mrtexas

I'm considering building a new house (actually space for 5 cars and a 1 car air conditioned shop with a few bedrooms attached, ha ha.)

I've specified the inner side of the garage to have 12 foot ceilings. Is this high enough to store 2 cars high on a 4 post lift with standard type garage door opener
rather than this http://www.liftmaster.com/LMCV2/page...x?modelId=436?

waltonb123

It depends on the two cars. I have 11'4" ceilings and its fine for my 4 post lift. I could get two vettes in with mo problem However there is no way I could get an SUV under it. If I were building new today I would go at least 13' and probably 14' if I could.

Chuck Gongloff

Your "linky no worky" to the Liftmaster site, but................

Here's a situation:

You have 2 Corvettes. Both are roughly 50" tall from the ground to the top of the roof.

50" x 2 = 100"

Then, you have the thickness of the ramp, which is about 4".
You need another 4" to disengage the locking pawls.

100" + 4" + 4" = 108" or 9 feet.........

Now, not all 4 post lift makers put their locks in the same spots, so that's food for thought.

If you want to put a taller car above/below, you need more height too.

The LiftMaster "jackscrew" openers are mandatory. Why? You eliminate the opener "hanging" over the space where you want to place the car.

You want to put the garage door runners close to the ceiling too.

Just random thoughts..............

IMHO, you should be OK with 12' ceilings.

Chuck

Tampa Jerry

Before I ordered my Bend Pac lift, I logged on to their wedsite and downloaded the assembly instructions as well as the dimensions of the lift. Next, I used painters tape and chalk to draw out the foot print of the lift. I agree with Chuck, get a Lift Master 3800 garage door opener. I retracked my door to hug the ceiling. I retrussed the inside roof to 12'. I keep a 70 Chevelle up top and my 66 coupe on the bottom. I can open the door as well as raise and lower the lift without closing the garage door. I have yet to put my wife's SUV on the top bunk of the lift, but if I did, it would be for work only and not storage. Jerry

OldKarz

12' will work fine. That is what I have. I have a couple of 4 post lifts, have had boats, mid-size truck, 67 Chevelle, vett, and a number of others on the top, and yet to have a problem.

65 fi

Two thoughts: Why don't you just add enough space to house another car and avoid potential leaks, lift failure, and height concerns? Option 2: simply raise your plates by another foot (the cost of lumber is very little to accomplish extra height.

Just make sure there is articulation in the structure (unless you are building a barn).

nutter C1

Bend-Pak told me to remember that a standard o'head door track will not work if it extends over the lift. When the lift is up with a car on it, the door will hit the upper car. Either a vertical lift door or use a roll up door. Either one is an expensive opener. Right now I use a manual opening door with car skates under the lower cars tires to push it in sideways. I have a 10'4" ceiling & put a C1 under a 1940 Ford.

iamq

If you use torsion bar springs you can move the door opener to the sides for more clearance. I have a 10'4" ceiling and fit 2 cars(C1 & Camaro) on easy.

John McGraw

Not necessarily. I have only 10' 6" ceilings, and I can stack my Chevelle wagon over one of my Corvettes, and the door will never even come close to the upper car. The key to this clearance, is high-lifting the door. This process involves extending the tracks to go upward to the ceiling before turning to the rear. You will have to install new cable drums and springs selected for the new opening lift profile, but any good door company can do this work for you. All of my doors are 8' high doors, so I extended the tracks 17" higher than the original tracks. This put the door within 4" of the finished ceiling. The other advantage of this high-lifting, is that the door now extends 17" less into the garage when it is all the way up, and I shortened the horizontal tracks accordingly. The door goes up over the hood of the car, and never comes anywhere near the taller section of the car.

Of course, this will necessitate the use of a jackshaft closer like the Liftmaster 3800, as a standard opener will not work any longer. A standard opener tries to pull the door to the rear as soon as it moves. but a high-lifted door will go up for a distance, before it turns to the rear. You can add an additional panel to the top of the door, like John Hinkley did, but them you lose the advantage of the door not sticking into the garage as far. The Liftmaster is not an expensive unit, and it is a great opener.

While we are on the subject of doors, if you are building new, make sure that you use 8' tall doors. I do not know of any of the lifts built, that will roll out a 7' high door. I can't tell you how often I roll my lift out on the driveway to work on my SUV, or move it to the other shop across the drive. The portability of the lift is a great asset. Of course, if you have 7' doors in an existing garage, the door will stick out even less into the garage when fully up. With 10' 6" ceilings, a 7' door will only stick about 4 feet into the garage when fully raised.

Here is a before pic:


And here is an after pic:


I did all 3 of my doors on the same day, as it is only took me about 2 hours per door to modify them.

Regards, John McGraw

JohnZ

That's the advantage of the 12' ceiling with the high-lift door - I can have the car up at full working height and it doesn't matter how far the door moves forward, as it's well clear above the car. My lift is on one side of the 2-car width of the bay, which allows me to use the original ordinary door operator - it's not above the lift - it's about a foot outboard of the lift, and raised up to the ceiling.

I had my super-insulated garage doors custom-made at 18'-wide by 8'-high so I can roll the lift outside too.

BJ Retired

I just put in a 4 post lift. My 10.5 ft ceiling is just doable wish It was 12'.

Also if your lift is 110v have a dedicated circuit with heavy wire for it or get a 220v motor. The 110v has to work to hard with standard wiring.
I am kicking myself for not putting one in years ago......bj

Tampa Jerry

Hey BJ: Most of the lift motors have a internal wiring option which allows either 110 or 220 volt feed. I would check with the mfg. As for wiring an outlet, any electrician could add a 220 line very easily. I wired my 220 lines for my compressor as well as my lift. My box is in the garage so access was also very easy. Jerry

BJ Retired

Thanks Jerry; That motor really has a load on it. 3hp. I'll check it out and see if I can rewire it for 220v/ bj

Larry N. Johnson

10' 6" here.
Although 2 cars can be stacked for storage and a C1 or C2 can be worked on no problem, if it were higher:
1. The SUV could go under the C2 when no engine in the C2. I believe when the BB is in the C2, it will be low enough to get the SUV under there.
2. One could change oil in the SUV much more easily.

12' would be a wonder in my situation. 13' could almost stand under the SUV when working on it.

In other words, there are side issue to consider such as servicing other vehicles, taller vehicle storage, etc.

shemp

My ceilings are 12'. All I did was put the rails up to the ceiling w/ standard door opener and have no problems. Shemp