Bruce wrote:
I am planning on building a loft in my shop. My shop is a pole
building which is 30x42 with 12 foot ceiling. I plan to run my loft
across the back of my shop extending 10 feet in width. so loft will be
10 wide by 30 across and 8 feet high. My pole on the back walls are
6x4 in the corners and 6x6 in the centers with 10 foot spacing
between. My side walls are 4x6 post at six foot spacing.

I would like to build the loft by making an angle iron frame and
setting 4x6 ten feet long inside the framework for floor joists. The
angle iron will have welded
"ears" on them so that the angle iron can be bolted to the poles by
drilling all the way through the posts and running bolts through.
Also, a angle brace will be welded to the bottom of the angle iron and
lag screwed to the post. Two large (6 inch) pipes with bottom plates
are placed at ten foot spacing along the front of the loft. These
extend up 15 feet( into my rafter area) then attached to the end wall
6x6 posts.

My questions? What thoughts do you have on this design, and what size
angle iron should I be looking at. I intend to store items in the
loft, such as a snowmobile (700 lbs) four wheeler, (400lbs) motorcycle
(250 lbs) Misc, tires, tools, etc....so I want to support a fair
amount of weight, and I would rather overbuild it.

Home Depot sells a bazillion types of joist hangers for dirt
cheap. Go check them out before spending a lot of time
fabricating something the building inspector might not like.

I have personally spent years building frames out of angle iron to
go on Navy ships. I think that if you use proper bracing that 2x2x1/4"
angle iron will be plenty strong enough. It should be the vertical
members that hold the weight, the angle should only be loaded in
between the members.

If you go by a car lot and look at one of those frames they use to
put cars high up in the air, you will note that they are built out
of similar material.

Grant Erwin

Bruce wrote:

I am planning on building a loft in my shop. My shop is a pole
building which is 30x42 with 12 foot ceiling. I plan to run my loft
across the back of my shop extending 10 feet in width. so loft will be
10 wide by 30 across and 8 feet high. My pole on the back walls are
6x4 in the corners and 6x6 in the centers with 10 foot spacing
between. My side walls are 4x6 post at six foot spacing.

I would like to build the loft by making an angle iron frame and
setting 4x6 ten feet long inside the framework for floor joists. The
angle iron will have welded
"ears" on them so that the angle iron can be bolted to the poles by
drilling all the way through the posts and running bolts through.
Also, a angle brace will be welded to the bottom of the angle iron and
lag screwed to the post. Two large (6 inch) pipes with bottom plates
are placed at ten foot spacing along the front of the loft. These
extend up 15 feet( into my rafter area) then attached to the end wall
6x6 posts.

My questions? What thoughts do you have on this design, and what size
angle iron should I be looking at. I intend to store items in the
loft, such as a snowmobile (700 lbs) four wheeler, (400lbs) motorcycle
(250 lbs) Misc, tires, tools, etc....so I want to support a fair
amount of weight, and I would rather overbuild it.


Thanks

Bruce