Mezzanine is DONE!

[DanStokes]

Well, other than taking more stuff up there. Hopefully there are pics attached of the handrail finally in place. The piece to the right of the first pic is the gate (shown closed) that will allow big stuff to go up there. I'm back and forth on installing a crane rail or maybe a gantry crane so I can put big, heavy stuff up there but maybe I should just leave extra engines and so on on the floor.

The shots where the stairway handrail meets the upper rail show the hardest part to figure out. It had to rise, bend, and turn - easy with pipe cleaners, not so easy with stiff piping (the handrail is 0.120 wall). But by using parts cut from sections I didn't need I was able to splice the whole deal together.

I have some handrail left - anyone need some? Otherwise it's off to the scrap guy.

Dan

[TheSilverBuick]

That's way cool Dan!

[SuperBuickGuy]

looks awesome Dan, nice work

[BigBlockMopar]

Reading the topictitle, you almost had me firing up 'ole Google to see what kinda meds this "Mezzanine" exactly is... and wanting me to type something like Dan, congrats you're off the meds!... but I clicked on the topic first instead...

Looking good!
Is it anchored or braced against the building itself to prevent horizontal movement aswell somewhere?

[TheSilverBuick]

Is it anchored or braced against the building itself to prevent horizontal movement aswell somewhere?

You mean so that the building doesn't move?

[DanStokes]

Fair question. The front section (with the gate) is braced to a set of shelves that are screwed to the floor - very stable. The long section is triangulated to the structural steel. If you look at the first pic you'll see a piece of 3/16" flat bar welded in a triangular form from the lowest rail of the hand rail to the steel. That piece of I-beam was just a bit too long and it worked out perfectly.

I like stuff STURDY! I'll trade weight for stout every time. If 1/4 inch is adequate I'll reach for the 1/2" stuff.

Dan

[BigBlockMopar]

Yeah that building does look a bit flimsy perhaps...

Reason for asking is I've seen a similar floor 'move about' quite a bit when it was loaded with plenty of weight at a friends garage. Enough movement that I wouldn't feel safe under it when someone was on top moving stuff around and such.

[happy39]

Very nice I am Jealous.

[JOES66FURY]

envy...

[oletrux4evr]

nice Dan.

[milner351]

Good Lord - I'm pretty sure that's the most wonderful display of overkill I've ever witnessed in a home shop... Dan - I'd bet you could park every engine and trans you've got up there and it wouldn't even flinch - hell you could likely put WW2 era machine tools up there and it wouldn't flinch!

[oldsman71]

very nice Dan!!

[SpiderGearsMan]

looks like our parts department

[DanStokes]

Oh it's STOUT all right! All the thanks goes to David Parris (rack4u on here). He hooked me up with the system from a warehouse he was cleaning out - otherwise, I couldn't have afforded this. I have less in this than it would have cost me for the wood to build it and there's only 1 column in my work space (the rest are against the walls). David is a GREAT guy. PM him if you need rack shelving as he's Da Man for that stuff.

It took a bit of figuring to erect this. I did much all of it by myself but of course I got by with some help from my friends. I'm too old and weak to wrestle all that steel by my lonesome. Still, it took some careful rigging to make it happen.

To our Dutch partner - Yep, it's welded where it touches the building steel. The company that made the building said I could brace to the steel but the trusses couldn't hold any of the load of the mezzanine. I'll watch to make sure that the welds hold OK and if that proves to be an issue I'll bolt them together so there's a little flex in those joints.

Dan

[CDMBill]

That is just awesome. I wish I had space for that on a permanent basis. I have a warehouse space I share with a buddy. We used used used rack shelving like you seee at Costco to more than double storage space for tires and fenders and junk we had in a regualr sorage space and the trailers etc.

What you've done is light years beyond that. Hat's off.