I ended up having to do this a little differently than planned, due to some previously unnoticed "construction issues". The beam (right side in the picture) was more centered than planned, and a poorly placed expansion joint cut in the concrete limited the other side, so the lift had to be installed in a narrow configuration. It still works fine, but makes getting in and out of cars a bit more difficult. The only alternative was to tear up the concrete, or risk a potentially unsafe installation - neither one a good option. As it is, I probably have the most highly secured car lift in Raleigh, given that I'm not using any "standard" concrete anchors, but rather heavily over-engineered and over-spec'd bolts held in place with some of the best epoxy money can buy. Of course, I then increased the strength 50%+ on top of that because, hey, if 4" of concrete embedment is good enough for the engineer, then 6+ inches must be better!Regardless of any over-engineering - I didn't stay sitting under that truck for very long. There's a certain level of "what the heck am I doing" that does cross one's mind in these situations!
Next up - fix the air leak to the upstairs. I had originally planned to keep the access to the upstairs open, but quickly realized that all the warm air goes straight out the roof vents. I'm going to need to do some wiring movement to do it right, but I think I'll close off the stairwell to the 2nd floor. This will need to be done when we finish off this area anyway, so might as well reap the benefits now. I've got a tarp up blocking the stairwell for now, but it's still a giant heat sink.
Then on to final wiring, insulation, and HVAC!
