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Office/Mezzanine Door

🕑 Added 2024-04-03 22:56:12 +0000 UTC

Comments

Bryan Smith

I vote for 22. Regardless...it will be awesome!!

Joe Frederick

Perhaps I'm a little late to the game, but I really think option 11 is the way to go. If you aren't closing the upper area in, use some 2x4 hangers to make a removable railing around the mezzanine. If you are in closing the space. Add a double door that opens to below that can be locked when not in use. Option 22 might be frustrating with how close the forklift access is to adjacent walls and stairs. The 3rd option might be frustrating to carry any long up the stairs as you have to make the turn and the forklift access should be big enough to accommodate a pallet with room to walk from the forklift, up the stairs and around the pallet in order to move it. Sorry to be long winded. Hope this helps, can't wait to see the progress.

CodeAdze

Keep the stairs where they are (22), and maybe do away with the landing for the forklift. Pipe handrail around the floor with 2 small self closing gates in it big enough to take a pellet. They can be pushed open from the outside with a pellet of 'treasure' on the forklift and hold themselves closed so they are safe to fall against from the new floor.

Steven Cox

i guess the vote ended as i cant see either

Scott Balak

It's either you lifting everything up to the second floor or it's the forklift. :)

Michael Stern

keep the door where it is, bring the forklift platform to the front (perspective) corner over the existing door (giving you easier fork access to the platform). If the stairs runs out to close to the wall put a small square platform with a step up or two from the left side

Gary Kaiser

I vote for 22, always a better footing getting to the door from a landing. Plus being to place heavier larger items on the landing is a plus, even better if you used a flatbed cart on the landing for loading.

Patrick Filion

A year from now, you'll either be thanking us, or wishing you'd followed our advice, just sayin... ;)

Tim Allan

Keep the stairs where they are, it gives you more access for loading the mezzanine with the fork lift. If you use 22 you'll be dragging stuff around all the time to and from the landing.

brian cook

Forklift access frees up valuable space

David Yates

Forklift landing version for me, it'll be safer for you in terms of storing and retrieving items from the mezz that way.

David Wallace

Keep as is and put a gate in side of railing on top for forklift access.

Tor Sjøwall

Mind your head. With the door under the stairs, you're guaranteed to bump your head into the stairs when in a hurry.

Lance C

Keep the punching bag lose the rest. You'll never get anything done otherwise.

Lance C

I didn't take into account the landing. There might be something to be said for that. I'm recommending what to be the consensus, safer is better. So, whatever is safest.

Jay VanLanduyt

I'm a fan of forklift access. I think a lot of the Safety Sallys are assuming these sketches are the finished product. I suspect you'll be adding railings and fall protection. Ultimately, we should all pound sand and you should do what works best for you.

Christopher Hogan

I just looked up the numbers. In the U.S., there are more than 1M stairway-related falls per year, requiring medical treatment. That's from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28947224/ . Do whichever design you feel is safer for you. I'd opt for office 22.

Christopher Hogan

Office 11 (no landing) looks inherently unsafe from a human standpoint. Sooner or later, the top of the office will be full of stuff. That no-landing design just invites you to step backward into empty space as you're retrieving something, dragging a heavy carton, and so on. Or maybe stumble with both hands full, and go tumbling down the stairs. By contrast, the landing gives you a well-defined area that should be kept clear of stuff, and forces you to turn 90 degrees to descend the stairs. Plus, if you don't have a landing for the forklift, you're going to be tempted to carry heavier items down the stairs, which increases the hazard. If those were my stairs, I'd do office 22 and have twin 4x4 newel posts at the top -- one terminating the railing on the outside of the stairs, and one terminating the banister on the office side of the stairs. To be sure I had something solid to grab to if I stumbled. Sounds silly to say it, but the combination of stairs and storage is inherently dangerous. Think of your own safety first, worry about about storage efficiency second.

John Heimerl

But then, what do we know. I put a door over a lift so I could use the lift like a fork lift. Guess a lift is not as much fun as a fork lift, since I've never used it. Oh, heck - under the stairs anyway!

Bill Scott

Must be desperate asking for my advice, though I like the forklift access.

Bruce Rose

Of course, it would be! Suggest forklift access at the 'front' window area. Removable railings around the mezzanine would be enough protection, yeah? Maybe that way you could have more universal forklift access?

Bruce Rose

LOL

Watch Wes Work

It's engineered to support nearly 15 tons.

John Fowler

Under stairs seems so obvious … must be a trick question.

