This house I’m thinkin’ about building would be best served (considering the size of site and slope of terrain) with a two level garage. However, access seems to be limited to only one level.
Elevators – big enuff to move a car from one level to another – are these hydraulic, electric, or pneumatic? Which is the most dependable and long lasting techology?
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How creative and innovative can you be?
I've seen the uprights of forklifts used to build elevators. There should be no reason at all that one can't be used that has sufficent lifting capacity for a car.. 10,000 pound up rights aren't that rare. In all likelyhood depending on the platform used you could get by withas little as 6000# uprights. Used I've seen them go for a thousand dollars or less.. (and that's with the required carriage to make them work).. add a simple 2horsepower electric motor driving a hydraulic pump and you'll have something that should give you 10,000 operating hours without failure..
Since it would take less than 5 minutes to lift a car one story that means we're talking about 12 lifts and recoveries per hour or 120,000 movements before real maintinance would be needed.. (returning a car to the lower level uses gravity with a control release of hydraulic fluid)
There are safety systems built into uprights.. if the hydralic hose should be cut or some other massive failure happen all that will happen due to those built in safety devices is a controlled decent would occur..(at the normal pace carriages are lowered) Even that could be prevented with a simple safety catch designed into the platform..
Wouldn't the hydraulic cylinder planted in the middle of the first floor render it more or less useless for parking?
Apprently you can't envison it very well. I'll try to explain it to you but I a realise a sketch would be so much better.. too bad I'm a computer luddite..
OK a forklift picks up loads from one edge of the pallet not from the center of the pallet. I could swamp you with all sorts of technospeak here but that's the basis for using one to lift loads.. you "plant" it on one side, build a lift platform and then when the lift is up in the air serving the second story you can park underneath it and on top of the platform. Thus the same space could hold 2 cars not just one..
If you go to Hemmings and search for car lifts they do it all of the time.. that is lift one car up and park a second directly underneath it..
Car lifts tend to be twin post operated which reduces the space a little more than a forklift upright would..
if you can pull it in on one level. Why would you need to lift it to another to work on it? by another level, I mean another floor. there are plenty of lifts that'll "affordably" raise your car within the 6-8' range, but by affordably I mean a 100k+ car, parked next to its more expensive siblings. to raise it to another floor, and then have a lift to raise it to work height...... 1 to 2 million worth of steel (cars) to make it economically feasible to justify a floor+ lift, maybe. Maybe someone will have a super affordable solution for you.
Can't you just geo engineer a lifetime ramp up to the working garage?
1. a smallish lot. Or rather, the building footprint, is too small for extensive lot carvings within reason.
2. The slope. Although there is about 17' drop from the high end of the building footprint to the other lowest point, making it accessable to an underneath garage would require a "trench" in the front yard, followed by a complicated design of prestressed concrete "slabs" for the upstairs garage approach. The Queen has already told me, "no front yard trenches or distractions from the overall appearance." Besides, I'm thinkin the lift would be less expensive than the "slabs" or engineering of the lower approach.
3. The back yard overlooks a sandy bluff above Lake Michigan. As an extension of that issue (and all it brings) I need to position the house as close to the front of the lot as possible. Any such "trench" would necessitate it being within the front yard "utility easement."
4. This garage would be more for keeeping the cars/tractor/motorcycle out of the winter, not working on them. The lift is for moving them form one level to the other for the room needed for storing all of them.
It is worth noting that someone employing such a scheme would need to be a naturally neat, well-organized sort. Otherwise the lift will end up getting blocked with junk and the cars on the other level will be trapped (or the space on the other level rendered useless).Also bear in mind the amount of space the lift takes -- this space, on the "ground" floor, can be used for nothing else.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
Meaning the garage's footprint will likely grow from 24'x22ish to 24 x 38ish...