Sneaky Lift Garage Remodel

[frogers911]

After 15 years I am finally getting ready to remodel my attached 2 car garage to accommodate a screened in porch behind it. The sneaky part is that I am having the height of my garage increased to 'help' with the porch (this is what I told the wife) but the increased height will also allow me to fit a lift.

Typically I do all the work on my house myself but due to time constraints and wife acceptance factor I am subbing the majority of the build out. I have plans for a lift, roll up garage door, gas heat and shop air to name a few things all of which I will be doing myself.

Here is the basic plan.

 

[frogers911]

Garage Slab

I am about a month away from start of construction on the garage section and am faced with a decision regarding my slab. It is not level on one side, it drops a full 2.5" from a crack that propagates from front to back. The 2.5" is only in the front section of the garage. Apparently there is a ledge on the rear and side wall but not one the side next to the house. There is a ~3" void under the front part of the slab.

Quotes to raise it up are $2500-2600 which I would do but with plans for a lift I will need to put in new pads anyways since my current concrete is only 4" thick. That in addition to most likely having to grind my existing slab prior to applying a finish to it, not to mention fixing the cracks, has me thinking about tearing the whole thing out and getting a new slab. I am already over budget on the build so looking closely at all options.

Any insights are greatly appreciated.

 

[66Caprice]

I vote for a new slab. It's piece of mind knowing what is underneath.

 

[u2slow]

Back when I worked in an automotive shop, the owner added a lift in an old bay that didn't have one. A contractor was called in; cut and smashed out a section of old floor, dug it deeper and the appropriate rebar and concrete was put in for the lift.

If you're trying to do anything sneaky, I'd carefully jack-up and work on the structure till completion and deal with the concrete at the end. The optics are better.

My attached carport is non-compliant so the permit process was not an option. I raised it almost 2' with just careful jacking and blocking, a couple of 2x6' scraps at a time. Replaced the posts and beams as I wanted. Posts sit on steel saddles, on pier blocks, on an asphalt parking pad. Filled in the walls, and added a rolling barn door.

I know it may seem a little backwards, but you have to work within your constraints.

 

[frogers911]

Wanted to add some updates to this thread as the garage is mostly complete now. For the concrete I ended going with a method my contractor came up with that he said he has had success with in the past. Its been done for a year and is showing some minor cracking.

A trench was cut in the middle to get down to solid ground. Rebar was run from the sides to the trench. Concrete was ground and a new layer was poured on top.

 

[frogers911]

Nothing really changed from my initial plan for the construction. The exceptions being I had the walkway to the deck have a wall from front to back and I added some steps to the back yard.

Here are some before and after pictures. Overall I am happy with construction, it is solid. That being said I think there was some lack of attention to detail, mostly things nobody notices but me. I am very picky and being that I usually do all my own work I know there are areas I could have done a better job. But they maintained schedule and cost. The main objective was complete - wife happy.

 

[frogers911]

Reserved

Garage door selection and install

 

[frogers911]

Reserved

Electrical and lights

 

[firebirdparts]

Interesting process on the concrete cap. Is the trench allowing it to bear directly on the ground? I suppose that is pretty strong; If the old slab keeps settling, though, you don't have a whole lot to bear on. I mean it's not very wide. At least you got a chance to see what was under it. At work they grind a lot of times when they add features to concrete.

 

[66Caprice]

How thick did you go on top of the old floor?

 

[frogers911]

@firebirdparts. Yes the trench was dug to solid ground and the concrete in that section is ~2' deep. The rebar was inserted and epoxied into the sides, the thought being it would help keep everything from settling further. They ground the concrete and rolled on an adhesive to help the old bond to the new. I am not sold on it not settling further on that side of the garage. On the opposite side there was no settling initially.

@66Caprice. Thickness varies b/c the concrete was poured to level and the one side of the garage had settled. Minimum additional thickness is 2.5" with an estimated max of 5" in the front left hand side. Old slab was 4" thick.

For my planned 2 post lift I will have one of the posts directly on top of the 2' deep trench, the other post will be on the side that suffered no settling issues with a combined thickness of ~7". I am not ruling out cutting a pad for that post as I don't know if 4" old + 3" new = 7" of useable lift thickness. I will have it evaluated by a pro when the time comes.

Here is a closer up picture of how they inserted the rebar.

 

[Daniel Dudley]

That slab should be OK, but that is sketchy engineering. it should stay flat, but I see very little that would prevent cracks from forming.

 

[66Caprice]

With the amount of work that was put into the whole project. just seems like you would have been money ahead by a total tear out and replace.

 

[frogers911]

A new slab was my first choice but there were a few issue. Mainly cost as this route was 1/3 the cost of a new slab.



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[frogers911]

Wall finishing

reserved

 

[frogers911]

Heater install

reserved