24x24 Stick Garage - Adding loft area?

[pickardracing]

Hi all, been lurking on this site for many months and it's been indispensable in my efforts to remodel my garage and house. Finally ran up against a question I needed to ask myself.

My garage is 24x24 square, built in what I can only assume was the 50's/60's. Stick frame, full-size old-school 2x4's for everything.

It has 4 24-foot 2x6 rafters spaced at 4 feet apart from the back to front to (assumption here) keep the walls from bowing out. There is NO other roof support. I highly doubt that there was any thought for these rafters to support weight.

What I need is rafter storage. What I'm thinking is what's in the picture. Anything blue is existing. Anything red is my plan. Everything built with 2x6. Where the new planks tie into the back of the garage is level and straight, and looks quite sturdy. There are no other ways to get another rafter in there, and I can't have anything under this loft to support it. The first cross-beam is the existing rafter, which is sagging about 3" at the center.

My plan is to jack this rafter up and support it with the four dark red beams in the picture, then frame in the 'box' with 2x6 crossmembers 16" on center. Does anyone see any structural issues with this? Am I asking for death?

 

[davidfite1978]

I honestly can't understand exactly how you're doing it (even with the picture... maybe I've been at work too long today...), but if it's 24 ft across, you're in the same boat I am. I posted about it a while back. I want to put a ceiling in my garage and possibly some loft storage. Best answer I could get (without tearing roof off and adding trusses) was to buy 2x12x24 joists ($50 each at 84 lumber) and sister them with all of my existing 2x4x24 joists. 2x6 over 24 feet is probably not going to be very strong, no matter how many of them you have.

 

[pickardracing]

I don't really need to put a whole lot of heavy stuff up there. It's just going to be seasonal ****. Smoker, fishing stuff, sawbucks, rakes, brooms, a couple kid's pedal bikes, etc. On the back wall side I planned on using truss hangers for the 4-foot sections, then screwing the other side through the rafter. I can't see how this could possibly be too 'light duty' for what I planned on doing up there, really my only concern is tying all this into the 2x6 rafter and supporting that effectively from the ceiling.

Of course, I'd preface that by saying I know exactly nothing about any of this stuff, and am learning as I go along.

 

[Denwood]

The rafters are sagging more or less under their own weight...it's a long span for single 2x6. When the roof is loaded, these 2x6 rafters are under tension and keep the walls from bulging out. Code would likely require rafters at minimum every 24", here. Do you have snow loading?

My suggestion would be to scare up some 24' Versalam, (engineered beams), and run these across, supporting them at each end down to the slab. You need to take the load down to the floor! You can take up the 3" sag in the existing, and glue/nail the old truss tie to the new beam. That way you're not adding to roof loading at all, and you're also strengthening the truss tie. Local truss manufacturers should stock these beams in various sizes.

The pic below is the general idea, although I've also run a new ridge beam and completely cut away the truss ties for lift clearance. In my case, by completely supporting the roof ridge beam, it cannot deflect downwards under load, therefore the walls will not deflect outward. This meant I was able to cut out 16 ft of truss ties (rafters). The left over loft area at each end will be used for storage.

 

[sublime68charger]

my off the hip idea would be to add 3 24' 2x6 that span from side wall to side wall

put them on top of the sill plate

nail/screw/glue the front one to the sagging rafter space the other one back 2' the last one goes up against back wall.

get 3 4x8 osb sheets and put on top of 2x6 nail/screw down to the 2x6 done.

this way you have your load spread out over 3 24' 2x6 that are sitting ontop of your garage walls.



just my thoughts good or bad.

 

[sublime68charger]

don't know if this will help you or not but the rafters for my 24x26 garage are 2x6 and spaced 2' on center and I just put a OSB on top of the 2x6 and have attic storage.

my 2x6 rafters had a 2x6 center support and I added in a 2x4 support on each side of the 2x6 center support spaced appx 4' out from the center.

here is a under neath pic, you can c the center 2x6 plates and the 2x4 plates,

but I would think if you add 2 24' 2x6 and then even put a 2x4 across the back wall and then put osb on top of that you'd have some nice storage area.

your first drawing is spreading the load out from the back wall to the 2x6 board spanning across the front the 4' 2x6 you've added don't help your carry capacity at all they just increase your holding area.

