Lifting a garage?

[Ryan87LX]

I once heard a story about someone who bought a van that would no longer fit in their garage, so they stuck a bunch of jackalls around the perimeter, lifted the entire garage up a foot, and build a stud wall underneath for clearance. (it was actually my father-in-law,lol)

I have a small 24x24 garage, and while the height is fine, whoever built it built the slab under grade at the back of the garage, so the dirt actually comes up above the level of the slab, into the area where the 2x4 and sheathing are. In summer it's not a problem, but with the spring thaw I usually get water in the garage, and I know over time this will cause problems. Also, I'd like to heat and insulate/drywall the garage, and I know the moisture would create problems with the insulation and sheetrock.

So, I was thinking about how difficult it would be to jack the garage up and build a small concrete block wall underneath - maybe two feet high.

Realistically, is this completely crazy?

This is my first post btw, great site.

 

[brownbagg]

not crazy, I been thinking that way too. mine is ten foot high but need tweleve feet for lift. but then the door be eight foot tall.

 

[boiler7904]

Welcome to the site.

It's not completely crazy. There are a few things to consider if you want to do this.
- Door Openings will all be 2' taller than they presently are and will need to be filled in unless you want / need a taller overhead door. Then this is the time to achieve that. Either way, overhead door tracks will have to be adjusted and walk door frames will have to be lowered.
- Utility connections will have to be modified. Power feeds lengthened. Water lines extended. etc.

If you want to gain clearance for a lift, no time like the present if you decide to raise the structure.

If you decide to raise your garage, it will not likely be a DIY project. Leave this kind of thing to the pros. Talk to other people who have buildings raised / moved. They should be able to point you to a good contractor.

While raising the garage and installing a block wall sounds feasible, it will be outragiously expensive. Here's a question to make you think outside the box. Can you adjust the grading outside the building to lower the soil below the top of the existing foundation (6" minimum)? Depending on your site, you could probably remove soil so it is level along the building, install a retaining wall, and then allow the existing topo to exist as is. Take a look at the picture below.

 

[Ryan87LX]

Wow, that drawing is exactly what my situation is.

The house is where the retaining wall is in the above picture, so the ground slopes away from the house, towards the garage. Perhaps a more serious regrading is what is required though.hmmm

 

[boiler7904]

Depending on the existing grades and distance between the two buildings, you might not need the retaining wall. It might be possible to just pitch away from each building toward a swale in between (making sure that the swale can drain freely).

 

[PAToyota]

Regrading would definitely be the easier route to go - provided that you have somewhere else for the water to go to.
More information would be required as far as lifting the garage - and as mentioned there would be other advantages to having more height such as lifts and such. What is the foundation like? Is the current stud wall just on a slab on grade? What is the construction? Roof trusses or stick built? Are there truss plates at the top sills? Is the interior finished? Drywalled?
Basically, if there is a good foundation that you can build on it will be easier. Otherwise you are going to have to excavate around the perimeter and put in a foundation - harder. Trusses with truss plates to the walls would make it easier to "pick things up" without worrying about loosening the structure during the lift. Although a finished interior will provide some more rigidity, exposed framing would allow you to put temporary framing in to brace and lift.
Just some more thoughts...

 

[Ryan87LX]

Regrading would definitely be the easier route to go - provided that you have somewhere else for the water to go to.
More information would be required as far as lifting the garage - and as mentioned there would be other advantages to having more height such as lifts and such. What is the foundation like? Is the current stud wall just on a slab on grade? What is the construction? Roof trusses or stick built? Are there truss plates at the top sills? Is the interior finished? Drywalled?
Basically, if there is a good foundation that you can build on it will be easier. Otherwise you are going to have to excavate around the perimeter and put in a foundation - harder. Trusses with truss plates to the walls would make it easier to "pick things up" without worrying about loosening the structure during the lift. Although a finished interior will provide some more rigidity, exposed framing would allow you to put temporary framing in to brace and lift.
Just some more thoughts...

