Parking Lifts.

[Biscuit]

I am presently rebuilding an old garage and was looking into the possibility of digging down to form a pit in which a second car could be stored. there isnt enough room so that a car hoist can be deployed so access would be restricted to moving the top car off the lift before lifting the second one up.

I have done some internet searching but the majority of lifts seem either a) very expensive or b) not suitable for the job.

any suggestions of UK based reputable companies that could be suitable.

my dream is that i get the storage of a garage for motorbike, cycles, pram and other voluminous carp ( and the occasional parking space for friends and rellys to avoid street parking charges) and an underground lair for a beast of my own....

 

[Rovinghawk]

If you dig down to or below the level of the foundations you will have earth pressure on the outside but nothing inside with which to resist the pressure. Your foundations move inwards, your walls buckle, your roof falls in.
Be very careful about digging a large pit inside a building. Precautions to prevent the problem are surprisingly expensive & complicated.

RH (Construction engineer)

 

[Biscuit]

Many thanks for the tips - have already consulted an engineer to look into it and a piling solution has been devised. the existing is a shack and being demolished so i would start from scratch.

 

[Nibbo]

Quick Robin... to the bat cave

 

[x332race]

Presumably you are looking at something like this?

or on eBay....not quite what you are looking for but they may have an alternetive design?

 

[Howard]

my dream is that i get the storage of a garage for motorbike, cycles, pram and other voluminous carp .

You'll need a fair bit of water as well if you are going to keep voluminous carp.

 

[Dieselman]

Speak to Martin at Apollo Hydraulics, he was develpoing one of these 15 years ago. http://www.the-internet-pages.co.uk/england/leic/hyeqp1/page5.htm

 

[DITTRICH]

I wonder what the soil is like below your garage and where the water level is in the soil. If the water level is high and the soil is permeable then you will need to keep the water out too as well as stopping the existing structure falling down.
Les

 

[smiddyboy1]

You'll be wanting this then !!!http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1935483/how_to_park_your_lambo_in_your_garage/

 

[smiddyboy1]

There was something mentioned on another forum I visit, someone had enquired and came back with a price of 25K, he thought that was good,compairing it to 90K for a kensington parking space

http://www.cardok.co.uk/

 

[SEM]

There was something mentioned on another forum I visit, someone had enquired and came back with a price of 25K, he thought that was good,compairing it to 90K for a kensington parking space

http://www.cardok.co.uk/

£35k i've just specced one in a garden design

 

[Biscuit]

many thanks as ever for the replies, the forum is really a fantastic resource.

the engineer assures me that the soil conditions are not problematic and so the decision is go for a replacement garage that i will simply build on site of old one or go for the daddy and have a "bat pod" underneath.

i look at the side by side garages on other threads in jealousy but the space we have in london simply wont allow it. but two parking spaces in london are a premium and i hope i can persuade the mrs that we'd get it all back when we came to sell. trouble is it more than doubles the build cost

i'm just thinking it through at this stage... one thing is certain you'd never retro fit one... its now or forget it.

 

[poppypiesdad]

how about this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-PARKING-LIFT_W0QQitemZ230305563769QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Lifting_Moving_Equipment?hash=item230305563769&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1299%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318


or

http://www.garageequipmentgroup.co.uk/cat&category=2postlift?gclid=COqq8qOO8pYCFQkiagodsjsGXg

or

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-STORAGE-V...14&_trkparms=72:1299|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

or
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-1-POST-MO...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318
jamie

 

[Smatt]

A cheaper option (than £35K) might be to buy a fairly standard heavy duty professional garage workshop type ramp (that will handle the weight of 2 cars) & get an engineer to fabricate supports & a roof to make it into a double decker, then mount it in the lower level.
This is likely to be much more reliable & safe than a cheap ebay version as will be designed to go up & down many times per day & will have a higher weight rating.
I saw something like this used for Diarmuid Gavins garden show for a room which lifted up in the garden

If you are able to drop the floor a little & lift the roof a little then even cheaper still would be to have a lift at ground level which raises the car up to a mid level, allowing just enough clearance for the roof of both cars, a bit like talbirs http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=59845. Obviously not really an option if you have two Vitos!

 

[Biscuit]

how about this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-PARKING-LIFT_W0QQitemZ230305563769QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Lifting_Moving_Equipment?hash=item230305563769&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1299%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318


or

http://www.garageequipmentgroup.co.uk/cat&category=2postlift?gclid=COqq8qOO8pYCFQkiagodsjsGXg

or

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-STORAGE-V...14&_trkparms=72:1299|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

or
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-1-POST-MO...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318
jamie

thanks but none of those are suitable, i need a lift with a roof that i can park on top of. a hoist is no good as i cant make the garage roof higher than it is now.
imagine digging the floor up in a single garage and burying a lift in the pit, then i drive the car on top into the road press a button and a 'batmobile' lifts up from below. with the bottom car up at street level the surface which the top car was parked on is then very close to the garage ceiling.

motor needs to be strong enough to lift just one car at a time but have a second sitting static on it.

 

[Benzowner]

If you are demolishing what is currently there, why not build a two storey garage with a lift up rather than lift down. Digging holes can be expensive especially when you then may need to tank the structure out to prevent water ingress. The lifting gear would be the same but at ground level not below ground. Say a 5ft height for the upper level and 6' 6" for the lower level would be much lower than the house. You would just need safety locking bolts when the deck is raised and you are working below.

 

[Smatt]

Planning permission is probably the issue over height, hence my suggestion of taking floor down as much as practical & roof up as much as poss/allowed

 

[Mr E]

imagine digging the floor up in a single garage and burying a lift in the pit, then i drive the car on top into the road press a button and a 'batmobile' lifts up from below. with the bottom car up at street level the surface which the top car was parked on is then very close to the garage ceiling.

From what you're describing, you are going to have the room to have two cars stacked without going down into the ground.

Digging a hole seems to be an extreme answer to the "shuffle" that you would otherwise have to do if you wanted the car on top. Also, the lift would have to be capable of coping with two vehicles - raising the one from the pit as well as lifting the second out of the way.

I would have thought that a properly engineered pitched roof would give you the height needed to do everything from a ground level base without having to go to a second floor - the raised car would go into the roof space.

 

[Spinal]

From what you're describing, you are going to have the room to have two cars stacked without going down into the ground.

Digging a hole seems to be an extreme answer to the "shuffle" that you would otherwise have to do if you wanted the car on top. Also, the lift would have to be capable of coping with two vehicles - raising the one from the pit as well as lifting the second out of the way.

Unless the lift were designed like a box... Make sure the car onto in not in the garage, then raise the lift. Insert car into box. Lower lift. Drive second car ontop of box... (the box being of the same dimensions as the garages "top"or ground floor, but with a solid roof... solid enough to support a car)

The box can be on supports at the bottom of the "basement" so it doesn't need to have a motor strong enough to lift both cars - when it's down the box is resting on the floor (albeit an underground floor).

Sure, it does mean that if you want to drive the batmobile you need to drive out the other car first...

Personally, I wouldnt build a garage at all... level the ground, dig the garage underground with a life and put some grass/pavement on top. You will get a much larger driveway with space for a picnic, and when you want a car they rise out of the ground... (there was a clip floating around a while ago of this)

M.

 

[jaymanek]

See talbirs garage... he has done exactly this and his is a normal height roof..

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=59845&highlight=garage+lift