I hope I got my terms right and make sense I'm just a carpenter hack.

sublime out.

 

[pickardracing]

The only thing I can see being an issue is what you've pointed out, the front of the loft where the single rafter spans. That's basically the problem. I need to find a sturdy way to support it from the ceiling somehow. Again, this isn't going to be holding 1000 lbs. Just miscellaneous kids/yard junk. Right now I have 3 4x8 sheets between two of the middle rafters holding all the junk I intend on storing, and while ridiculously precarious and asking for disaster, it's holding just fine.

 

[davidfite1978]

don't know if this will help you or not but the rafters for my 24x26 garage are 2x6 and spaced 2' on center and I just put a OSB on top of the 2x6 and have attic storage.

my 2x6 rafters had a 2x6 center support and I added in a 2x4 support on each side of the 2x6 center support spaced appx 4' out from the center.

here is a under neath pic, you can c the center 2x6 plates and the 2x4 plates,

but I would think if you add 2 24' 2x6 and then even put a 2x4 across the back wall and then put osb on top of that you'd have some nice storage area.

your first drawing is spreading the load out from the back wall to the 2x6 board spanning across the front the 4' 2x6 you've added don't help your carry capacity at all they just increase your holding area.

I hope I got my terms right and make sense I'm just a carpenter hack.

sublime out.

It may just be the way the picture looks, but are you absolutely sure those joists are 2x6's ? They look bigger, like 2x8 or 2x10. Again, it could just be the picture or me looking at it wrong. No offense meant.

 

[teal95]

Somebody else posted a link to this page which shows the (http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/aben-plans/6005.pdf) designs of a standard truss. This shows you what you would have to do to convert what you have to a standard truss.

 

[sublime68charger]

It may just be the way the picture looks, but are you absolutely sure those joists are 2x6's ? They look bigger, like 2x8 or 2x10. Again, it could just be the picture or me looking at it wrong. No offense meant.

None taken and they are 2 x 6

I will measure tomorrow just cause now you got me thinking

Sublime out

 

[davidfite1978]

None taken and they are 2 x 6

I will measure tomorrow just cause now you got me thinking

Sublime out

I'll be interested to hear your results. It looks pretty good, so if they ARE 2x6, then it's got me rethinking my project. 2x6 would be a lot cheaper and easier to handle than 2x24.

 

[pickardracing]

Well, here's my preliminary results.

It's solid as a rock. Zero concerns about it at all. Feels like you could park a car on it. It's honestly waaay sturdier than I thought it would be, and far overbuilt for what I intended on putting up there.

I'm completely happy with it. That said, if anyone think's it's a deathtrap, I'd be interested in the input.

 

[kbs2244]

I think you done good.

 

[sublime68charger]

I'll be interested to hear your results. It looks pretty good, so if they ARE 2x6, then it's got me rethinking my project. 2x6 would be a lot cheaper and easier to handle than 2x24.

Just measured and they are 2x6

Packard that looks good to me

 

[davidfite1978]

Just measured and they are 2x6

Packard that looks good to me

Interesting. Thanks for checking. That really makes me rethink putting 2x12 in mine. I'm pretty sure 2x6x24 are available at lowes.

Gotta get my siding on first though...

 

[Denwood]

The wall is carrying load on one side..so this is good. If you do plan on putting any more than a few hundred pounds up there, keep in mind that you're loading up one stringer in a way it was not intended. Some deformation of the roof sheeting might occur over time with loading. Add another two 2x6s and carry load down to slab from your rafter and the sheathing deformation issue would go away. Weight piles up fast, and remember you need to account for snow load...currently zero as you test.

 

[sublime68charger]

Interesting. Thanks for checking. That really makes me rethink putting 2x12 in mine. I'm pretty sure 2x6x24 are available at lowes.

Gotta get my siding on first though...

all depends on what you plan on putting on top of the 2x6 for weight.

on mine it is just light duty attic storage, some Misc extra boards. the 3 sets of winter ATV tires with tire chains ready and prepped for winter work.
extra set of Rear tires for the 68 charger for when the current set gets burned off, "it happens from time to time"

plus the kids go up there to play and goof around. Its there "tree house at the moment".

sublime out