Hi all & greetings from Toronto. My old wood-and-tin garage is the
eyesore of the neighbourhood, and I dream of rebuilding it, myself, in
concrete or brick. One wall at a time, slowly is fine, I'm in no big
hurry - would prefer to save money learning how to do it myself.

Silly? Too big a job? Need architects, engineers, teams of big strong
guys? Or can I find books or sites that teach you how to rebuild a
garage myself without having it fall down on top of me? I'm a handy guy
and have renovated most of my own house, but I'm new to structural work
(i.e., how to hold up a roof while I remove and replace the wall
underneath).

Thanks in advance for any advice, resources, personal experiences.

- Frank

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:41:09 -0400, Frank H wrote:

Hi all & greetings from Toronto. My old wood-and-tin garage is the
eyesore of the neighbourhood, and I dream of rebuilding it, myself, in
concrete or brick. One wall at a time, slowly is fine, I'm in no big
hurry - would prefer to save money learning how to do it myself.

Silly? Too big a job? Need architects, engineers, teams of big strong
guys? Or can I find books or sites that teach you how to rebuild a
garage myself without having it fall down on top of me? I'm a handy guy
and have renovated most of my own house, but I'm new to structural work
(i.e., how to hold up a roof while I remove and replace the wall
underneath).

Thanks in advance for any advice, resources, personal experiences.

- Frank

Post some pictures of your project. We would love to see the
before, during and after.

I'd start with the suggestion that you always remember that the load
bearing walls have to be protected or the project will come crashing
down on your head. But you've already stated that so let the current
structure tell you what can be saved and what has to go and that wil
be your plan. We can't do that.

NCMA web site gives access to Tek Notes.
Excellent Resource.

NCMA web site gives access to Tek Notes.
Excellent Resource.

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 12:41:09 -0400, Frank H wrote:

Hi all & greetings from Toronto. My old wood-and-tin garage is the
eyesore of the neighbourhood, and I dream of rebuilding it, myself, in
concrete or brick. One wall at a time, slowly is fine, I'm in no big
hurry - would prefer to save money learning how to do it myself.

Silly? Too big a job? Need architects, engineers, teams of big strong
guys? Or can I find books or sites that teach you how to rebuild a
garage myself without having it fall down on top of me? I'm a handy guy
and have renovated most of my own house, but I'm new to structural work
(i.e., how to hold up a roof while I remove and replace the wall
underneath).

If you're going to replace the roof, build the new wall just outside
the old one. If the roof is ok, build the new walls just inside the
old then tear down the old. You won't lose much space, and you'll
gain a few inches of overhang.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Retired Shop Rat: 14,647 days in a GM plant.
Now I can do what I enjoy: Large Format Photography
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

build temporary walls just out of the work space. then you can
remove/install at your leisure. make sure you put lateral bracing on it (ie:
to keep wall from becomming dominoes). a 2x4 nailed diagonally along the
wall works well.

"Frank H" wrote in message
...
Hi all & greetings from Toronto. My old wood-and-tin garage is the
eyesore of the neighbourhood, and I dream of rebuilding it, myself, in
concrete or brick. One wall at a time, slowly is fine, I'm in no big
hurry - would prefer to save money learning how to do it myself.

Silly? Too big a job? Need architects, engineers, teams of big strong
guys? Or can I find books or sites that teach you how to rebuild a
garage myself without having it fall down on top of me? I'm a handy guy
and have renovated most of my own house, but I'm new to structural work
(i.e., how to hold up a roof while I remove and replace the wall
underneath).

Thanks in advance for any advice, resources, personal experiences.

- Frank

Am I the only one who wonders whether this project is even
possible? I assume OP intends to lay either cement block and/or
brick to replace existing walls.

Changing a wood and tin, probably home made, wall system out to
CMU demands some knowledge of weights, footing design, footing
requirements, and analysis of existing footing or lack thereof.

As a professional, I would not contemplate laying block walls one
wall at a time or trying to lay up and slush fill the top block
under an existing roof.

It sounds to me as if the OP needs to spend a bit more time
working out the details of what he wants to accomplish working
from the existing conditions. Reworking wood stud walls and
installing a new exterior sounds more feasible. With adequate
footing, the new exterior could be brick.

(top posted for your convenience)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Frank H" wrote in message
...
Hi all & greetings from Toronto. My old wood-and-tin garage is
the eyesore of the neighbourhood, and I dream of rebuilding it,
myself, in concrete or brick. One wall at a time, slowly is
fine, I'm in no big hurry - would prefer to save money learning
how to do it myself.

Silly? Too big a job? Need architects, engineers, teams of big
strong guys? Or can I find books or sites that teach you how to
rebuild a garage myself without having it fall down on top of
me? I'm a handy guy and have renovated most of my own house,
but I'm new to structural work (i.e., how to hold up a roof
while I remove and replace the wall underneath).

Thanks in advance for any advice, resources, personal
experiences.

- Frank

Thanks everyone - your answers are giving me a better feel for what I'm
up against and what I'd need to do next. My wife keeps telling me the
best solution for that old garage is for us to move, and she's probably
right, but twice a day I walk my dog past all kinds of nice solid brick
garages and I just wonder if there's any economical way for me to
improve ours. I could sure use the winter workshop space if I could get
the walls solid enough to insulate. At the moment small animals can get
through it in several places!

Anyway many thanks, I'll investigate each of your ideas over the next
few weeks. Might take a while before I'm ready to post any photos
though :-)

- Frank

Am I the only one who wonders whether this project is even
possible? I assume OP intends to lay either cement block and/or
brick to replace existing walls.

Virtually anything is POSSIBLE. But unless there's some
regulatory reason not to, I'd say tear down the entire
garage, and build it from scratch.