Garage attic reno - creating space in the workshop

[HorST]

Good place for a model railroad

hey it’s winter time even in balmy B.C.

 

[dtcoleman]

Congratulations Peter.
I haven't been thru Windsor in a long time i guess? Sounds like you have been busy with the university and the move.
I like your winch install. If you need to lift more you could also figure out some added bracing. It all looks very cool.
Thanks again for all the ST info.
Dave

 

[MaxPete]

Thanks for the kind words and suggestions guys - much appreciated. Here are a few more shots of the attic as I begin moving stuff from below:

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Curiosly enough, I not only used the same hoist, I also have the exact same stool. What are the odds?

 

[Chris09]

I never thought of a hoist, bet that could lift close to 800 lbs... hmm... be like... toys in the attic!

 

[MaxPete]

I never thought of a hoist, bet that could lift close to 800 lbs... hmm... be like... toys in the attic!

Hehehehe - I like the way you think Chris but there are some issues:

1) the hatch in the attic floor isn’t very big (I’d say about 22” x 48” or so) and so getting a bike up there would be a challenge as most bikes are 7-8 feet long;
2) as can be seen in the above photo, the winch is attached to a 2x4 spacer between two roof trusses and I doubt it would safely support more than about 200-300 lbs - and even that would be a stretch;
3) the whole idea here is to clear the garage floor so that I can work on my bikes down there;
4) since I sold my ST1300, my largest/heaviest bike is now the 1983 BMW R100RS and it weighs just over 500 lbs - so a lifting capacity of say……650 lbs would do it.

One poster suggested a model railroad up there and yup,that would be a great idea - if I were a model railroader.

Cheers all!

Pete

 

[Larry Fine]

One poster suggested a model railroad up there and yup,that would be a great idea - if I were a model

I recommend a home-theater set-up.

 

[gmtech94]

I would store a lot of old bike parts and car parts up there on shelves neatly labeled . I could sell you some St things to bring back memories . Take care Pete !

 

[MaxPete]

Progress Report

I have built a little lifting platform with which to move smaller items that aren’t suited to the cargo hook / chain rig that I use on the larger Rubbermaid totes and it works fine. We bought a 5-level plastic shelf unit at Home Despot and I scarfed one of the shelves for the platform and used some U-bolts to attach the assembly to the lifting rig with snap-links.

The plastic shelves are remarkably stiff and sturdy but they aren't strong enough to lift a load that might be too much for the attic - so there is a safety valve right there. Anything that the rig can lift off the garage floor should be OK in the attic.



I have also switched over to the snatch-block hook (the one with the pulley) as it cuts the lift speed in half - which makes it much easier to “steer” the loads through the rather small hatch opening in the attic floor. Also, this doubles the lifting capacity of the winch to 440 lbs, but I would never ever come close to that load.

I think the heaviest thing I have lifted thus far might weigh about 60 lbs and that was plenty.

 

[Chris09]

hey I was gonna say I like the '20s look of that hand rail, real water front look with the sched 40 pipe and fittings [especially those floor flanges! everything's pro press with these young guys now] I would have preferred a little yellow teflon but looks great.
With a three wrap block and tackle I think your winch will easily lift any ST or Harley up there pretty easy, but, in all seriousness; the weakest link in the chain is your building structure; posts, beams, rafter spans and rafter design [yours are way better than mine, my verticals are planks!] I've seen the full force of what goes up come down and another one go sideways with a pneumatic [should be illegal as far as I am concerned[ Genie lift, almost eliminate a [big] human being.
In the absence of an engineer's approval, over build your anchorage, find something that works, copy it and double it, what's the rating on that single pulley 1/4 av cable, I'll bet already over 1000 lbs with only only one spin, enough to bring the roof down.