It's trusses, with a top plate. Interior is completely unfinished - has only some basic wiring with open stud walls. No water, or heat.

I do have a concrete pad behind some of the garage, so I'd have to dig that up to regrade. I think raising the garage would be the best, because I would like the concrete wall. I don't know what kind of foundation it has though. I think it might be time to get an engineer or something to take a peek.

 

[Bill K]

Why jack it up unless you want more head room for a lift. You could jut cut out a couple feet of wall from the bottom up, new treated bottom plate and block it in, You could do it in sections and support the roof with temp bracing inside. None of your door openings will change and you can go up with your block as high as you need.
Bill

 

[krooser]

Years ago my cousin raised his garage to put a 2' row of blocks under the perimeter walls..

He nailed 2x6's all around the iinside walls about 12" up from the floor. He unbolted the sill plate from the slab, and using four "farm jacks" (see northern Tool) jacked up the walls then blocked them a little above where the new block wall would be.

After the mason built a two foot wall around the perimeter of the garage, he lowered the garage back onto the new block.

 

[lasalle gearbox]

I once heard a story about someone who bought a van that would no longer fit in their garage, so they stuck a bunch of jackalls around the perimeter, lifted the entire garage up a foot, and build a stud wall underneath for clearance. (it was actually my father-in-law,lol)

I have a small 24x24 garage, and while the height is fine, whoever built it built the slab under grade at the back of the garage, so the dirt actually comes up above the level of the slab, into the area where the 2x4 and sheathing are. In summer it's not a problem, but with the spring thaw I usually get water in the garage, and I know over time this will cause problems. Also, I'd like to heat and insulate/drywall the garage, and I know the moisture would create problems with the insulation and sheetrock.

So, I was thinking about how difficult it would be to jack the garage up and build a small concrete block wall underneath - maybe two feet high.

Realistically, is this completely crazy?

This is my first post btw, great site.

i did this to my barn a few years ago. the idiots that originally built it poured footers one foot wide by six inches thick, one foot below grade. this is northeastern ohio where footers are usually four feet down.

the floor was poor quality concrete.

i got a jack hammer and removed the floor. then screwed 2 x 6s into the studs on an angle, making the walls rigid. using a combintion of barn jacks and bottle jacks i raised the barn uniformly about six inches all the way around. i propped up the whole thing with 6 x6s on built up piers inside and out, so the sixbys spanned under the sill plates. then i broke out the two tiers of block and removed the footers.

then i hand dug down to 4 feet below grade, set rebars and called the redi mix guy. built up a new block wall, set bolts in the top, put on sill sealer and lowered the barn.

hell of a job, back breaking labor, but i did it myself and when i look at it, i know it's right.

 

[PAToyota]

Why jack it up unless you want more head room for a lift. You could jut cut out a couple feet of wall from the bottom up, new treated bottom plate and block it in,

If you're going to go to the trouble of putting in the walls and foundations, I'd go for more headroom as well. If you were going to go the "partial" route, I'd consider just doing this at the back wall where the water issues were a problem.

 

[bgarrett]

It has been fairly common to pick up barns and relocate them---by hand! It takes a LOT of guys to do that. Go ahead and jack yours up and build under it, then set it down. Ignore those who say it cant be done.

 

[jwh]

Check out this:

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/framecarp/index.htm

John H.

 

[428]

Not really lifting a garage but I spotted this going on near work. Wish I'd got before and after pics.
Old wood frame house beside a newer brick ranch house. Shared lot I think. They poured a slab behind the brick house for a garage. They cut the wood house ends off with chain saws, leaving the gable ends intact. Dissasembled about everything else to re-use the wood. Moved the gables to the slab for the garage ends.
It's coming along nicely, but geez, that looks like a lot of work. I may stop if I see them working and ask if they've been taking pics along the way.