The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.

" wrote in
message oups.com...
The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.



Too close? It is supposed to touch the ground or it will float away.

If you do want to raise it though,
Easy if you have the equipment and know how. House movers run a steel beam
for support and lift them up. They jack the entire structure evenly also.
You;d have to make some supports or lifting devices and get enough jacks to
hold it all.

On Aug 23, 11:56 am, "
wrote:
The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.


Is all that worth it for a garage, considering you'll still have an
old garage on a cement block footing in the end? And you'll have to
re-do all the doors for the new height. You can get a garage kit from
Menards (a good one with 16 inch centers and truss roof), and have a
contractor pour a superior concrete footing and slab. A couple of out-
of-work framers can probably put it up in 2 days. Since it's
unattached the permit is pretty straightforward.

On 23 Aug, 12:56, "
wrote:
The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.

This link below shows how to raise a garage to replace the sill plate.
I don't think you would want to use this method lift the garage the
full 8-9" it would take to lay the blocks due to the danger of it
tipping over, however...

Perhaps you could use this method to raise the garage little by little
(2"?), side to side, slipping in wooden supports at various intervals
along the sides each time until it's high enough to add the new course
of block. Then raise it a tad more, remove the temporary supports,
lower it onto the new blocks and fit blocks into the gaps left by the
supports. With proper space planning I think that would work.

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/f...age/rotted.htm

I'd love to help. Call me when you're ready to start.

On 23 Aug, 13:37, RickH wrote:
On Aug 23, 11:56 am, "

wrote:
The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.

Is all that worth it for a garage, considering you'll still have an
old garage on a cement block footing in the end? And you'll have to
re-do all the doors for the new height. You can get a garage kit from
Menards (a good one with 16 inch centers and truss roof), and have a
contractor pour a superior concrete footing and slab. A couple of out-
of-work framers can probably put it up in 2 days. Since it's
unattached the permit is pretty straightforward.

- A couple of out-of-work framers can probably put it up in 2 days.

How come the framers are out-of-work? And do I really want out-of-work
framers putting up my garage?

What happened to the theory that you want your contractors to be so
busy (read: good) that you have to wait for them?

On Aug 23, 1:27 pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On 23 Aug, 13:37, RickH wrote:

On Aug 23, 11:56 am, "

wrote:
The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.

Is all that worth it for a garage, considering you'll still have an
old garage on a cement block footing in the end? And you'll have to
re-do all the doors for the new height. You can get a garage kit from
Menards (a good one with 16 inch centers and truss roof), and have a
contractor pour a superior concrete footing and slab. A couple of out-
of-work framers can probably put it up in 2 days. Since it's
unattached the permit is pretty straightforward.

- A couple of out-of-work framers can probably put it up in 2 days.

How come the framers are out-of-work? And do I really want out-of-work
framers putting up my garage?

What happened to the theory that you want your contractors to be so
busy (read: good) that you have to wait for them?

Have you seen the news about residential builders lately?

The reason I stumbled on this group recently is becuse I've decided to
go ahead with a whole lot of changes at my place, that I would rather
not spend the time doing myself. It started out with hiring an out of
work union guy to do a bathroom in June, now I'm going for a whole
home addition because the guy works hard and has friends in same
position. There are some sub-divisions here where only one or two
holes were dug this whole summer, and the other 200 lots will have to
wait there for spring and more qualified buyers. No, there are many
very "good guys" on the bench right now at union hall as far as
residential work goes. But my nephew who does all commercial
electrical work is working overtime. It's just the residential people
working for production homebuilders that are out.

I dont suspect the situation will last once liquidity returns to the
mortgage market, and the banks learn that people need prove more than
simply having a pulse to get a jumbo mortgage. But you have to strike
while the iron is hot, and for my home projects the timing of these
layoffs is ok and I like to know I'm helping a guy tide over with my
little projects.

On 23 Aug, 15:14, RickH wrote:
On Aug 23, 1:27 pm, DerbyDad03 wrote:





On 23 Aug, 13:37, RickH wrote:

On Aug 23, 11:56 am, "

wrote:
The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.

Is all that worth it for a garage, considering you'll still have an
old garage on a cement block footing in the end? And you'll have to
re-do all the doors for the new height. You can get a garage kit from
Menards (a good one with 16 inch centers and truss roof), and have a
contractor pour a superior concrete footing and slab. A couple of out-
of-work framers can probably put it up in 2 days. Since it's
unattached the permit is pretty straightforward.

- A couple of out-of-work framers can probably put it up in 2 days.

How come the framers are out-of-work? And do I really want out-of-work
framers putting up my garage?

