Upon becoming empty-nesters, my wife and I moved from our 3300 SF home with a huge basement in Valparaiso, IN, to a 1650 SF one level detached townhome near Minneapolis, MN. Even though we sold everything we could prior to the move, we still had a storage problem. Holiday décor, seasonal things, old records, keepsakes, and things our kids wanted to keep from their childhood but weren’t ready to take it themselves yet. Fortunately, this home had a nice storage area above the garage, but the access to it was awful, as is typical.
My son Mitch and I engineered this garage attic elevator after watching a number of YouTube videos. None of the videos we watched fit what we needed to do exactly. Most of them were for garages with open rafters, etc. We didn’t know what we were dealing with until we started cutting it up.
This task was interesting because although I like to do stuff like this, I am not a professional tradesman. I can do rough work with wood, but I don’t have the ability to weld or fabricate with metal at all. Thankfully my son Mitch came up to help me with the design, the build, and work through the issues along the way.
The video explains the rest. Hopefully you will find it useful and beneficial. Here are some links that may help you.
Northern Tool Electric Cable Hoist - https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200712243_200712243
Home Depot - Superstrut channel- https://www.homedepot.com/p/Superstrut-10-ft-12-Gauge-Half-Slotted-Metal-Framing-Strut-Channel-Silver-Galvanized-ZA12HS10EG/202714274
Unistrut Trolleys - https://www.unistrutohio.com/unistrut-p2750-four-wheel-trolley-1-58-channel
The only video I could find that was somewhat helpful to make the hole in the ceiling - https://youtu.be/balRI_qQi-U