First of all, if this project has to be inspected, it matters not what I, you or anyone else on this list suggests. The only thing you can do is go by what the government appointed inspector tells you what has to be. In most cases, this little piss head is some recently college grad that knows absolutely nothing about the real world and goes only by what he read in a book, written by another piss head that never hammered a nail, let alone built anything.
That being said: If you can do this without inspections, your plan should work. A couple of observations/suggestions I have for you are: Instead of using a 4 inch by 24 foot ledger bolted to the outside wall, you would be better off building this out of 2 inch by 8 inch what ever it takes to span the 24 foot, bolting it securely to the wall, then putting another layer of 2 bys on top of it, staggering the seems to complete the ledger. (the less distance the bolts stick out from the block wall the better). I also would go with 16 inch centers on the joysts, giving you more stability and load capacity, (you never know what you might store up there) if you are like me. For the beam, I would also build it out of 2inch by 8 inch , staggering the seems. This should be strong enough to skin a deer on, but I wouldn't want to pull an engine on it. For the supports, I would use 3 inch pipe with a flange on it to place beneath the beam. and I surely wouldn't dig down 4 feet. Being inside the garage, there should be no frost, so I would only go down a couple of feet and cement them in. Good luck! :) ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry Stansifer To: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 14:06 Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Loft Hi Guys, Well you all have almost inspired me enough to attempt an 8x24 storage loft over one end of my shop. I am thinking 4x8 boards 24 feet long bolted through the outside block wall and another 24 foot long 4x8 bolted to 4" diameter support poles. The bottom of the floor would be 8 feet off of the shop floor. My plan is to cut through the concrete floor dig down about 4 feet and cement in the support poles. with the poles at 6foot intervals. I would install joist hangers every 2feet giving me 24" centers, using 2x6 joists to support 3/4 plywood flooring. Does this basic layout sound feasible? Do I need to double up the joists in the middle? What if any special tools will I need? I own a couple of cordless and air powered drills, wrenches, a saws-all and a second hand circ saw that isn't worth much.I also have a chop saw that I can put a wood blade in if needs be. I have read a lot of comments regarding the talking tape measure both good and bad. Do I need one or is their an alternative? Let me know what you guys think. I do have a friend who is a structural engineer and he told me he would be happy to look it over before I spend any money. Regards Larry Stansifer Thou art rewarded for thy results not for thine efforts. The Rogue Warrior [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
