Thrown Together Garage

good to go · 03-03-2005, 09:50 PM

Hello,
I'm in the process of re-roofing my garage, and a lot of questions started to run through my mind. I'm not a proffessional builder, but i'm really good at tinkering, and doing the job the right way, with the help of my dad; of course. My question is as follows: The garage needs a new roof, and some of the boards need to be replaced, this is the easy part. But, the peak of the rafters are cut in an angle, and nailed together like the following.... /\ now the interesting part, they ran boards, for the base of the rafter that have scrap boards "scabbed" to them. The appearance is non inviting. the then used pieces of scrap boards to "tie" into the top part of the rafter ( to the roof). Now my question(s): When I replace some of the rotten boards, after removing the old shingles, can I just leave the old rafters in place, and remove the bottom part of them--the pieces which are jerry rigged with scabbed lumber? The problem is I want to make the ceiling higher than it is. Right now it is about 7', and I need more clearance so I can open the hood of the car. Or can rise the ceiling to my desired height, and replace the "bottom" part of the rafter. Example: The way it is: /_\ and the way I would like it to be /-\. Is their a difference is structural support, and code enforcment? Also the studs for the walls are about 3' on center, and the rafters are not directly over the supporting studs, and some of the ridge plate is showing the stress. I know it would be cheaper, and less stressful to start from ground up. But this all being done on a very TIGHT budget.
Thank you for your time and Knowledge on this " thrown together garage.",

Good To Go

housedocs · 03-16-2005, 01:47 AM

Hello GTG and welcome aboard!

Wow, I have to be honest I would most definitely tell you to tear the thing down & just build a new garage, salvage what lumber you can by all means if you want to, but the walls being framed on 3' centers is scary and definitely not up to any sort of code even if they're 2"x6", and I'd bet they're just 2"x4".

It could be that if you tear down the garage you can't rebuild due to setbacks or other codes. Sometimes you must preserve one wall in order to rebuild. So first thing that's in order is a visit tothe local building inspector's office, you'll find that's things will go alot smoother and there are no surprises if you do things the right way.

The part of your post about the scabbed lumber on the joists, is most of this at the lower end of the joists? If that's the case I'd say this was done during some previous renovation when either the roof or soffits and fascia was redone.

One other suggestion, make a material list for a complete new garage and get an estimate on it, then compare it to the estimate for materials to rebuild what you have. Then compare the two. But like I say if you live in a city or town, there's probably codes to follow & permits to pull.

Hope that helps a bit.