My garage roof has about a 4 to 6 inch sag between the gables that I would like to eliminate. The garage is 20X20 with 2 single doors in the front. Short of replacing the whole roof structure, does anyone know of a way to fix this? One guy I work with said it could be jacked over a period of time and reinforced when it was straight again. Part of that seems to make sense but on the other hand it sounds to easy.
The lady we bought the house from had the old shingles stripped and replaced but the crew didn’t do anything about hte sag except for putting in some cross ties on the sagging rafters. The roof seems to be sturdy and it hasn’t gotten any worse in the 4 years we’ve lived here.
Any advise would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Replies
The reason for the sag is probably that there were no rafter ties in the structure to begin with. That they exist now might serve to keep it from getting worse, but now that it has been done and re-shingled,. there is a major job ahead. Your advisor is facing the right direction, but has missed most of the details.
When this happens, the walls also are bowed out at the top in center of the two loaded walls, and the gable ends are rolling in at the ridge, though maybe not enough to be discernable there.
To jack up, you would want several jacks to be able to lift and load the right amt at each pair of rafters. You would have to releaase the rafter ties once you start jacking because they would resist the correction.
I would also plan to put in two or three cable ties or eyebolts to cable comalongs on opposite top plates to pull the wobbletops in straight while lifting the roof.
Then, when it is all done, it would be the right time to put the rafter ties back in to stop that spreading. again. You would also probably want to renail the roof sheathing. That would put holes in the shingles, but that's OK since they will be all puckered up from such a large move/stretch and need replacing anyways.
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You need to inspect this from beneath to see if there is a strange gap growing at the ends where the abnormality is occuring... Ive seen roofers take the shakes off a roof and not pull off the fascias on the rakes and leave this pagoda looking thing behind... If the same thing is happening on the eave edges to you may need to pop all of the edges up to slide in some 1x2 to raise it up,get some one who can do all this and(under-shingle) to allow for nailing the 1x2 down and getting any shingles replaced correctly which are popped inthe process...
Orrrr, the problem is that when the roof was changed from shakes to modern shingles, the roofers removed the horizontals or (I call them screeds) leaving a height deficit which was ignored... in this case you need to pull off the fascia all around and let the roof edge drop to an acceptable hgt.
Thunder-cat...
Edited 7/18/2004 8:08 pm ET by mapache
Yep, probably the problem is missing rafter ties. (Seems like many old garages were built this way, probably to save money, while the ties were removed in others to allow for more storage.) If there's no reason (such as door clearance) why new ties (no higher than 1/3 up the length of the rafterrs) can't be installed then it should be a simple matter to jack up the roof and install them. Whether or not the shingle job will survive this is hard to say.
Uhhhhuuuhhh,It could look like six or more inches from the street...but...mebee not...
If you do find the structure needs to be jacked up, find some one who will do it in a day,and brace and "rack" it just as fast, because one can alter an old structure quickly and not cause too much harm...if you have ever seen a film of a vehicle moving very slowly over a beaten down bridge you will know what an engineer means by moment of stress,every one you spend could be the last... or just a waste of that time or most importantly a waste(by tricks) of your money...If the candidate contractors in your area have in their equip coffers Jacks and Framing nail guns aside from squares and plumb bobs,
In extreme circumstances augers could be req'd in the yard and chainfalls to stabilize the"uprightness"
pass me another brewski I'm jus gettin started...
(this credit to unknown) LIFE IS SO SHORT,YET THE CRAFT SO LONG TO MASTER
Thanks for the replies. This doesn't seem as bad as I thought...Mapache....I'll pass you a brew...come on over and I'll give ya one after we fix my roof!!
Be careful, You know how some guys get to talkin' after a drink or two.
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Thank's I'm guessing you're way up north,I could be tempted to visit...If there is a job to start on the last "day to dry it in"on starting the interior I would like to do a road trip once again, since I started here in Houston,Tx in 93 I have gone as far as Dallas for a week once re-rocking older apartments.I'm cutting down on the brews, so I'll raise a glass of milk n say Got Wood?(this credit to unknown) LIFE IS SO SHORT,YET THE CRAFT SO LONG TO MASTER
Actually, Ohio....Hazy, hot and humid is the weather this time of the year. I tend to concentrate more on interior projects now. I'll probably hit this one in late September or early October.