Summer of the garage

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Barnes

SmartThings hub with a temp sensor would be the easiest? I have a cheap Xiaomi temp/humidity/pressure sensor in my garage to alert me when the garage hits 1 degC so I can pull the beer that's out there inside.

That's sounds a little complicated tbh.

[TorqueDog]

So I'd like to start doing my homework now to determine if this is even possible or if I'm going about this the wrong way:

We currently have a double garage that is semi-detached; that is, our garage is not attached to our home, but straddles the wall of the neighbour's double garage on the property line. They're also offset, the front of our garage is back about a foot and a half from that of the neighbours'. The current roof uses gable trusses, and the ceilings are 8 feet high from the floor.

What I want to do is find a way to increase the garage ceiling and wall intersection point to the maximum allowed by CoC (link), which is 9'10" (perhaps using pony walls?). At the same time, I'd also want to have the trusses replaced/converted to standard scissor trusses. The reason I want to do all this is I want to install a four-post lift to store a third car.

Does anyone have the expertise here or know someone who does that could give me an idea of whether this is doable, or if I need to approach this differently? While executing on my idea is not imminent, I'd prefer to know sooner rather than later if my planning is all for naught now so I can adjust my approach.

[Fuzz]

My guess is it would be cheaper to rip the roof off, add structure to bring the wall up to 9'10", and put new trusses and new roof on. Adding a pony wall and attempting to raise the whole thing up, and replacing the trusses one by one(was that the idea?), would be more work than just putting a new roof on it.



One thing you need to watch out for is there is also a maximum peak height, I think under 14', so you need to make sure you don't hit that.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

My guess is it would be cheaper to rip the roof off, add structure to bring the wall up to 9'10", and put new trusses and new roof on. Adding a pony wall and attempting to raise the whole thing up, and replacing the trusses one by one(was that the idea?), would be more work than just putting a new roof on it.



One thing you need to watch out for is there is also a maximum peak height, I think under 14', so you need to make sure you don't hit that.

Max height per the link is 15'0", so I'd be safe there.

My idea was about 50% of what you said; remove the roof, add the structure on top (pony wall was probably the wrong term here which made it confusing). Where my idea differed was to then replace the trusses instead of building an entirely new roof.

I have no idea if it's feasible with a semi-detached garage, that's my biggest unknown here.

[Fuzz]

Ya, I have no idea if that is feasible or not. How old is it? If it's not to far from needing re-shingling it may be easier to just replace it. One issue is that the trusses extend past the walls, and the soffits are attached to them, along with gutters etc. So that probably all has to be torn off anyway. So you end up just saving the decking and the shingles, and if the shingles are old..well, you see where this is going. OSB roof decking is cheap, unless it is plywood.


If you are putting a lift in, have you checked for concrete thickness? I know some of those pads are pretty thin.

[You Need a Thneed]

Finished my work/saw bench, made from my old kitchen cabinets:

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ya, I have no idea if that is feasible or not. How old is it? If it's not to far from needing re-shingling it may be easier to just replace it. One issue is that the trusses extend past the walls, and the soffits are attached to them, along with gutters etc. So that probably all has to be torn off anyway. So you end up just saving the decking and the shingles, and if the shingles are old..well, you see where this is going. OSB roof decking is cheap, unless it is plywood.


If you are putting a lift in, have you checked for concrete thickness? I know some of those pads are pretty thin.

Garage was built along with the house in 2008, but I don't know when they were last redone. I'll get them checked by someone who knows what the hell they're doing to see if they need to be changed.

That's a good point about the concrete thickness, I haven't checked it yet. I'll have to get some of this stuff lined up for the spring and see where we're at. If the garage shingles have a few more years left in them, that aligns with my timeline so it might work out perfect. Unless the shingles are brand new and the concrete pad is too thin, in which case FML.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Garage was built along with the house in 2008, but I don't know when they were last redone. I'll get them checked by someone who knows what the hell they're doing to see if they need to be changed.

That's a good point about the concrete thickness, I haven't checked it yet. I'll have to get some of this stuff lined up for the spring and see where we're at. If the garage shingles have a few more years left in them, that aligns with my timeline so it might work out perfect. Unless the shingles are brand new and the concrete pad is too thin, in which case FML.

You could get some of that magic Chinese concrete...

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Locke

You could get some of that magic Chinese concrete...

I'm missing the joke.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I'm missing the joke.

Check the Wuhan Pan thread, theres discussion about China's 'Pop-Up Hospital' and the structural integrity of their astonishingly fast-setting concrete.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Garage was built along with the house in 2008, but I don't know when they were last redone. I'll get them checked by someone who knows what the hell they're doing to see if they need to be changed.

That's a good point about the concrete thickness, I haven't checked it yet. I'll have to get some of this stuff lined up for the spring and see where we're at. If the garage shingles have a few more years left in them, that aligns with my timeline so it might work out perfect. Unless the shingles are brand new and the concrete pad is too thin, in which case FML.

Ya, the important part will be making sure the concrete is to spec. No point in going further until you know that. You may have to jackhammer out a larger area and re-pour if it is not. The lift will have specific requirements you will need to check. I did some looking before I built my garage, and I think it was at least 5" thick of a specific quality. That might vary if you do a 2 or 4 post.



