[08HybridOK]

So shortly afer we had our 2 car garage built it was so full once can barely walk throught it, let alone park 1 car in it. I've been working hard on selling the junk in there we didn't need (was moving from old house to new, same land, and tearing down old house, so needed place to store junk).

So now I can finally get 1 car in. I need to do 2 things, add a garage door opener, whice seems like a small task as the peak is about another 8' over the 8' door! But to my question, it's a steel garage, steel frame & siding, with such a open roof I want to add some loft space to store season items like the christmas trees etc. In my mind I came up with 2 options, I hope they make snce, other wise I'll try to take pics.
1) Easy way (I think) Bolt a 2x4 across the upright 4x4 steel suport beams, this will allow a plywood "floor" to rest on. Then on the 'open" side of the plywood, take another 2x4 and screw a hook on to the 2" side (so it'll match the 2x4 on the back wall). Now take a heavy chain and 'hang' this 2x4 4' feet from the wall to complete my floor. so it's hang from the steel rafters like this /----\

Would that work? Not looking for a ton of weight, a few hundred pounds at most.

2) is similar, but replace chains with those metal braces the builders used to hang the garage door with, it looks like [ o o o o ] (meatal strap with holes spaced evenly apart, it's about 2" wide and 1/8" thick. Hange these directly from the rafters to the 2x4.

Thoughts? better idea's?

I have plenty of 2x4's and ply wood salvaged from the old house, would need to buy chain or metal brackets. I figure I'll need brackets anyway to hang the dooe opener. I'm not sure what is cheaper, chain or the brackets either as I'm trying to make cheap storage. If the srea I wanted to use wasn't where a car would be, I'd just build a supporting wall from the floor up with the 2x4's, would be much more sturdy & hold more weight, just lose the floor space (for a car anyway).

Thanks for any advice!

 

[jonas1022]

Imo, 2 X 4 lumber, especially used is suspect for anything more than holding some sheetrock/plasterboard/whatever you want to call it. 2 X 6 will support much more, and even more when used in tandem with more 2 X 6 wood. I wouldn't use chain, or the strapping material you describe. Some 2 X 4 braces from above would be OK, if they are sound and without holes or splitting. It's best to try and trianglate everything. The strongest geometric figure known to man is the triangle... ;-)

I wouldn't think anything of taking a look see at some other buildings to see how they did their trusses upstairs if I were you. 24" centers would be a maximum, and 16" is pretty stout. And stretch your ends from one side to another so the wieght of the load is placed directly on the outside load bearing walls. eace:

 

[stone]

Hello Jonas1022. I agree with your comment, that a triangle is a strong geometrical figure. Henceforth why the egyptians built those pyramids. It also stands to reason, why roofs on houses have triangle shape trusses.