 

[MaxPete]

hey I was gonna say I like the '20s look of that hand rail, real water front look with the sched 40 pipe and fittings [especially those floor flanges! everything's pro press with these young guys now] I would have preferred a little yellow teflon but looks great.
With a three wrap block and tackle I think your winch will easily lift any ST or Harley up there pretty easy, but, in all seriousness; the weakest link in the chain is your building structure; posts, beams, rafter spans and rafter design [yours are way better than mine, my verticals are planks!] I've seen the full force of what goes up come down and another one go sideways with a pneumatic [should be illegal as far as I am concerned[ Genie lift, almost eliminate a [big] human being.
In the absence of an engineer's approval, over build your anchorage, find something that works, copy it and double it, what's the rating on that single pulley 1/4 av cable, I'll bet already over 1000 lbs with only only one spin, enough to bring the roof down.

Yup - and that is why I’m not lifting more than 50-60 lbs.

 

[naedlaen]

MaxPete,

I seem to remember that you were an engineer by trade, but it might be a good idea to track down the load rating of the roof trusses before you notice a sagging area in the garage ceiling because you overloaded the trusses.

Neal (also a retired engineer)

edit to add that I mean the load on the deck, not the hoist load. As in pound per square foot (kg per sq meter)

 

[Andrew Shadow]

He wrote that he won't be hoisting anything even approaching a weight of 100 Lbs. using that crane. I don't think that he has anything to be concerned. Lifting such a small amount of weight as that won't even stress the roof as much as the load from a a decent snowfall will.

In the picture that was posted, the roof support is very closely concentrated in that area. There are four vertical trusses that all meet the horizontal truss at the peak. That is a lot of support concentrated over a short distance. This arrangement repeats over the length of the roof at what looks to be a distance of no more than every 24" as well. I wouldn't even be concerned about lifting 1,000 Lbs. if the hoist was capable of it.

My garage roof has no where near that tight a concentration of support, and at a much flatter angle. I hoist snow-blowers, motorcycles, generators, all kinds of crap up there with no concern at all and with no roof sag.
I don't think that he needs to worry about it.

 

[MaxPete]

MaxPete,

I seem to remember that you were an engineer by trade, but it might be a good idea to track down the load rating of the roof trusses before you notice a sagging area in the garage ceiling because you overloaded the trusses.

Neal (also a retired engineer)

edit to add that I mean the load on the deck, not the hoist load. As in pound per square foot (kg per sq meter)

He wrote that he won't be hoisting anything even approaching a weight of 100 Lbs. using that crane. I don't think that he has anything to be concerned. Lifting such a small amount of weight as that won't even stress the roof as much as the load from a a decent snowfall will.

In the picture that was posted, the roof support is very closely concentrated in that area. There are four vertical trusses that all meet the horizontal truss at the peak. That is a lot of support concentrated over a short distance. This arrangement repeats over the length of the roof at what looks to be a distance of no more than every 24" as well. I wouldn't even be concerned about lifting 1,000 Lbs. if the hoist was capable of it.

My garage roof has no where near that tight a concentration of support, and at a much flatter angle. I hoist snow-blowers, motorcycles, generators, all kinds of crap up there with no concern at all and with no roof sag.
I don't think that he needs to worry about it.

Thanks guys. As I mentioned previously, I have been spreading the items around in the attic and the heaviest single item wouldn't weigh more than about 40-50 lbs. I have checked and there has been no sag at all.

In any event, I am nearly done moving stuff up there and haven't see an issue. Attics of this type are very common in Canadian homes and as has been pointed out, the pitch of the roof is pretty steep there so the structural members are pretty tightly concentrated.

Pete

 

[MaxPete]

I had a buddy over yesterday for a chin-wag about Yamaha XS650s. He has been a civil engineer (my discipline is mechanical) for more than 50 years and he had a look at the set-up and the whole structure and said that it looks fine as long as the load is distributed (it is) and nothing too heavy is placed up there (nothing is heavier than I can easily lift myself) - and so all is well safety-wise.

Pete