raise the roof!

[nwmod39]

good evening to the board.
i am looking into getting a new dorr for my 24*24 shop and get rid of the 2 single doors in favor of one 18 foot door. right now i have a fairly low roof clearance at 7'4" and would like to maybe raise the cross beams in the front half of the shop to accomodate a taller door. i need to gain roughly 8" to get my truck to clear the door while it is open.

i need to hear from some guys who have experience raising the cross beams so i can do this. i am going to take a few pics later tonight to show what i have setup right now but any input ahead of time would be awsome.

thanks

http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c372/nwmod39/

 

[IDASHO]

Honestly, from looking at the photos I dont know how you will ever be able to increase your door height, while keeping the overall width the same. That is, unless the overall width is going to change (narrower).

From the looks of it, you are out of header room already.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Looks like you would have to jack up the entire roof and build new, taller, walls under it. Just don't look feasible. Otherwise remove the first ten or 15 ft of roof, trusses and all and install new trusses or build taller walls on just the front section and replace the trusses.

Charles

 

[Matti]

I think you best bet is to jack the whole garage up and pour a pony wall of approx. 1 foot high. There may be other options such as blocks. My $0.02.

 

[3bay]

The pic of the early 70's Chevy truck, is it yours? If so could you please post some more pics of it? Interested in how it was built, is it your work?

As for your shop, it would prolly be easier to take the roof off and build the walls higher and set trusses and do a new roof.

I liked that truck . . .

 

[nwmod39]

whick truck? the xtra cab primer one. that is not mine. i seen that at a local carshow last summer. as for the out of header room what i am going to do is frame off 1 ft on the one side and 2 foot off the other to make the new single door fit. i was thinking of maybe just adding cross beams to the trusses up about 2 feet from the one i have now and bracing everything from there. yay or nay?

thanks guys
steve

 

[DynoDave]

We did this to my Dad's garage some years ago. He wanted enough roof height to get his motorhome inside. He was due for a roof anyway, so off came the shingles. We then braced the walls, carefully removed the sheathing, then the rafters (trusses would work the same way), sliding them together at one end of the roof once all loose (like collapsing an accordion). We then lifted 3.5' stub walls we had pre-built on the ground up on top of the existing walls, and added a new top plate. Lifted the rafters over onto the new taller walls, and did the same for the back wall. Spread the rafters back out, nailed them back down (a major pain in 25+ year old pine), reattached the ridge board where it was cut, put the same sheathing back down, and re-roofed ad re-sided. It's not rocket science, but it is labor intensive.

 

[happy]

I would think that the easiest way to gain the height is to jack the building and place 3 rows of block on the slab. This can be accomplished by making jacking braces that stick away from the outside side and rear wall about 18 to 24". Place a beam made of two 2x8 or 2x10 under the beam and raise it with bottle jacks. Set cribbing material under the beams while you lay the blocks and set the building back down when complete. I did this on a 20 x 36 foot garage in the 70's and it took my dad and I about a week. Good luck.