jefnvk

Sorry if this isn't the right subforum, it was just the one that made the most sense from what I could see.

For those of you who have a home lift, what sort of footprint do you find you need around it to comfortably service the vehicle? We are in the process of home hunting, and my next home will have space for a lift, that is a mandatory requirement. We looked at a place today with a normal attached two car garage, and then a third bay on the home that is 15.5'x27' with open ceilings, which by my best estimates should give me plenty of space. Just curious what people are working with in real life though.

C5Z06CE

This is what I got. You can look at the specs on the site. It works well. Just wish it went a bit higher but the footprint would have been too big for my space.

https://dannmar.com/car-lifts/two-post-lifts/m-6.html

jefnvk

Yeah, I was looking more for the space folks are actually using the equipment in. I know anything I am looking at will physically fit with space to spare, that isn't an issue, just wondering at what point even if it fits the spacing becomes too tight

C5Z06CE

Well I have a 24 x 15 garage space and just finished a major Aero project on the car on that space but it was tight. That's because I needed a section to epoxy, another to sand, another to do some metal work, plus the lift and car. But I made it work. With this lift I had about 6 feet on one side and 2 feet on the other to work. I had about 4 feet in front and only 2 feet behind the car and obviously completely under the car when it's in the air. So obviously I mostly worked in the 6x 24 portion on the side of the car. When you add storage cabinets and tool boxes it gets even tighter. But this was the smallest footprint 2 post lift I found. Otherwise go with a scissor lift. I hope that helps.

jefnvk

Cool, that side to side reference was what I was really interested in.

smitty2919

Take the length of your longest car, center it on the widest portion of the lift you want and create a footprint of the extents. Keep in mind 2' deep work benches or cabinets and when you visit houses, keep a tape measure on you.

Ideally a 2 car wide garage would be great. One side for a lift and the other spot to work on things. IMO I would plan to have my tools/work bench in front of the car when on the lift. Just the layout I like. Have a solid 5 ft from the front of the car to the toolbox would be nice.

Hell go out in your driveway or a parking lot and start plotting out the footprint of things you want with chalk. That will give you an idea how big of a garage you want/need.

JHrinsin

I had looked into buy a Dannmar M6 directly in the middle of a normal 2-car garage that has a single 16 ft wide door. One of the guys here at work has one and loves it! That way there is plenty of room on both sides to work on the vehicle. If you are in doubt about the concert floor, just cut out two squares and have a couple deep HD pads poured flush with the existing floor where the posts would mount. That way with the posts removed and out of the way, you still have a normal 2-car garage 95% of the time for the daily drivers. A third bay is ideal of parking/storing or wrenching on the "the toy" when its no up in the air.

jefnvk

Eh, I can't steal all of a two car garage, one spot needs to be used daily for the wife. Plus I haven't found many (albeit one or two) with tall ceilings. That is why I had the idea on this house, with that separate bay. It'd be nice to keep a compressor as far away from the rest of the house as possible too.

As far as chalking out things in the driveway, that is actually a really good idea. Too bad the rear end is ripped apart on the car and it isn't moving, but I suppose chalklines would work for it too :thumb:

smitty2919

If i remember right 5-6" is the minimum for concrete footers for a lift with anchors.

You don't need the bumper on. Look up the length specs for your car and or "wing it".

It would be helpful to get the install directions for any lift you plan to use. Then plot it out as far as width, and use the car length to create the overall footprint of the lift with a car. Then add any and all area you want around it.

If you are CAD savvy, a free software called OnShape you can use to plot out a 2D space accurately. If you are real handy, you can create a full 3D space of a garage with cabinets etc etc. I MAY have done this for my wife's renovated closet