I just bought a house and am in the process of installing a storage lift in my garage. After getting most of the installation done, I realized I don't know if my garage ceiling joist is strong enough to hold the lift. I looked in my attic and discovered that the ceiling is finished, with the joists being the bottom chord of 2x4 roof trusses. My main concerns are: 1) Should I stop the installation or using the lift? 2) Am I in trouble for the holes I've already drilled into the joists? I'm a first-time homeowner, so any advice would be appreciated!
1 Answer
The safety of your installation really depends on the type of joists you're working with. If you have solid 2x12 joists, you should be fine, but make sure to distribute the weight evenly. However, if they are engineered trusses (TJIs), you definitely shouldn't drill into the bottom chord without checking the specs from the manufacturer first. It's usually better to connect to the top chords instead. With regular 2x4 trusses, they aren't meant to hold much more than the drywall, but spreading the load across multiple joists can help. Just avoid placing too much weight on it; 100 lbs per mount point should be your max.
To be more specific, if you’re using a 4-point lift and it's spanning across those chords, try to keep it around 250 lbs max total. Make sure the weight is distributed evenly, especially if you don’t have drywall or insulation adding extra support. I'm currently using a similar lift with light loads and it's working well.