Raising an existing garage?

[--TRACTION--]

This may be an odd question but is there a reasonable way to raise the ceiling height of an existing garage without having to re-frame the walls entirely?

I currently have a 20' x 24' garage but my full sized truck won't fit in it. That and I'd like to have some additional "head room" if I end up insulating and sheetrocking the ceiling?

 

[The Cobbler]

a buddy of mine jacked up the structure, layed 2 courses of block and set it back down. mind you, he replaced the doors , windows, siding etc all the same time.

 

[kbs2244]

I like raising.
It is all on the ground level work.
Not 8 feet up in the air work.
Problems are new man door framing and any underground utilities.
But 3 rows of block will get you 2 feet of waterproof wall at the bottom.

 

[PAToyota]

I seem to recall a few discussions here of people doing just that. I’d agree with Cobbler that doing the courses of block would be a good way to go.

 

[dfiler2]

There is a thread here somewhere from last week where a guy posted some pics of raising his. It's really not that hard to do.

 

[dukess396]

I'm having the same problem...
If I could add to the op, at what point is it cost effective? To build a new garage on my current 24X24 footprint, would be $16k. I need enough height for a above ground lift.

 

[lakeroadster]

If the only reason for raising the building is for a lift consider modifying existing rafters / trusses to be of a scissor truss design. This is especially useful if the trusses run perpendicular to the door location. Then you just modify 5 trusses where the lift is, and leave all the rest of them the same.

Food for thought

 

[rburke65]

Traction....any photos of the garage?

 

[zcar751]

Raising a building means you are going to tear it down. You mean you want to lift or increase the wall height to allow for a bigger opening. I was all ready to suggest dynamite or a large bulldozer.

 

[sublime68charger]

Check out denwoods woody works garage for his lift makeover just a thought.

I like the idea of just adding a row or 2 of blocks under the walls to get the height that you want.

Pic of your garage will help a lot also.

 

[jmarkwolf]

Raising a building means you are going to tear it down. You mean you want to lift or increase the wall height to allow for a bigger opening. I was all ready to suggest dynamite or a large bulldozer.

Correction:

"Razing" a building is to tear it down.

"Raising" is the opposite.

 

[lilredex]

Here is one, raised two blocks.


http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84412


This is the missing picture.

 

[dfiler2]

Raising a building means you are going to tear it down. You mean you want to lift or increase the wall height to allow for a bigger opening. I was all ready to suggest dynamite or a large bulldozer.

No that would be "razing" a building, raising a building would be lifting it.

I see someone already mentioned your error, oh well here it is again.

 

[oldmxracer]

Hell yes, it can go higher cost effectively.

Might not be Mike Holmes way !

It can be done just with lumber and siding.

 

[--TRACTION--]

Sounds doable and I like the idea of using block versus a stub wall. If it quits raining around here I'll get some shots of the garage. The garage is a pretty simple 20x24 and there's no utilities to it other than power but that comes up the side wall so no issue there.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

[Ripcurl]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=272678

 

[jgorm]

I did it with car jacks.

 

[ms fowler]

Be careful when adding a stub wall. You need some means of stabilizing what is essentially a knee joint in the middle of the wall. Running some continuos studs may be all that is needed.