I’m converting a one car garage into a handycap accessable bedroom .My partner and myself have conflicting pints of view regarding framing in where the garage door is being removed . This job is not being inspected and time is of the essence do to the health of the homeowner.Is cutting the floor and pouring a footing across the 8′ garage door opening our only option ? There will be 2 windows in the new framed opening . We are concerned of the floor heaving and affecting the windows and racking them . I was just trying to come up with a solution ,such as using 2 or 3 layers of sill sealer to act as a bushing to absorb floor movement . Has anyone ran across anything like this and if so how did you make out ? Any advise?
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Replies
How is the garage built? Concrete slab? If yes, I would assume there is a thickened perimeter beam, and youi could just lay a treated sill plate and start framing.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
>> We are concerned of the floor heaving and affecting the windows and racking them. <<
Why do you think that the floor will heave?
I live in Delaware where the frostline is 32" and concrete slabs can heave as much as 2 inches with the freeze & thaw .Though this pad looks relativly stable .
mike
>> Is cutting the floor and pouring a footing across the 8' garage door opening our only option <<
Assuming you are going to leave the original garage door header and the associated jack studs in place to carry the roof load, messing with the slab sounds like WAY overkill. I'm guessing the slab has been there and stayed intact for how many years? If you are that worried about frost under the slab, why not insulate the perimeter with some subgrade 2" foam installed in a vertical fashion? Also, since you are converting the garage to a heated space I'd think there would be even less concerns about the existing concrete heaving...
Matt