I have a 70 year old frame detached garage. A pad was poured inside the garage and I believe the framing rests directly on the ground. On one side, which is holding up the roof, 2/3s of the studs are rotted away at the bottom and there is no horizontal 2×4 (sill pate?) for them to rest on like there is on the other sides. There’s just dirt there and a little concrete that leaked in when a sidewalk was poured on the side of the garage.
My uneducated opinion on how to repair this is to excavate down about 4″ and pour some concrete flush with the existing pad. Then lay a pressure treated 2×4 on it with new studs sistered to the bad ones going to the top plate.
Sound right? I’m in Chicago if that makes a difference, we do get a deep frost here. Thanks for any advice.
Replies
You're on the right track. You need to jack up the building, or at least temp support the roof while you cut away the bad studs.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Well, the studs are not even making contact with anything on the bottom now, they're just floating. I think the corner posts, which appear to be in good shape, are holding everything up. I was thinking to leave the bad ones where they are and just sister new studs on that would carry the weight. Should I put in the concrete and then push it up a bit with a couple of jacks on the concrete, then slide the new studs in and let it back down on them?
If your corners are still in good shape, then string a line from corner to corner to judge whether or not the wall has sagged. Is this a gable end, or does it carry roof load? I'd guess it's a gable end or things would be sagging considerably. Regardless, if it's sagging, shore up any overhead loads and jack till your top plates are level again. Then cut the studs back to an area a few inches PAST the rot. Sister in new studs and reattach the sheathing and/or siding to them. Oh yeah, yes to the PT bottom plate or sill and don't forget to anchor it to the concrete.
Dieselpig, surprisingly, this is on the load bearing end, but the garage is racked towards that side. Maybe that's why? Thanks for the advice on running a string on the top plate to see where I'm at, hadn't considered that.
Dan, you've been watching too many old gangster movies, I think. :)
Rick,
I just re-read your original post after reading Nick's recent post. WTF!!??!! No concrete under that puppy? You sure?
If you do dig to pour some concrete, the "four" part is right, but that's FEET, not Inches!
You sure there's no concrete there? If so, it might be time to call a pro. Let us know what's going on after you have another look. Take a screw driver and poke around hard for a minute or two and see what you come up with.
Okay, I went back and dug around, there is concrete under there. It was built with a 4x4 resting on top of it The sill was had dissapeared and what I thought was dirt was the remnants of the sill. So I guess I can dig out the crap down to the concrete and put a new pt piece there and go up from there, right?
Thanks for prodding me to take a closer look.
If you have to dig around looking for the foundation, then you've found the source of your problem. You need to get the foundation above grade (or the grade below the foundation,) or you (or whoever owns the place) will have to do the same thing in 15 or so years.
If the job was mine, I'd excavate all around the foundation perimeter to determine the location of the foundation and extent of structure damage. You know a small piece of the problem. You need a full picture before jumping into repairs that might create more problems than they solve.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
Heck, in Chicago you ought to be able to find someone to burn it down cheap.
If I read this right, you have no footings or foundation, right? The garage just floats on the surface?
You're getting good advice from the others, but couldn't help but tell you I had a similar thing with my garage. I got married and moved to my wife's house. I noticed the garage corner was about 4" from being plumb and found that it had slipped off of the foundation and was resting in the mud. The whole front (bearing wall) was being held up by the garage door rail that was resting on the slab! I did basically what the other posters suggested--had to drill out holes in the slab for new anchor bolts, put on a PT sill plate and sistered a couple new studs. Was going to use a come-along or jack to push the wall back onto the foundation, but a neighbor just drove his truck up and pushed it into place.