Need help with Garage Modifications

[Bad Brad777]

Problem: I bought a new trailer that is taller and longer and won't fit into my garage. I have a 12' high door and a 14' ceiling in the garage. I want to install a 13' high door. One of my concerns is that my garage is 100% brick over the framed walls, therefore I have to remove the brick over the top of the door, additionally I have to remove a section of brick in the back since I want to add on to the back for depth. First, what is the best method for removing the brick? Only a small portion will need to be reclaimed to cover new addition since I have a couple 1000 set aside. Secondly, I suspect I'll have to put an 'I' beam over the top of the door opening for a header. What size of beam would be an adequate support? Third, I'm adding an area about 12' by 15' to the rear of the garage. I have an all hip roof, but no experience with trusses to tie in the new addition. I'm mechanically inclined and look forward to learning how to do this. Are there any articles or pointers available to assist me in my quest?

I know pictures would help. I'm working on it and will post ASAP with a sketch of what my intentions are.

Thanks,

Brad

 

[Bad Brad777]

Problem: I bought a new trailer that is taller and longer and won't fit into my garage. I have a 12' high door and a 14' ceiling in the garage. I want to install a 13' high door. One of my concerns is that my garage is 100% brick over the framed walls, therefore I have to remove the brick over the top of the door, additionally I have to remove a section of brick in the back since I want to add on to the back for depth. First, what is the best method for removing the brick? Only a small portion will need to be reclaimed to cover new addition since I have a couple 1000 set aside. Secondly, I suspect I'll have to put an 'I' beam over the top of the door opening for a header. What size of beam would be an adequate support? Third, I'm adding an area about 12' by 15' to the rear of the garage. I have an all hip roof, but no experience with trusses to tie in the new addition. I'm mechanically inclined and look forward to learning how to do this. Are there any articles or pointers available to assist me in my quest?

I know pictures would help. I'm working on it and will post ASAP with a sketch of what my intentions are.

Thanks,

Brad

Here is a picture of the front. FYI, the eves are even with the ceiling on the inside. I'll add more pictures soon.

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[Matti]

I'm no construction expert here but I'm guessing that there is a 10 or 12" beam preventing you from going with a taller door. You would have to build another temporary support structure inside the garage to support the roof before removing the entire front wall. An architect would have to size the beam to replace the existing with a shorter member. Do you have a shot of the inside front wall? Sounds like a big job!

 

[rickairmedic]

Brad you need a shorter trailer I wouldnt even think about changing those doors or the well done brick above them .

 

[Kevin54]

I'm no construction expert here but I'm guessing that there is a 10 or 12" beam preventing you from going with a taller door.

Bingo!!! There will be a header across the top pf the doors. It will either be a laminated beam or probably 2" x 12" stacked on top of one another. So to cut into that is going to affect the trusses that sit on top of it. As far as removing the brick, you will have to probably rent a concrete saw, or borrow one, or get somone that has one to make your cuts. Where you add on, you want to make a vertical cut on each side at the outer most dimensions of your wals. To determine that you have to figure stud, plus sheeting, plus brick if that is what you are going with. Once your cuts is made then you can start removing your brick. A few raps with a hammer should crack the mortor joints, but every so often there will be ties that are in the joints and then fastened to the wood sheeting. This keeps your brick stable. I see that you don't have finished walls on the inside. Can you post a pic of what is above the garage door"? It is possible to raise the door, but more than likely you will have to change the roof structure above the door that would be modified.

Kevin

 

[kbs2244]

There are 2 construction things I won’t do myself . They both involve sand, water, and Portland.

None of your brick is structural. It is what is called “brick veneer.” think of it as heavy siding.
The first thing you need to do is find someone under “house movers” in the yellow pages to come in and crib up inside and then lift the roof.

Then build your add on carpentry framing up to the new height to support it.

You most likely have 2 supports over each door. One for the carpentry and one for the brick. I would guess you have 3 sets. One for each door.

I would expect the carpenters used a iron “I” beam due to the small height between the top of the arch and the top plate of the wall. There isn’t enough room there for the traditional spiked togther 2x12’s. It may even be one long one the width of the garage.

You or a mason can remove the face brick and expose the beams over the doors. You may want to do this before you do the add on carpentry so you can salvage and reuse the over door beams.

You arches are kind of shallow and it looks like you have 2 courses of brick above the high point. The brick support beam may be a length of 4x4 angle iron to support the 2 courses. The brick at the sides from the low point to the high point may be done with epoxy mortar.

You will need a mason for the brick work. Not only for the kind of work it is, but also because he will have the contacts to find a matching brick. He will just re do what you have at the new height and then go around the building at the new height.

Then the house movers can lower everything. Some trim carpentry for the soffits, and you are done.

But I would think about off site storage of the trailer if it was me. It is not a complicated project, but it is a big one. It will not be cheap.

 

[Franz©]

Just dig the bay out. That front end is gonna look like **** with 1 high and 2 low arches, and you'll be spending more money to put it back the way it was.