So your shingles are 11-12 years old. Not to bad, but if they are the cheapest ones they are only warrantied for 20 years, I think, but can look pretty rough by then. So even saving the roof means new shingles in roughly 10 years anyway.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

So I'd like to start doing my homework now to determine if this is even possible or if I'm going about this the wrong way:

We currently have a double garage that is semi-detached; that is, our garage is not attached to our home, but straddles the wall of the neighbour's double garage on the property line. They're also offset, the front of our garage is back about a foot and a half from that of the neighbours'. The current roof uses gable trusses, and the ceilings are 8 feet high from the floor.

What I want to do is find a way to increase the garage ceiling and wall intersection point to the maximum allowed by CoC (link), which is 9'10" (perhaps using pony walls?). At the same time, I'd also want to have the trusses replaced/converted to standard scissor trusses. The reason I want to do all this is I want to install a four-post lift to store a third car.

Does anyone have the expertise here or know someone who does that could give me an idea of whether this is doable, or if I need to approach this differently? While executing on my idea is not imminent, I'd prefer to know sooner rather than later if my planning is all for naught now so I can adjust my approach.

I feel like you're over complicating a bit. 9'10" is pretty tall and can easily accomodate a hoist for vehicle storage. you really should'nt need scissor trusses.

I have seen, and was going to do the following myself til we changed plans. A truss roof can easily be separated from the walls and lifted off with a crane, put off to the side and replaced once the walls have been extended. You will have to get under the soffit to disconnect all the hurricane ties and a sawzall will come in handy to cut any nails between the trusses and the wall. Oh and don't forget the electrical.

Talk to a crane company and they should have all the straps you need and some advice. If you prep well and they are only needed fro a couple hours to remove and same to install it's actually fairly cheap. Keeping the roof saves you a ton of cash too.

[Fuzz]

I wonder if you can convert your gable trusses to scissor trusses in place? And you would only need to do a few of them(3 or 4?), as I assume the lift would be on one side of the garage. Would probably need an engineer.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Sliver

That's sounds a little complicated tbh.

No more complicated than setting up a Ring Security system. Plus it has the added benefit of not hitting the Facebook API to inform them when your home, not home, hot, cold, when you have visitors and when they leave.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Barnes

No more complicated than setting up a Ring Security system. Plus it has the added benefit of not hitting the Facebook API to inform them when your home, not home, hot, cold, when you have visitors and when they leave.

Yeah, sorry. It was a dumb/bad joke on my part. It sounds much simpler than my crazy system.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by speede5

I feel like you're over complicating a bit. 9'10" is pretty tall and can easily accomodate a hoist for vehicle storage. you really should'nt need scissor trusses.

I have seen, and was going to do the following myself til we changed plans. A truss roof can easily be separated from the walls and lifted off with a crane, put off to the side and replaced once the walls have been extended. You will have to get under the soffit to disconnect all the hurricane ties and a sawzall will come in handy to cut any nails between the trusses and the wall. Oh and don't forget the electrical.

Talk to a crane company and they should have all the straps you need and some advice. If you prep well and they are only needed fro a couple hours to remove and same to install it's actually fairly cheap. Keeping the roof saves you a ton of cash too.

That's good info about lifting the roof off. I did the math using a LiftPro Pro Park 8 PLUS, a Range Rover Sport, and an Aston Martin Vantage:

Lifting height: 86"
Height under runways: 81"
Range Rover height: 71"
Aston Martin Vantage height: 50.12"

136.12" required, works out to 11.34 feet. So unfortunately I'd still need scissor trusses for the desired clearance.

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I wonder if you can convert your gable trusses to scissor trusses in place? And you would only need to do a few of them(3 or 4?), as I assume the lift would be on one side of the garage. Would probably need an engineer.

I've seen and heard converting the trusses is doable (definitely needs an engineer). If I don't do all of them, I'd need to swap the garage door to a roll-up model. Otherwise, the garage door rails will get in the way.

[Fuzz]

Would the side rails get in the way, or just the centre one? I got a Liftmaster 8500 that attaches to the side, so you don't need the centre rail. It's great, highly recommended.


Though, I guess then the door height is the limiting factor, as you can't have a lift going higher than the door. That's only going to be 8 foot, correct?

[speede5]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

That's good info about lifting the roof off. I did the math using a LiftPro Pro Park 8 PLUS, a Range Rover Sport, and an Aston Martin Vantage:

Lifting height: 86"
Height under runways: 81"
Range Rover height: 71"
Aston Martin Vantage height: 50.12"

136.12" required, works out to 11.34 feet. So unfortunately I'd still need scissor trusses for the desired clearance.

I've seen and heard converting the trusses is doable (definitely needs an engineer). If I don't do all of them, I'd need to swap the garage door to a roll-up model. Otherwise, the garage door rails will get in the way.

Well if it doesn't work out i can definitely help you store the Aston Martin.

[TorqueDog]

^LOL. The mother-in-law has already volunteered.

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Would the side rails get in the way, or just the centre one? I got a Liftmaster 8500 that attaches to the side, so you don't need the centre rail. It's great, highly recommended.

Though, I guess then the door height is the limiting factor, as you can't have a lift going higher than the door. That's only going to be 8 foot, correct?

Both side rails and the door would get in the way unfortunately, so I'm pretty much married to getting a roll-up door when I go through with this.

Most annoying part is a very large chunk of houses in our neighbourhood have 10 foot ceilings in their garages, but our street got developed with 8-footers.

So I guess my last question -- anyone have any referrals who someone they'd trust to do the work that I'd need done?

[CroFlames]

Bumpity bump.


Anyone have a floor drain in their garage? If building new, should I add them?



I feel like I can just as easily open the big doors and clean out the floors. I'm kinda worried the thing will get clogged with gravel and dirt and cause big problems.