I'm interested in installing an attic lift system.  The purpose of the lift is to free up precious garage space by safely moving things to/from the attic.  Carrying large boxes up/down the pull-down stairway is difficult and risky.  I've seen the Versa-Lift product for sale on the web, but the larger model (28" x 56") that extends 12' floor-to-floor costs over $2000!  I'm thinking that one could make a lift himself for a lot less by simply copying the Versa-Lift design or using another method.  Anyone done this?  What advice can you give?

Make sure your trusses/joists are sized or designed to carry a load. The most common trusses are not designed for this. When I did insurance adjusting/consulting I inspected a garage where the homeowner was a "saver" and put newspapers and magazines in the attic which eventually collapsed on the garage.

I put the folding stairs to access my attic and it was worth it just for insulating, I have not used it since.

Thanks for the warning.  The roof is stick framed and the joist strength is sufficient.   They were sized to support living space per IRC.  Seems a waste not to use all that floored attic space.  A lift would make the attic space available for storage of infrequently used stuff instead of filling the garage and basement.  Just wondering if anyone has found an economical way to build one.

From the first time I saw pricing on dumbwaiters and such, and recovered from the sticker shock, I have wondered if it would be possible to mount a garage door opener vertically, attached to a platform of some sort. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems workable. Strictly utilitarian, but substantially cheaper than the kits.

Interesting idea.  Any thoughts about how much weight could be lifted?  Maybe 50 lbs? I heard of a guy that uses a drywall lift to move objects to and from his attic.  Not very elegant, but really cheap if you already have one of these lifts.  I'm looking for a more practical method.  Your suggestion triggered a thought, however.  If my ceiling opening was placed adjacent to a wall, could I install two garage door tracks about two feet apart vertically on the wall and insert a "trolley" which would travel up and down between the tracks.  The trolley could be made from a 2' x 3' piece of plywood and four garage door rollers.  A small cable hoist could be used to raise the trolley using a remote control.  A shelf could be mounted perpendicular to the trolley to accept loads and serve as the door for the ceiling opening.  Maybe $300 is material cost and a weekend to put it together?

I toyed a lot with this same idea and ended up going the folding stair route in this house. In our last house I put in a full blown staircase with an insulated door. The full staircase was nice but took up so much space. I also had a 4x4 area with a mounting point and used a boat trailer winch to lift the heavier stuff up. I kept the winter / summer tires up there and it was easy to hook them on and push a button and up they went. There were very few things I couldn't lift with the small powered winch.

I thought some members of this forum would be interested in my implementation of an attic lift system. It cost me <$300 for materials and 3 days to put it together, not counting all the thought that went into planning it before hand. There are still some refinements to be made, but it's already being put to good use and it works very well.

Clark;

do you have an alternate access for yourself or do you use the lift too?

Excellent set up. I had not thought of using a winch for the lift. Do you have any type of auto stops for the lift or is it strickly manual?

Posted By cmkavala on 07 May 2010 10:05 PM
Clark;

do you have an alternate access for yourself or do you use the lift too?

There is a pull-down stairs adjacent to the attic lift. As I'm sure you know, it's risky to use the lift as a human elevator. Commercially sold lifts, e.g., VersaLift also prohibit using their system as a people mover. I have to admit, though, that because the lift turned out so sturdy and stable, I was tempted take a ride on it. Good sense prevailed, however.

Posted By wes on 07 May 2010 11:03 PM
Excellent set up. I had not thought of using a winch for the lift. Do you have any type of auto stops for the lift or is it strickly manual?

The winch is equipped with a safety stop at the top which comes into play if you fail to halt the carriage manually. You can see the switch lever in the 3rd photo (the cable is passing through it.) I used a pulley (at the hook) to halve the speed of travel (wife likes it better that way.) It also doubles the lifting strength of the winch. I estimate the lift can handle a payload of ~300 lbs with a good safety margin.

This looks like a great project idea ... I was thinking of building one myself.

How did you build the lower box? Is it just a plywood box or is there some additional support that we can't see... Also what is the metal strap that is attached to the top 2x4, when I was at my local HD I didn't see anything resembling that?

Thanks,
Brad

My ideal would be a hole, a winch and an I-beam + trolley in the attic to slide the load sideways. I have the ibeam, the trolley and the winch, but not the time to install it (yet).

Posted By ba_feitl on 03 Aug 2010 10:18 AM This looks like a great project idea ... I was thinking of building one myself. How did you build the lower box? Is it just a plywood box or is there some additional support that we can't see... Also what is the metal strap that is attached to the top 2x4, when I was at my local HD I didn't see anything resembling that? Thanks, Brad

Yes, the carriage is made from 3/4" AC plywood. No special support, I just screwed the pieces together. Note the rabbit cut in the side to accept the floor board.  The cross bar is a length of oak 2x4 for strength. The metal band was made from two pieces of angle, drilled and bent to fit.   Here are some photos that should help.
 

Could you have added a triangle design setup on the wooden lift bar (2 bolts attached to the wooden lift bar, going to one wire for the pulley)  instead of the single center lift bolt to eliminate the need of the guide rail?  This will be installed in the main hallway in my house and would not look nice with the side rails.

Posted By ksgirl96 on 30 Nov 2010 08:10 AM
Could you have added a triangle design setup on the wooden lift bar (2 bolts attached to the wooden lift bar, going to one wire for the pulley)  instead of the single center lift bolt to eliminate the need of the guide rail?  This will be installed in the main hallway in my house and would not look nice with the side rails.

ksgirl:

Without the guide rails, you will need to utilize a two-cable design like the Versa Lift attic storage lift.  With a single cable, the carriage is free to rotate about the vertical axis (the cable).  Modifying an off-the-shelf cable hoist by extending its shaft to a second cable drum is certainly possible for the experienced DIYer, but it's going to push up the overall cost.  I built my single cable attic lift for $317.  Here's one man's solution using a two-cable system on U-Tube:  Attic Lift - Homemade

Hope this helps you.

Came across this by accident while searching for something else. Read through and remembered a cool idea I saw on Wasted Spaces a few months ago.
Thought you guys would be interested....

The link to the whole episode:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/74746/wasted-spaces-drop-down-gorgeous

And the link to the step-by-step for building one:
http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-install-an-attic-drop-down-closet/index.html

Clark,

I sure hope you are still monitoring your posting here. My original attic lift was composed of a hoist similar to yours. However my hoist point at first was a single eye bolt in middle of carriage and when I would lower or raise the hoist, the carrier would swivel and we'd have to guide it up straight with me above wearing gloves and hand on cable and wife below with a long pole to steady the carrier. With your set-up heere, does it swivel? I sure would like to use your idea as the lifts that are ready made out of the market are terribly overpriced! Thanks for your time.