 

[Bad Brad777]

I'm no construction expert here but I'm guessing that there is a 10 or 12" beam preventing you from going with a taller door. You would have to build another temporary support structure inside the garage to support the roof before removing the entire front wall. An architect would have to size the beam to replace the existing with a shorter member. Do you have a shot of the inside front wall? Sounds like a big job!

Here are a couple more pictures.

 

[Bad Brad777]

Just dig the bay out. That front end is gonna look like **** with 1 high and 2 low arches, and you'll be spending more money to put it back the way it was.

It will look a bit different, but I don't think it will be all that bad. Regardless of appearing a bit different, functionality is absolutely required. Storage elsewhere is too expensive and inconvenient. A few thousand dollars is easier to swallow.

 

[Matti]

Looks like it would be possible but the roof would still have to be supported while you do this. You might want to get an architect involved. It's going to like odd IMHO.

 

[wishful thinking]

Hi there everyone, i would be the newbie in the crowd , sorry i am not introducing myself the proper way but i will get to that soon , anyway just admiring the awesome garages and came across this thread and thought maybe ,only my 2 cents but if a gable type end over one of the doors and supports to the ground at the corners ,, extending it out the desired length and hieght to fit the trailers extra length , it could be closed in and finish off to match the rest of the garage ,, just a thought,

 

[Bad Brad777]

Hi there everyone, i would be the newbie in the crowd , sorry i am not introducing myself the proper way but i will get to that soon , anyway just admiring the awesome garages and came across this thread and thought maybe ,only my 2 cents but if a gable type end over one of the doors and supports to the ground at the corners ,, extending it out the desired length and hieght to fit the trailers extra length , it could be closed in and finish off to match the rest of the garage ,, just a thought,

Thanks for the response. While your looking at garages, be sure to note all the things people do in them and list what your intentions are, then go add a few feet to that so you will have room to grow. I built this garage for the tasks at hand at the time of build, nothing for the future. It worked super up to now. It would have been a bit less expensive to do this a few years ago when the garage was initially built.

 

[dfunk]

Problem: I bought a new trailer that is taller and longer and won't fit into my garage.

How much taller than the door? Could you just air down your tires on the trailer and slider her in?

 

[JMURiz]

Just dig the bay out. That front end is gonna look like **** with 1 high and 2 low arches, and you'll be spending more money to put it back the way it was.

I'd have to say this is the best idea I've seen...just jackhammer out some of the bay floor, dig out to desired depth and re-pour...this way it'll all look good from the outside and fit the trailer.

I understand, if I could do mine over I'd change some things as well, too late now though, best of luck.

 

[Holedgr]

A few questions. Brad.

What state are you in? How Mechanically inclined??(cite examples of projects completed that relate??) Do you have scaffolding??

Most importantly.......if the Highest part of the door track and hardware(where it sits, now) is raised to 2" just below the rafters where they rest on the top plate of wall....

Will that be enough clearance?? If not....we must raise the roof. PM me if serious about ideas, drawings,etc...

-T

 

[sharpshooter]

Can you let some air out of the trailer tires

 

[Bad Brad777]

There are some really good comments and suggestions provided here. You all have me in heavy thought about the modifications to the front. Utimately, I won't really have an exact understanding of what I need to do until we get rid of the snow in Salt Lake. However, I think it may be possible, and much cheaper to maybe look into having a low rise cooler put on the trailer. This may alleviate any mods to the front. I'll still have to knock out part of the back wall to extend that bay...but at least the front would be untouched. Thanks for the comments. If you can think of anything else...please reply. Thanks again.

Brad

 

[Matti]

You could raise the garage and add a foot to the bottom of the walls (blocks, etc.) Some companies who do foundation work specialize in this. You might have to parge the new lower wall and the plumbing and electrical would have to be disconnected.

I like the idea about deflating the tires. I suppose you might be able to convert to air ride suspension which would allow height changes????

 

[Brad777]

I was just looking over some of my past threads and feel like I deserve everyone who shared their time and ideas with me a response of what I did. As noted in my first statement, I had two problems I needed to solve. One my new trailer was too long and too tall to fit into my garage. I solved the height issue by changing out the cooler on the top of the trailer to a shorter one. This cost me about $800 and the work was done by the company that sold me my trailer. To solve the length issue, I built a temporary wall to support the roof then knocked out the back wall of the garage and cut the foundation off. This wasn't a terribly difficult thing to do. I then had a friend dig and pour new footings and foundation. I took the opportunity to go back an additional 12' and 20' wide. Other than the foundation work, I did all the work, including tying in and replacing the brick. Start to finish, the project took me a couple months and cost approximately $3000. I did add a storage locker type garage door on the side and now store my yard equipment in the back of the garage.

The garage looks like the modification was planned and done when it was built. Everyone who commented with thoughts and suggestions are appreciated. This forum is awesome!!

 

[jwhcars]

You do know we like pics lots of pics.