Attic Storage

How many times have you and your clients opened the attic access door or walked up the pull down stairs to view the attic over the garage and commented, "great storage space!" Maybe its floored or you can easily envision adding flooring and storing the furniture you plan to inherit shortly from your great-grandmother.

Many years ago I received a call from a lady who could barely explain over her sobs why she was calling. "Mr. Hilton, I just came home and found my garage door laying on top of my new Mercedes. Could you please come quickly and help me determine what to do?" Being a commercial contractor and not one to desire to become involved in such, I immediately commented that she didn't need me, she needed a garage door person and there were plenty in the yellow pages. Man was that the wrong answer. The lady burst into tears and said: "I can't deal with this, I need someone here now! It's not just the garage door; the whole ceiling is on top of my new car. What am I suppose to do?" You would think after living with four daughters and two wives that I would no longer be vulnerable to those tears. But you would be wrong. I couldn't take it and said: "I'm on my way right now, give me the directions."

I grabbed one of my project managers and set out for the ladies home. We didn't need the address, when we turned into the development you could clearly see the garage door with the Mercedes tail lights. Turning into the driveway, the garage door and tail lights was not all that was visible. Amongst the broken door, drywall and splintered ceiling joist was a chest-of-drawers, headboard, mattress and boxes filled with books. After introducing ourselves we carefully entered the garage from the house side. Finding the attic pull down stairs partially down and being the young brave fools that we were, we climbed the stair into the attic space. We didn't get very far because there was no open space. What hadn't fallen already was so filled with antique furniture and boxes of books and we couldn't move for fear of the remainder falling along with the complete roof and walls, which appeared unstable. Having seen the light, we quickly departed the garage for fear of our life.

Don't fall into the trap! Most garage attics have not been designed or constructed to support any load much more than the ceiling and insulation. Most double garages are wood trusses or have a truss beam supporting the ceiling, which is not designed for storage loads. You might be able to store light items such as Christmas decorations or lawn chairs, but not much more. Doing so is asking for trouble. Selling the space as "storage" may land you and your company before the judge, and you will loose!

Most attics are not designed for storage loads and the safest position for you is to not advertise or state that they are. Yes, some are but they are the exception and not the rule. Don't take a chance without confirming the design load with a structural engineer.

Thought for the week

In my 13 year olds mind: It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.