The Twisted Garage

[KipperMatic]

Hello everyone....

I've bought a house and garage built in 1923. The house is great, but the garage has problems.

This is my first "old" garage. It has, over the past 91 years, developed a few problems. The back left corner has decayed into the ground about 10 inches due to a rotted sill plate and pulled the rest of the structure in a counter clockwise twist. Some time in its life it was extended, presumably to fit more than a Model A car in it, by the addition of three feet at the door end. Also a new floor was poured in. It appears that the addition was put on after some of the twist began as some of this 'newer' work has a different, lesser, twist than the rear portion. The back wall has been replaced recently with new modern 2x4 and plywood as can be seen in the picture. The older horizontal 2x4 structure remaining was presumably level when it was originally built in 1923, and now isn't by a long shot.

I've been googling my way around and found solutions to pulling the walls back plumb, and also how to jack up the building to rebuild the sill plate.
The question I have is, which do I do first?

Jack and Sill or Winch and Plumb?

And do I strip out wood planking on the sides of the newer extension at the front end before jacking or winching? What about the rear plywood? It seems like the siding and the sheet of plywood on the back end are the only things keeping the building from meeting my new neighbors in with a loud bang.

http://i.imgur.com/hmuiL2S.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/kBtTGst.jpg

This a project of mine that may not get done this summer, as SHMBO has a honeydew list already and the moving truck doesn't bring our stuff until next week. Just in the planning stages for this reconstruction.

 

[dadsEH]

Well.... it's hardwood so it'll burn well.

 

[MN4x4]

This may sound obvious...and it is. Start with the foundation, just as you would a new house. Unless your foundation is square, plumb, and solid, nothing you do to the walls will be either.

 

[Rondog]

May not be what you're interested in, but what's the possibilities of tearing it down and building a new, modern garage? With updated power, well insulated, heated, etc.

Old houses are charming, old garages - meh. JMHO.

 

[KipperMatic]

I can not tear it down Rondog, as that would be the end of having a garage due to zoning changes. I would not be able to get a building permit to build a new one. I have to work with whats there.

MN4x4, the floor is flat and close enough to level, but with a newer re-pour layer of concrete between the walls it sits above the sill plate. It appears that at the time of the new floor, 2x4's were inserted into the space between the studs to provide a backer for the pour

 

[KipperMatic]

Ok, here goes my plan...

The sill plate on the back left corner of the wall has rotted away to nothing, and down about 4 inches into the studs.

I am going to have to lift the building to relieve the twist and to replace the sill plate and stud sections. A small framed section, sort of a double sill made of pressure treated will be inserted to replace the rotten bits all around the bottom. The option of tearing the structure down and rebuilding does not exist due to zoning and permit issues. I simply can not tear it down and get the permit to put another structure up.

My question is, should I lift from the top plate, or sandwich 2x8's on either side of the wall up about two feet from ground level and jack from a pair of 6x6's passing through the building?

 

[6768rogues]

I would jack up the building and put a pole in the ground in the corner. Then that corner would be similar to a pole barn.

 

[MScott]

Sounds similar to the repair I did on a friend's garage. It had sunk on the back wall (only about 6-8 inches) due to rotted bottom plate, studs and wood siding.
The front wall was solid, so I jacked it from the top plate using a 4x4 and a car jack. Once the top plate was level, I cleaned out the rotted wood, cut the studs back to solid wood and replaced the bottom plate with PT 4x4. I then screwed/nailed PT 2x4 studding, sistered to the solid portion of the studs. I then replaced the bottom portion of the siding with 3/4" lumber so it could be resided with vinyl. Turned out very well, level and solid.

 

[captain14]

There have been several a threads posted here on rebuilding old garages. You have to use the search feature to find, read and compare to your project. Two of the top of my head are by members named Fergie (?) and Talonair (?) called " leaning tower of#*+=<~.

Read their projects and compare one was the identical situation can't tear down and rebuild while the other was seveverly underfunded ( aren't we all?) but with some ingenuity and research he was Ble to save his garage for his project. His cost if I remember was much cheaper than starting from scratch.

Pictures? We love pictures and others can add comments too.

Another website that the person did is called Hammertime. He did a repair to an older garage with rotten sill plates among other issues.

 

[KipperMatic]

Thanks guys

I have been reading up on previous repair jobs and found that its a half and half split for the top plate lift or the mid section. I'm sitting here in my cubicle of boredom drawing up various plans for doing this. SWMBO wants it done and has given me a budget of what ever I can make selling my stuff ...lol

6768Rogues, I don't think I'll have the ability to get a pole in there. Maybe lally columns after I get the sill rebuilt though.

