BobK207 wrote:

Wayne-

Hilary's "yes" is site specific to her garage....it was ok'd by a
permitted installation.

The guy with the same idea may or may not have a similar situation to
yours.

cheers
Bob

Agreed. In fact, when I was designing the garage I went to the building
department first, told them what I needed to put in the garage, and
THEY were the ones who suggested using the rafters as the floor joists
for the second story. I would NEVER have thought of that on my own, and
was designing something with nowhere near as steep a pitch to the roof.
Given how my business has grown in the past few years I should have
made the garage two full stories with attic storage. Maybe it's just
time for a bigger house

To the OP - Why don't you just go to the building department and ask?
The plans/permits for your garage should still be on file from 5 years
ago, and they should be able to give you specs/weights of how much
stuff you can put up there. Here's a tip-build wide, sturdy stairs if
you'll be putting heavy or bulky stuff upstairs. The first set of
stairs I had built were narrow and wobbly and scared me to death when I
carried 50 pound bolts of fabric. The new stairs are wide, beefy, and
attached to the back wall. There is NO movement at all, even when a 150
lb machine is being moved.

Hilary