What happened to the theory that you want your contractors to be so
busy (read: good) that you have to wait for them?

Have you seen the news about residential builders lately?

The reason I stumbled on this group recently is becuse I've decided to
go ahead with a whole lot of changes at my place, that I would rather
not spend the time doing myself. It started out with hiring an out of
work union guy to do a bathroom in June, now I'm going for a whole
home addition because the guy works hard and has friends in same
position. There are some sub-divisions here where only one or two
holes were dug this whole summer, and the other 200 lots will have to
wait there for spring and more qualified buyers. No, there are many
very "good guys" on the bench right now at union hall as far as
residential work goes. But my nephew who does all commercial
electrical work is working overtime. It's just the residential people
working for production homebuilders that are out.

I dont suspect the situation will last once liquidity returns to the
mortgage market, and the banks learn that people need prove more than
simply having a pulse to get a jumbo mortgage. But you have to strike
while the iron is hot, and for my home projects the timing of these
layoffs is ok and I like to know I'm helping a guy tide over with my
little projects.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I stand corrected...or at least more informed. Thanks!

" wrote in
message oups.com...
The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.


I once looked into lifting my house and attached garage to add a basement
underneath the house. The method the housemover was going to use for the
garage involved lagging 4x4's to the studs all the way around the inside
perimeter of the garage a couple of feet off the floor. He would then lift
on the 4x4's. Maybe you could do something similar?

On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 11:23:09 -0700, DerbyDad03
wrote Re Raise a garage:


http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/f...age/rotted.htm

Nice site. Thanks.
--
To email me directly, remove CLUTTER.

In article .com,
says...

The 2 stall, unattached garage on a house I recently purchased is to
close to the ground. The foundation is cement blocks and I was
wondering how difficult and how I would go about raising it up an
additional block.

I have raised 2 garages for customers, although only enough to get a pressure
treated 4x4 in there, 3 1/2". It's pretty easy to show you how, but kind of
difficult to describe. The link someone else provided should work.

I bolted a 2x4 diagonally across the first studs down each wall at each corner,
so that this 2x4 cuts across the corner and goes 16" down each wall (to the
first stud in each wall). This diagonal 2x4 is just above the sill, enough to
get a bottle jack under it. Then bolt in a vertical 2x4 that rested on the
middle of the one angled across each corner. This 2x4 jammed into the upper
corner where the two walls meet. Everything is bolted and nailed together. This
method picks up the top plate and bottom plate at the same time (more or less).

X-brace the door opening with long 2x4's, bolt 2 together if necessary, and add
another horizontal 2x4 across the very bottom of the door opening to keep it
from spreading

Now, place a bottle jack under two of the diagonal 2x4's at the corner and jack
one wall up. I used a 4 ton jack, bigger would be fine, just allow room when
you are placing the 2x4's. I bought a bunch of them at Harbor Freight for only
a few bucks, they work fine. Prop up that first wall, and move to another. If
things feel unsteady, just jack each wall up until you can slide a 2x4 in
there, 1 1/2" at a time. If the garage is old and the walls are not real rigid,
you may need to help the middle of a wall along with a 6' pry bar.

I did the back wall first, then each side.

--
Dennis

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/f...l/garage/rotte...

I'd love to help. Call me when you're ready to start.

THANKS!!! This is a very good article and it actually makes it look
like it won't be that difficult. I thought I would need a larger
jack, but I guess that won't be necessary. I'll let you know when I'm
ready to start on it. Probably in a couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Jim

On Aug 25, 8:35 am, "
wrote:
http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/f...l/garage/rotte...

I'd love to help. Call me when you're ready to start.

THANKS!!! This is a very good article and it actually makes it look
like it won't be that difficult. I thought I would need a larger
jack, but I guess that won't be necessary. I'll let you know when I'm
ready to start on it. Probably in a couple of weeks.

Thanks,
Jim

You're welcome, but keep in mind what other's have hinted at:

You're going to need to extend door casings, move/extend any
electrical fixtures, obviously install a new garage door and, assuming
your windows were installed at the standard height, they are now going
to be ~8" too high.

Perhaps it would be better to rebuild, assuming current codes would
allow you too.

OR. Maybe Just OR he's looking to get his truck in and it won't fit the way
it is. And the windows don't make a ratts ass to him...


steve

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
oups.com...
You're welcome, but keep in mind what other's have hinted at:

You're going to need to extend door casings, move/extend any
electrical fixtures, obviously install a new garage door and, assuming
your windows were installed at the standard height, they are now going
to be ~8" too high.