Once I get going on this I'll post regular updates

 

[mellamoesrico]

I would fear pulling up on the top sill, since that might just cause it to separate from the studs.

 

[Twisted Sid]

Not going to lie, the name got me a little excited...

 

[KipperMatic]

OK. It's been a long time but i was able lift the garage and get it square on the foundation.
I took lots of pictures while i was restoring the structure. So i guess i can start here with what i started with then document the rest in a few days

 

[My Old Tools]

Sounds similar to the repair I did on a friend's garage. It had sunk on the back wall (only about 6-8 inches) due to rotted bottom plate, studs and wood siding.
The front wall was solid, so I jacked it from the top plate using a 4x4 and a car jack. Once the top plate was level, I cleaned out the rotted wood, cut the studs back to solid wood and replaced the bottom plate with PT 4x4. I then screwed/nailed PT 2x4 studding, sistered to the solid portion of the studs. I then replaced the bottom portion of the siding with 3/4" lumber so it could be resided with vinyl. Turned out very well, level and solid.

I did almost the same thing on an old garage built about 1910. After the sill and some studs were replace, I used a handy tree as a deadman and a hydraulic jack to push it back square. I added some interior plywood sheathing in the corners to help it stay square.

 

[KipperMatic]

To begin with, let me state that I have a very thin wallet. When I moved into my house I was coming out of a personal bankruptcy and have other hands still pulling money from my thin wallet. This fix up of “The Twisted Garage” was done with limited funds, no engineering skills and at times blatant disregard for safety.

After my first post regarding “The Twisted Garage” there was an interesting change to the structure when my neighbor provided me with most of the very large tree that was beside the garage during a storm. The tree shoved the back of the garage a foot or so off the foundation adding some more dimensional fun to deal with.



I attached a borrowed a chain hoist and a few feet of extra chain from the top corner of the garage and ran it across the back wall then through the opposite wall and around a tree stump. Yes, the same tree stump that the tree came from that shoved the garage over in the first place. Using this stump as an anchor was ideal as this was the exact direction that I needed to drag the last four feet of garage back onto the slab. One end of the chain was looped through the top beam to pull on the beam, which would push the rest of the back wall and roof structure back in line. Just taking up the slack on the chain showed how easily it would move. I pulled it back most of the way before even jacking the sunken wall up.

I splurged and cheaply bought two bottle jacks at Princess Auto for use in jacking the wall up. There is a junk yard in town that sells used building materials from demolished buildings. I picked up 6 concrete blocks for 75 cents each and found two 2x10x10 boards for $1.50 each. I already had a chunk of 4x4 of pressure treated lying around. My highest expense was the big 10 inch long lag bolts. I couldn’t find them cheaply so had to spend $4 each for them. I mounted one board on the inside and one on the outside with a couple of screws to temporarily hold them in place as I drilled. The spade bit went through the 2x10, through the 2x4 stud and through to the other 2x10. After great oomphing and some huffing and puffing I was able to get 8 of the lag bolts through and through. By having two passing through each stud slightly more stability was gained. The 4x4 was passed through the wall and jacking began. Now it did take almost 95 years for the walls and sill plate to rot down well over a foot so I wasn’t in the greatest rush to jack it back up, going a few jacking pumps per side and letting the building sit for a few minutes and pumping again. It was making all manner of creaks and groans as it went up the foot and a half that I needed.

….to be continued on another slow day at work

 

[Joeys79]

Don't stop now - I'm on the edge of my seat...

 

[KipperMatic]

Sorry for the huge pictures.

 

[KipperMatic]

So I mentioned the other day that my neighbor had given me a tree during a storm. I finally located the pictures I took that day.

It is my firm belief that if this was a "modern" chipboard and plastic siding garage the tree would have gone through it. As it stands other that adding more funky dimensions to The Twisted Garage, the damage was actually minimal, two cracked boards one on the roof and another a trim piece.

The house insurance paid off the building and handed over a sizable cheque for it's either repair or replacement. There was a local "emergency services" company involved at the start that the insurance company sent over. He estimated the removal and replacement of the structure with a modern chipboard and plastic siding **** replacement at $25,000 which was more than double what was paid by the insurance. Needless to say we shoo-ed him away pretty fast.

Repairs are going pretty well, but I had to stop today because it was too friggin hot outside. I managed to get the rotten boards down that formed the soffit and eaves behind the gutters. One hint for those that follow in my footsteps and do their own garages like I have. Don't stand under the soffit wood as you are prying it down. Ninety years of squirrel and racoon sh*t will fall on you. Also make sure your mouth is closed while doing so.