Back to the drawing board - can’t use ceiling for top hoist system?

[HPR23Wildling]

My garage ceiling isn’t tall enough for a lift unfortunately but this is not my daily driver so I took the roof off in March and only take it out when the weather is good. Like you I am waiting for the color change (I must live somewhat near you on the TN side of the mountain) and going to hit the Blue ridge Parkway before putting the top back on for the winter. It’s been a glorious spring/summer/fall without the top. In fact I can’t really remember what it looks like with the top on.

Just drove from Lynchburg VA after visiting the kids at Liberty and drove the parkway. Dont wait too much longer!! from 4k feet up - about 50% of the trees have turned yellow, orange and red.

We do this every Oct and got to drive the Bronco this time. Was only able to go topless on the front row since we are in Raleigh and were gone for about 3 days for the trip.

This was on Mt Mitchell...last year - we hit it right at Oct 12th and parts of the parkway including mitchell were closed for the season THAT DAY!! We literally arrived at craggy gardens and everything from there north for several exits past Mt Mitchell was closed for the season due to ice.

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[tock13]

Supports the top and all the excess lumber,piping,molding,surfboards,garage door opener and hockey sticks without a second thought.

That green strap is perfectly placed in the pic, I had to do a double take, I was like…”Whoah…dudes hanging a mustang from the rafters??? WTH???”

 

[Imaginary Friend]

It'll be fine. You can suspend a lot more weight than that of a Bronco hardtop assuming you mount to studs.

 

[indio22]

You should be good, the clamshell MIC hardtop is only 68lbs and 2 door a bit heavier. If you have 2x4 stud mounts, you should be golden…reinforcing overheads studs could be an option as well…

Agreed, and if ~70lbs is enough to compromise the ceiling, that garage has bigger problems.

 

[Swiss Miss]

Thanks everyone. I felt comfortable enough to tell him I’m going to give it a shot.

I’ll follow up with the final product. But in advance, if this turns into a disaster, can someone point me to the Bronco Singles group?

I got 2x6 to use for all ceiling attachments and 4” TimberLOKs - so I think I’m overbuilding this.

 

[22OBX]

You have nothing to worry about. Engineered trusses are super strong.

 

[Bronco1971]

Not all roof trusses are equal. There are actually quite a number of criteria that go into the design and manufacturing. Theoretically a Fink truss of that type could be a tension only lower chord, meaning it is not intended for storage loads, unless the lower chord were designed with an assumed collateral load. 10 psf is not at all unusual for a typical residential truss. Also consider that trusses are designed as redundant members, meaning that due to the close proximity they can share loads. This only works if there is a perpendicular tie, drywall doesn't count. Try not to point load individual trusses.

It used to be that most all garage trusses were designed for fairly heavy storage loading. That has been waning as enclosed ceilings have become ubiquitous. Don't assume, if you don't know be cautious. Even the garage door opener spreads load across several trusses to be safe. There's no harm in bracing multiple trusses together. The points where the diagonals come together at the lower chord is called a panel point. You can take advantage of the geometry at these points and load the trusses in plane.

Timber Lock screws are great, but be aware that professionals avoid loading any wood fasteners in withdrawal. That's when the load is directly trying to pull the fastener out of the wood. Shear loading is always preferred. If you have no choice read the specs on the fasteners to find the withdrawal in southern pine. Each screw should be rated to at least four times the weight of the top, the lift and a 200# person hanging on it. It is plausible if not likely that load can get concentrated at one corner of a suspension device. The 4x multiplication is impact loading and safety factors. Just imagine a dumbass teenager hanging from it, things beyond the weight of the top can happen.

Real world, shit can go wrong in a real hurry. Professionals do not play games with suspended loads, not ever. Conservative design and redundancy is just common sense.

Again, don't guess, be more than safe. There isn't any reason your lift can't be made to work safely.

 

[Gtrekker]

Nope, you are completely fine. No enough weight to be concerned... you can test it out if you like. Grab some rope ir tow straps, hang them over the beams and make a little seat / swing...

He may just be a bit out of his comfort zone on the install.

Good luck with him an his Prius... lol

Well, I’m pretty bummed and stumped at what I should do. I bought the “Hoist a Top” roof removal system to install in my new house’s garage, but my boyfriend says that he doesn’t think the ceiling will support any additional weight because there are only roof trusses and not proper support for hanging anything from the roof. (I also wanted to install a Fleximount overhead rack and that’s probably not happening either.)

I don’t know much about this type of stuff and so I’ve researched a good bit the past couple days and while I can’t confirm for certain that he’s right, I agree that it looks like the risk is there. They are 2x4s spanning the width of the garage.

Attaching pics of my attic if anyone here is a roof expert that can give me reassurance, but I reached out to a couple structural engineers to get an opinion but they all say they have to come out to the property to see and measure to determine, and that sounds even more expensive.

I’m still in the return window for Amazon so I’ve got to figure out something ASAP. Hoping to either confirm it’s ok, or figure out an alternative solution to remove and store the top that will allow me to use my garage still.

Suggestions? I could really use a little help from my friends.

Nope, you are completely fine. No enough weight to be concerned... you can test it out if you like. Grab some rope ir tow straps, hang them over the beams and make a little seat / swing...