Mike Hawkins

You should triple the size of the office, add a kick ass stereo system, a big TV, hot tub and wet bar. Oh, and a punching bag for stress reduction on those jobs where bolts snap and parts are rusted together.

sean

What are you going to put up there that you need a forklift for? I would want a bunch of weight above my head

Martin lewis

You would rather have the door on the end opposite those windows. That way you can have bench/desk space occupying the whole wall where you can look out into the shop

TJ Miller

Have you ever seen those fancy stair builds that fold up against the wall and don't take up floor space? That would be sweet! Do you need the landing area at the top of the stairs for the forklift? I personally wouldn't like being that close to the wall. I have a loft in my pole barn and have a removable chain in place of where that length of railing would be in the area that has the most open floor space at ground floor (I'm guessing that would be where a car lift is for you?) so you don't need to move a bunch of crap every time you want to load and unload. Wall space is precious. I like the direction of the stairs, but I believe the extra landing is unnecessary IMO. I lift most things on pallets and lift over my steps. I wonder if because I have a tractor with forks versus a forklift that makes that possible. You'll figure it out, lol.

MarylandScouter

Door under the stairs with a landing for forklift access looks like a more elegant design. Does it buy you much functionality? Could the forklift reach to place or retrieve an item from the loft without the landing?

Greg G.

I vote 22.

KM

One option means more excuses to use a forklift and the other doesn’t. Not even a choice!

Peter Church

If you can live with the door under the stairs having the small landing seems to provide quite a few options.

Ric Jones

If you're only going up to the loft occasionally, put a good aluminum attic access door in the office and forget about the stairs. Put a tough railing around the mezzanine with a spot for the forklift to stick in.

Britt A Releford

Inward swing takes up space in the office. Outward doesn't but it could interfere with the stairs or something else. It's just another thing to consider.

Thomas Scheumann

I vote 22. May be more work up front but worth it in the long run.

DouglasRichard Moomey

I vote for "the one pic that has forklift access"... cuz we all know you will want to put something up there, shelving, 3/4 inch ply for the floor, "xtra stuff" that you don't want to throw away, motors, trannies, tractor parts, windshields, hoods, fenders, etc. having easy access to upstairs - keeps downstairs open for activities...

Jon Koferl

I built a 4 car garage with the center span over the 4 bays floored in to allow storage. I should have included some kind of lift because humping up and down the stairs carrying a container is a young man's game...

Frank Nimeth Jr.

Just like working on your own vehicle: "As long as I'm here I might as well (insert parts and labor involved here)."

Zach Marsh

Well then... I think the forklift landing is a must!!

Marshall

Is there a way the door can be at the front corner (right in the drawings) and the stairway broken in to two parts along the wall of the office with a landing in the middle and at the top?

Terry Thompson

Get rid of the stairs and build an elevator using an electric hoist. You have all the materials and tools to fab up the lift platform. Use a bit of angle iron and square tubing for the frame, unistrut for the track, and either build or buy a trolley. Hinge the platform so it's out of the way when not in use.

Shane Beeder

Definitely.

Watch Wes Work

Not often now, but it depends what I put up there.

Watch Wes Work

The mezzanine will be walled in.

Lee Ludden

Carrying things up and down stairs is for young guys.

Jon Koferl

where do you spend most of your time. ease of access to the office is the question. How often do you use the stairs?

Zach Marsh

You already seem to have forklift access on 2 sides of the mezzanine... why build more? Hybrid idea.. dooriin the rear, stairs where they are, removable railing around the mezzanine

Russell Wall

Yep - pretty much ditto what everyone has said about choosing door under. A lot of smart folks out there.

Michael Belt

Let's see... Keep it simple or complicate it... I think we all know where this is headed.

Watch Wes Work

Not sure yet. In swing is kinda the standard I think.

Britt A Releford

Having the door under the stairs saves space plus the forklift landing is nice. Have you given consideration on which way the door will swing? Is it going to swing inward or outward and swing to the left or right?

Curtis Roberts

If you have customers coming in and out then the old way seems cleaner and more presentable, but if that's not really an issue the stairs along that wall with the landing offer more utility and take less usable wall space.

Callan Christensen

I voted for Office 22 Pros: More room in front of vehicles when working on them? Fork lift access for upper level for storage could help reduce items on shop floor? Con: Reduces your back wall barrier down to just the bulk oil bags (am I getting banned?) :D Jokes aside, are there constraints that require you to put the forklift access above the door frame? Seems precarious?

Greg

Door under, it uses up some of the lost (at least less usable) space beneath the stairs instead of taking up even more wall space with a separate door and staircase.. Hard to really weigh in intelligently without knowing what you plan on using the mezzanine for, if its seldom access then maybe a ladder makes sense, no stairs at all.. if its more office space then yeah stairs.. if its only seldom access storage and you want to maintain as much unfettered floor space below, get a forklift mast, a power pack, and make a small freight elevator, easy to move stuff up and down and very small footprint impact on your shop.

Nick Hough

Having the stairs along the office wall removes the ability for shit to accumulate there and inevitably block access/create a pain in the ass for the doorway