I'm thinking about putting a lift into the garage. I'm looking at the specs for floor support and so on. I've spent most my life on off shore vessels. There if you need more support on the base you put in a doubler plate. So I was wondering if I put in a lets say a 2 ft sqr 3/4 plate under the 2 legs of the lift, would that spread the load enough so I don't need to alter the existing floor. Thanks......Chip

 

How thick is the concrete now? is there any steel or mesh in concrete?
I have a two post lift anchored to my 4-6" concrete floor now. I have had my car and new truck on lift without any issues. I think your plates over something like what I have should be fine for an average automobile.

 

The problem isn't spreading the load into the concrete. The problem is preventing the column anchors from ripping out of the concrete if it's too thin or not reinforced enough. A plate on top isn't going to help that failure mode.

 

Agreed, My lift I believe has 6 or 8? 3/4" wedge anchors per column that are all embedded at least 4" in the concrete and I also added a concrete epoxy along with plastic shims to plumb the columns.

 

Both the footprint of the anchor and the footer volume are specified on the lift requirements.

 

i believe mohawk lifts require a minimum of 5 inches of concrete.

 

Pad thickness requirements vary based on the lifts weight capacity. My two post lift is certified for 9,000 lb and requires a minimum thickness of 4.25”. Most manufactures post the concrete requirements on their websites.