He may just be a bit out of his comfort zone on the install.

Good luck with him and his Prius... lol

 

[Imonamoose]

Not all roof trusses are equal. There are actually quite a number of criteria that go into the design and manufacturing. Theoretically a Fink truss of that type could be a tension only lower chord, meaning it is not intended for storage loads, unless the lower chord were designed with an assumed collateral load. 10 psf is not at all unusual for a typical residential truss. Also consider that trusses are designed as redundant members, meaning that due to the close proximity they can share loads. This only works if there is a perpendicular tie, drywall doesn't count. Try not to point load individual trusses.

It used to be that most all garage trusses were designed for fairly heavy storage loading. That has been waning as enclosed ceilings have become ubiquitous. Don't assume, if you don't know be cautious. Even the garage door opener spreads load across several trusses to be safe. There's no harm in bracing multiple trusses together. The points where the diagonals come together at the lower chord is called a panel point. You can take advantage of the geometry at these points and load the trusses in plane.

Timber Lock screws are great, but be aware that professionals avoid loading any wood fasteners in withdrawal. That's when the load is directly trying to pull the fastener out of the wood. Shear loading is always preferred. If you have no choice read the specs on the fasteners to find the withdrawal in southern pine. Each screw should be rated to at least four times the weight of the top, the lift and a 200# person hanging on it. It is plausible if not likely that load can get concentrated at one corner of a suspension device. The 4x multiplication is impact loading and safety factors. Just imagine a dumbass teenager hanging from it, things beyond the weight of the top can happen.

Real world, shit can go wrong in a real hurry. Professionals do not play games with suspended loads, not ever. Conservative design and redundancy is just common sense.

Again, don't guess, be more than safe. There isn't any reason your lift can't be made to work safely.

This is the corect response.

I will add, run some 4x4 bards accross your rafters and bolt into those to distribute the load across a wider area of the roof. Additionally, I would take a few 2x4s cut to length and I would mount those vertically from the side of the horizontal beams up to the side of the roof rafters to tighten everything up. Also, better than using lag bolts is to get a U bolt or bracket that wraps the beam instead of drilling into it and then mount to that.

Send that nu-male man child to shop class.

 

[Bronco1971]

This is the corect response.

I will add, run some 4x4 bards accross your rafters and bolt into those to distribute the load across a wider area of the roof. Additionally, I would take a few 2x4s cut to length and I would mount those vertically from the side of the horizontal beams up to the side of the roof rafters to tighten everything up. Also, better than using lag bolts is to get a U bolt or bracket that wraps the beam instead of drilling into it and then mount to that.

Send that man child to shop class.

Well said.

To add a bit more. If you place the 4x4s near a truss panel point you'll load the panel point and the force vectoring of the truss will function as designed.

 

[swamp2]

Bad boyfriends will link to bad articles...

There are such large safety factors built into residential construction. You could hang the bronco roof from a single 1/4" screw right through the sheetrock and into the horizontal section of a single truss. Think about it - who (what weight) was up there running electrical and/or plumbing?

You definitely do not need additional bracing of 4x4's (massive overkill) or even 2x4's (big overkill). Throw in a couple of extra short fitted sections of 2x4's between the trusses on the sheetrock if you really need it to pattern out your ceiling screws and it will support 5x the tops weight with barely a visible sag.

 

[Imonamoose]

Bad boyfriends will link to bad articles...

There are such large safety factors built into residential construction. You could hang the bronco roof from a single 1/4" screw right through the sheetrock and into the horizontal section of a single truss. Think about it - who (what weight) was up there running electrical and/or plumbing?

You definitely do not need additional bracing of 4x4's (massive overkill) or even 2x4's (big overkill). Throw in a couple of extra short fitted sections of 2x4's between the trusses on the sheetrock if you really need it to pattern out your ceiling screws and it will support 5x the tops weight with barely a visible sag.

I agree with you that the roof truss is over engeneired and she will be fine with lag bolts into existing joists.... But, I have walked enough job sites to know workmanship and shit build quality forces me to play to the lowest common denominator when dealing with people.

If her SO is such a nu-male soy boy he can't read the room and figure this out then she can cya this issue with a $50 trip to a hardware store and a 4x4 with a U bracket. Sleep easy knowing ain't nutin guna happen.

Let's be honest. Those hammer in brackets that Richmond or KB cookie cutter homes use are only as good as the guys aim with his hammer. Easy cheap insurance to just throw that post up there and be done with it, for her.

 

[swamp2]

...
Easy cheap insurance to just throw that post up there and be done with it, for her.

Waste $50 or save $50... I know what I would do.

And I very much like to do things "the right way".

 

[ScottyC]

Tell your boyfriend he needs to turn in his man-card. I once pulled a Ford 351 Windsor V8 from one of my Torino's using a chain hoist with a 2X6 laid across 4 trusses in the "V" in my dad's garage when I was 19.

 

[Rydfree]

Tell your boyfriend he needs to turn in his man-card. I once pulled a Ford 351 Windsor V8 from one of my Torino's using a chain hoist with a 2X6 laid across 4 trusses in the "V" in my dad's garage when I was 19.

LOL , have done similar but I was hoisting riding mowers . Until things start to creak and moan I felt everything was just fine

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