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Anyone have any advice for straightening an old and leaning 20 x 20 foot garage? I was planning on using a “come a long”, and a tree? is there a better way? Any reference materials?
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Hi Tim,
On which side of the garage were you going to plant the tree?
Apparently, we have lots of time to answer this post.
Gabe
*Be careful. A guy got killed in NW Ohio a couple of weeks ago when an old garage collapsed on him.Consider using a few come alongs on the inside, going from lower corner to upper corner. Be very careful with the anchor points, and don't try to do it at one haul: tighten em up, wait a day or 2, repeat, repeat, repeat ....
*For years, my best day (fiancially speaking) was straightening up an old garage. I showed up with a pile of linial and within two hours the old guy came out with the check! He was so thrilled because he thought he was going to have to tear his garage down and repour new footings. I was his savior and he thanked my mom for years afterword (she and he were friends).I used a combination of push braces, pull braces and my wall jacks. A 20 x 20 will straigten up rather easily, assuming there aren't any diagonal braces installed.blue
*Add some braces to keep it from going too far while your'e pulling with the come-along.
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Thanks for responding. Speaking of anchor points, I was going to drill through the upper corner where front and side walls and truss meet. Right through the caps of the walls, with a 3/8 wire rope and then a 3x 3 sheet or 2 of 3/4 ply on theout side of the wall. The 3/4 ply would act as a flat panel to pull the leaning corner in question. Do you think that would be stout enough?
t
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Tim, I don't know that a 3x3 sheet of plywood is going to help, when you are going to be pulling from the top plates. I would use a piece of angle iron running parallel with the plates.
Good luck , Steve
*Bob, isnt't your plan only gonna' wrack the structure back to plumb? Wouldn't it be better to start with getting the floor back to level first?
*Bob beat me to it, but be very careful if using comealongs.When faced with what you describe I use the method described by Blue. This way, you are in control of which way to shift and how much. Can't say the same with comealongs.All summer long I've been meaning to get up to my brother's to straighten his 20 x 20 garage. Say...you're not in Napa, CA are you???
*Rich,I figure rack it back, then jump on the floor .I was assuming a slab without problems, I'm not sure where the floor issue came up.I like blue's idea better than come alongs, a lot safer. Probably depends on the siding and how much short term rigidity it provides.Never did enough framing to think of the push and pull braces.Bob
*Where did he say the floor was a problem? I should move rather easily without the come along. I would use blue's method too, but I don't think a come-along is as dangerous as you guy's make it out to be. It's not like hooking it up to the trailer hitch and pulling.Do you know what to do after you get it plumb to keep it plumb?
*The front of my leaning garage is "all hole", with almost nothing in the way of side walls next to the overhead door. So I've planted the tree, and in the meantime I got some braces and comealongs. But once I get the thing racked where I want it, how do I keep it there?
*The floor issue can up in my mind. I've done exactly five of these and each was built on a wood subfloor. So the concern with the floor was my own presumption. BTW: once plumb, brace.
*The floor issue can up in my mind. I've done exactly five of these and each was built on a wood subfloor. So the concern with the floor was my own presumption. BTW: once plumb, brace, then sheer or whatever is needed.
*Did a good job of pulling a wall with some chain and my FJ-40. Braced the shite out of it, too.
*John Mikol (Post #11),There are a couple of things you can do to keep the open end of your garage from going out of plumb. The first is to box whatever wall you have there with plywood. This will help but the real solution is to run diagonal braces in the ceiling plane. When a garage leans at the door end the ceiling plane, which should be a rectangle, becomes a parallelogram. A couple of 2x4s nailed to the joists will impart a lot of resistance. I'd run them out out of the corners on a 45 degree angle and I would make them long enough to meet at the middle.Steve
*Hi John,seriously..... you can add wing walls to the front of the garage on each side of the openning.Extend them out 4 ft. and cross brace them. cover with trelis.Gabe
*If you're real handy with the mortar, you can make these "flying buttress" outta' stone.
*Tim, don't know if this is too late, I haven't had much time this week. Brace at the wall ties. Run diagonal braces from the center of the back wall to the center of the side walls, and from center of the side walls to the center of the front wall. Nail into the plates, and 2 - 16d nails into each tie. this is all you need to do the job.Steve
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Anyone have any advice for straightening an old and leaning 20 x 20 foot garage? I was planning on using a "come a long", and a tree? is there a better way? Any reference materials?