The worker man's garage resto thread

[rocklobster]

I have owned this property since 2007, the garage is under 20 years old that the previous owner built. The foundation of the building has issues that my wife and I had knowledge of prior to purchasing the property and I have just lived with them since then as I did not have the resources to fix the building properly.

Now this summer I will be taking a parental leave from work (kid #3) and I will have the time and money to correct the issues. However I need alot of help in planning my best course of action here as some of the construction involved I have not tackled before. I am a pretty serious diy'er though and have support from family and friends as well.

I want to use this thread to document my progress in the garage repairs and I appreciate your constructive comments and advice along the way.

The problem:

The Garage is a 24x28 standard double car garage with a 9' ceiling height, a 4 inch thick pad that was built into a slope so that the back wall is a 4' high block 'retaining' (sort of) wall. The contractor that did the earthwork and concrete/block work did not understand the site conditions and challenges and/or did not build to overcome them.

The first challenge was that there is a 1' thick layer of silt and fine sand 16" below the surface of the slab. The soil type on my property is a glacial till, most of the property is 60' feet thick coarse sand over bedrock but this side of my property contains this silt lens. The second site challenge is that the drainage that comes down the large hill behind the property has the potential to increase the hydrostatic load on the retaining wall significantly. This drainage also keeps the slab pretty moist most of the year.

The above challenges paired with our climate up here in Canada and frost penetration depths below 4' has caused the back retaining wall of the garage to bow in and fail from hydrostatic pressure and the slab has settled and cracked around the perimeter of the building from repetitive freeze thaw cycles. I have alleviated the horizontal inward pressure on the back wall by removing the fill against it.

Another smaller but important problem with the building is that there is alot of condensation that forms. The slab does not have any vapor barrier under it and the block walls are not waterproofed or insulated.

Outside wall

inside same wall

Floor cracks and settlement towards outside walls. Sorry about the mess, I am in the process of a few different projects.

Ohh she is messy right now! Sorry guys.

What has to be done to repair this building:

Replace the floor and block wall under the building,
Remove the silt soils under the slab and replace them with properly compacted sand and gravel,
properly grade and drain the flow of water behind the garage,
install waterproofing membrane under floor, on walls,
and add insulation to concrete walls and possibly under slab.
re-drywall the interior walls as it was never fully finished and it is mostly wrecked anyway,
Remove some of the native soil in the parking area and driveway in front of the garage and place and compact stone over geosynthetic to stop the sloppy, muddy conditions in the spring.

What would be nice to do (wishlist):
Re-build the stud walls to increase ceiling height to 13 or 14' for the later addition of a 2 post lift,
Install one large (good quality) garage door in the middle of the front instead of the double doors. This is a shop not a parking area for the DD.
Pour a pad beside the garage to later build a carport beside the garage.
Lighting and electrical upgrades,
Storage and work bench upgrades.

How to accomplish this garage raising task?

So this is where I need the help, I have thought about this project and how to do it for years.

These are some of the ways that I have considered in completing the project:

Dismantling the whole building and rebuilding.

Jacking up the inside or outside of the building and working under it to replace the block walls then set it back down and work on the floor.

Hiring a boom truck to lift the trussed roof off the building then removing the walls and fixing the foundation and floor.

What I have to work within:
My upper budget is 10 grand. I would like to spend less if I can and I can also go into debt if I need to but I want to avoid debt like the plague. I would like to do as much of the work as possible of demolition/jacking and removing the concrete and completing the earthwork and maybe hire out the concrete work. I will most likely be renting a skid steer or mini ex on a few occasions, and I may rent a boom truck if I remove the roof.

I have to get permits to demo and build and I have to do everything to code.

The local concrete cost is $163 per cubic metre for 32mpa C2.

I cant think of much more at the moment... Thoughts welcome, and yeah it has been said that maybe I should leave a cigarette in the ashtray but I want to be legit here!

 

[BigE]

As far as replacing the floor and stub walls, I would do it just like they do it with houses. Excavate on either side and provide a solid, stable base in those areas. Then punch holes in the stub walls and insert large steel beams to lift the shop. Use hydraulic jacks to lift the shop evenly to prevent damage and then crib it in place. Remove the stub walls and floor, prep the site as necessary and rebuild the floor and walls. It may be worthwhile to pay the pros to do the lifting and cribbing. Then you do the work and have them come back to set it back down.

 

[619DioFan]

If it were me , I would demo the old , pour a proper slab , make sure drainage was done right and put up a steel workshop building. faster ,easier and probably cost the same as trying to repair the old. just my opinion.

