Cars, tools, lawn equipment, bikes, camping gear, and holiday decorations are all examples of common items that can easily be stored in your garage. Storing all these items in the garage, however, takes up valuable real estate. To take advantage of all the space your garage has to offer, it is necessary to impose some structure, such as a car lift. By installing a car lift, you’ll be able to park two cars in a one car garage, while having plenty of space leftover to stow everything else.
What is a Car Lift?
Originally designed for mechanics – as a means to repair a vehicle’s undercarriage safely – car lifts can free you from having to assume awkward positions when working on your baby, as well as free up prime real estate in your garage. They’re particularly beneficial in one-car garages. Built from high-quality materials, a car lift is a product that uses hydraulics to raise the car on either two or four posts, which extend beneath the car to lift the vehicle.
The Advantages of a Car Lift
Car lifts come in a wide variety of configurations including: above ground, in-ground, y-lift, two-post, four-post, low/mid rise, and smartlift – among others. From a storage standpoint, a four-post car lift allows you to store one car over another, thus affording you the opportunity to store your classics in the garage rather than offsite. Once you’ve changed your car’s oil without the pain of having to jack up the car, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without one.
The Skinny on Space
With the advantages of a lift hard to argue, you may have decided to start the hunt for one – but is there room in your garage for one? Generally speaking, a 10-foot height and 22-foot length garage, is probably the minimum amount of space needed to stack two cars. It’s important not to forget about overhead hazards such as the garage door, or more specifically, the garage door opener and tracks. Measure your clearance with the door opened and closed.
Not all lifts are created equal
Quality, quality, quality! Did I mention quality? A 4,000 pound car lifted in the air, can lead to catastrophe, which is why you should NEVER be stingy with your lift budget. Before you buy, check out the website Automotive Lift Institute, for a directory of certified car lift manufacturers. ALI’s mission is to “promote the safe design, construction, installation, inspection, and use of automotive lifts”.