Raising the roof (and walls)

I've been reading Garage Journal for quite awhile now. I've asked a few questions here and there, now it's time to post a few pictures of my progress.

My wife and I purchased this property a little over a year ago, at least partially because of the 48x26 building that was on it. The building has been good, but the 3 8x7 garage doors were too small and the 8' ceiling height was too close to the ground. Something had to be done. After considering ALL the available options, I decided on a course of action. I would rebuild the front wall to frame in the door openings I needed, and then raise the whole building about 32". That's what I did this weekend, enjoy the pictures.

Dave

WOW! That is pretty incredible.

Excelent! I've not seen that done before.

When my Dad needed a taller garage for his new motorhome, we went the other way. The roof was about due for replacement, so we removed it, set the trusses aside, and added 3 foot walls on top of the existing walls, then put the roof back on.

Keep those pictures coming.

You made it look easy. That'll be a nice garage/shop.

So what do you do now that the building is off the ground 32"?

How did you do the lift?

Doug

sirstude said:

How did you do the lift?

Doug

Click to expand...

It looks like they used Hi-Lift jacks.

Pretty impressive.

Hello everyone. Sorry for the lack of detail in the first post. I was tired but excited and I just wanted to get something up before I called it a night.

I built a new front wall and had it directly behind the original front wall. Then I simply removed the original wall and slide the new wall up into position. This involved a small amount of lifting and a lot of pounding with a 12 pound sleg hammer.

The lift actually want very smoothly. After a week or so of planning and bracing the building I called a bunch of friends and ALL of their Hi-Lift jacks. I ended up with 8 people and 16 Hi-Lift jacks. I had everything set up so we could simply slide the jacks under the supports I had installled and start pumping. We went very slowly, one 'click' at a time. Even I was suprised at how quickly we had the building up in the air. After every 8" we would install a temporary/safety block on each side of each jack.

Now I've got 4 courses of new block down on all but one end wall. Hopefully that last wall will be done in the next few days. Then I can get the building set back down and anchored to the ground.

Then comes the rewiring, plumbing of air lines, spraying of insulation, hanging of drywall...

Hopefully by this time next month the Jeep projects will be back inside and I can start finishing then.

Thanks for looking,
Dave

Cool.

No footings required in MI?

Yes, Michigan requires footings. They are all there from the existing building.

dang,,, and i thought i was doing something... impressive

2ManyGPs said:

Yes, Michigan requires footings. They are all there from the existing building.

Click to expand...

Where at in Michigan are you located? I am another Michiganer
I am in Clarkston 50 + miles north of Detroit...

Wow your Garage is all Jacked Up..........
Sorry I couldnt resist. Back in my hole now.