 

[Thumper68]

I did one of theses a few years ago, I braced and then jacked the garage up, once it was in the air I used a skid steer to remove all the old block and concrete, prepped the base poured new footers, new concrete block stub walls, we added 4 feet to the block walls and core filled them, once the block was set we dropped the garage back down now 42 inches higher. We also installed insulation and pex before we poured the slab, the client wasn't planning on hooking up the heat right away but I was back installing the elec boiler as soon as the temp dropped below freezing.

Just looked back at the invoice for this job in 2003 the total including labor was $10,327 usd

I would consider this an advanced diy project but very doable.

If you search around you can probably rent the beams and I would recommend renting good house jacks.

I rented all of that from a local house moving company.

K

 

[rocklobster]

Thanks guys for the insight.

I had a local building raising contractor over last night to give me a quote and he said $15,000 to jack the building, tear out the block wall and foundation, rebuild block wall filling cavities with cement and rebar, lowering the building and then replacing the floor. I would still have to get the engineer stamp and permits.

The quote I think may be a little high but I understand that he has got to give himself a bit of wiggle room. First of all I am not going to drop 15 g's into this building period. So I asked him what is his cost to jack the building and walk away, for me to do the work and have him set it back down when completed, he quoted $4,000. Still I think that is pretty high, I can probably buy all the equipment to raise the building for a thousand.

Needless to say I reminded myself with this quote of how I can't just pay some contractor to do the job for me while I sit back and watch. I want the job done a specific way and I dont want to shell out a fortune to do it! 15 grand is getting into the ballpark of a new and bigger garage and it is not wise to spend that kind of money on my property where I can't get it back if I decide to sell.

So this morning I am sitting on the fence of even doing the job, for starters it is not essential that the building be fixed, right now it is functional and stable albeit not in a perfect state. I can just keep on using it and saving my money for a bunch of years and then tear it down, salvage and sell what I can, and build a really nice building (read: bigger) in it's place.

Another option I can look into is to support the back 1/3 of the building and remove the back block wall and foundation, rebuild it and then replace the back third of floor. Basically fix the worst part, make the building more stable and then insulate and waterproof the outside block wall.

At the very least I am going to fix the drainage, that cost is super low compared to the reward.

 

[T.E.D. Jordan]

I'd get a second estimate from another firm, maybe even a third.

Ultimately If it were me, I'd want it right even if I couldn't re-coupe the slight loss in property damage. Its the garage, which is more important than the house lol.

Jordan

 

[rocklobster]

Jordan,

You are right about getting alternate estimates, but I am pretty discouraged in hiring someone to do this, I dont think that I will be hiring all the work out. I cant justify it, not when I have this learning opportunity.

Yes I can agree, the garage holds a special place in my heart too! But it is not my house and I am still pretty young (30yo) I have got to think it through and be smart about the project. In all reality I would be far better off doing the minimal and splashing that extra money on the mortgage for interest savings.

 

[SteveCh]

Use it like it is, with some smaller repairs as you go. One day, in the future, you might reach the point where you cannot stand it and have the time and energy and funds to replace or completely overhaul it.

If you experience any problems from water ingress or damage from the soil around the concrete block, easy [if labor intensive] and inexpensive deal to dig out around the place and install drains and then backfill, all can be done by hand. If no water problem, don't even need to do that.

 

[apexit1]

You said it's not your house. If its not your place I wouldn't even bother with anything you can't take with you.

 

[SmokeyBC]

That has years of life left in it, as a garden shed/storage building. Leave it alone.

Take your money, and build your new shop next to it, or elsewhere on the property. With the old building for storage, you can build a sweet new shop.

 

[rocklobster]

You said it's not your house. If its not your place I wouldn't even bother with anything you can't take with you.

No I own the property, I meant it in a way that means that my family does not live in it, and it is just an outbuilding, so not essential to living.

 

[rocklobster]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I am still thinking that I will do some minimal work like just support the back of the building and replace the worst of the wall, floor, and foundation to at least make the building stable and if I have to sell and move I will be able to do so without losing my shirt in the deal. Because lets face it when the buyers building inspector checks out the building they will note the problems and as the garage sits it may be worth next to nothing.

 

[Zeke]

I would dig back into the slope far enough back and down to floor grade and build a new retaining wall with a French drain behind it. I might even put a drain between the wall and the existing block. I would then repair the block as good as possible. I might put new concrete over the old or yank out the old. Depends and I'm not there.

You can certainly use the excavation dirt to regrade your drive approach.