ceiling joists through sheetrock, slid cut 2x4 vertically into U and screwed them in place, then through-bolted that 2x4 to a the shelf frame about 3 feet below, just high enough to clear truck.

It sounds complicated but it worked and while I wouldn't load it up with rocks it had a fair load on it from then on. Hell, as an uncle observed, the structure itself was really heavy and probably overbuilt.

Remembering to position plywood before putting up last vertical support was a good idea....

I was going to go with the full 8' just because I'm already waist deep into the work if I build 4'. 8' would also make it more tip-resistant. I've seen some pictures where people put in attic stairs to access the back or put in access hatches. My plan was just to put light stuff I never need like empty gun boxes and what not on the back and the heavier things I might access slightly more often (totes full of junk) more accessible on the front.

I was only planning on 2 LVLs, they run like $100 each, and span 14 2x6's between them. The other thought would be using 6 or so wood I-Joists (about $30 each) to span my 19' with only blocking halfway and the ends. Using 6 LVLs 16" OC to span the 19' would be overkill. I think cost is about the same, I'm more worried about the hassle of hanging all the 2x6s on the LVLs vs. dealing with 6 or so I-Joists. I could nail on the hangers while the LVLs are on the ground, though.

I looked at putting in steep stairs like a ships ladder on the side along a wall to make access easier, but I don't have the clearance with the door track hardware and with only 36" vertical clearance on the loft, its not worth it.

I can't upload photos here and I haven't picked another photo host since the photo bucket nonsense but if your interested I have some photos that may help you if you PM me your email address.

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Originally posted by jmorris:
I can't upload photos here and I haven't picked another photo host since the photo bucket nonsense but if your interested I have some photos that may help you if you PM me your email address.

I don't think SigForum has PM and I don't see your email address in your profile, but I have mine in my profile. Go ahead and please send me an email. Also, you should keep your avatar the photo bucket nonsense that I assume photo bucket generated, you default win the Avatar award of the day with it.

Using Southern yellow pine here a lot for our buildings. If you have an idea what your loads are going to be per square foot you can find the proper dimensional lumber size and spacing for your project. Using the following chart, 2X12" SYP 16" on center across a 19' span will carry 40 psf

http://www.southernpine.com/ap.../SPtable2_060113.pdf

I've built similar setup twice in two houses. Works great. Used regular pine 2x4 from local HD and Sheetrock screws for frame. Then decked with OSB at $8 a sheet. I built two 4x8 platforms over a single 16' wide garage door. And I have about 18" between them to allow clearance for the garage door opener belt system. 4x8 from with 24" centers. I used 4 2x's and one OSB for each. Total cost is just shy of $20 each.

I store 10 of the 18gallon, single stacked, plastic totes that you commonly seee at Wally World, HD and Lowe's. Again has worked very well for many years. We store Christmas and Halloween on these. So once a year I'm emptying and re-storing. That's when I spray a house bug spray around the perimeter. Haven't had any bug issues.

It's just a 2x frame like a wall hung on horizontal. Used the German SPAX lag screws to attach to wall studs. And used 2x legs attached to frame and ceiling for corner vertical mounts with L-brackets and SPAWS.

I can email pics if you like. Like others here Photobucket doesn't work for me lately.

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(My thought is nailing in 28 or so hangers will be a pain).

If you have even a half-way decent air compressor, don't sweat this detail. Palm nailers make quick and easy work of this. They're well worth their very inexpensive cost.

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Originally posted by FRANKT:
If you have even a half-way decent air compressor, don't sweat this detail. Palm nailers make quick and easy work of this. They're well worth their very inexpensive cost.

My brother has one. He doesn't know it yet, but he might be helping me with this. Any recommendations on anchoring the two walls down? Would concrete nails Remington .22'd down into the concrete be sufficient or would a 3 or so foundation-type anchor bolts per wall be best? I was thinking the anchors, especially if I am climbing up on this thing or dragging stuff around.

Can you just anchor them to the existing walls instead of the floor? For that matter you can remove whatever finish material is there now and anchor to the actual studs without even adding the new load bearing walls.

I'm going to have to build one wall no matter what because its a 3 stall garage and is generally open in the middle. I'd rather have the whole thing sitting on top of a wall at each end instead of hanging off the one wall. I'm not too worried about reduced car door access on the sides with the walls. I might make some of the walls doubled up 2x4 studs for better door access, but for the most part they would only affect the rear doors. I have more than 3 1/2" of stuff along each side already (that will hopefully go elsewhere when it is done).

If one of the walls is not up against another wall, I would probably do something for lateral stability... like take the studs all the way up to the ceiling joists. But maybe since the other wall is braced, that's enough.

Shooting the plate to the concrete floor sounds right, though.

I put These in and could not be happier.

Rhino shelves and they hold over 800 lbs.

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Rhino shelves and they hold over 800 lbs.

Those are nice, tho a little pricy!

My bigger issue with those sort of designs is the brackets mounted to studs break up the space into compartments across the surface. If everything fits then great, but if you have odd sized items you can end up with wasted space.

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Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
I'm going to have to build one wall no matter what because its a 3 stall garage and is generally open in the middle. I'd rather have the whole thing sitting on top of a wall at each end instead of hanging off the one wall. I'm not too worried about reduced car door access on the sides with the walls. I might make some of the walls doubled up 2x4 studs for better door access, but for the most part they would only affect the rear doors. I have more than 3 1/2" of stuff along each side already (that will hopefully go elsewhere when it is done).

I would re-think this. An 8' wall between 2 open stalls is going to be a pain in the ass forever and your wall-against-wall isn't adding that much strength for the amount of space it't taking up.
I doubt your loading is going to be as high as you're estimating. There's overbuilding, then there's building yourself into a corner.
I'd hang either options above from the ceiling joists & add verticals as needed for your expected load. I spanned 14'x2' with 2x4s (sistered at the 6'/8' joint + runners every 2') with 2 verticals from the floor joists, nails shot into concrete on 3 sides & I can jump up & down on it and not bounce (I weigh 280). I then added 3 more levels.

Think about what you will be lifting above your head on a ladder to put up there.