How To Raise The Roof Of A Garage, A Description Of The Main Methods, As Well As What Material And Tools Are Needed

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

What are the ways to raise the roof of the garage

When purchasing a ready-made garage, a situation may arise when its height for your car is not enough. The same situation may arise when buying another car that will not be able to enter your garage, in addition, it is impossible to install a winch or a lift in a low garage. In such cases, you can raise the roof of the garage and solve the problems that have arisen. Although this is not an easy task, if you know how to do everything correctly, then you can do the work yourself, and how this can be implemented, we will consider further.

Content

• 1 How to properly and safely raise the roof of the garage

  • 1.1 Methods for lifting the garage roof

    • 1.1.1 Jacks
    • 1.1.2 Truck crane with temporary laying on steel supports
    • 1.1.3 Raising the roof when the garage has a common wall
    • 1.1.4 Video: Lifting the garage roof with a crane
  • 1.2 Material and equipment for lifting the garage roof

How to properly and safely raise your garage roof

Many experts argue that it is easier to build a new building than to remodel an old one. Despite this, a situation often arises when it is necessary to make changes to the design of the garage, usually problems arise with its insufficient height.

If you bought an old garage, you used to try to save money, so the height of the lower edge of the roof in it is usually no more than 2–2.5 meters. This is not enough to drive a minibus into such a garage or install a winch in it. Completely rebuilding a garage will be expensive and time consuming. To solve this problem, it is enough to raise the roof in the garage, it will cost less than building a new garage, and you can do everything yourself.

It is much more profitable to raise an old roof along with beams and a roofing cake than to dismantle it and rebuild it

Ways to raise the roof of a garage

There are several ways to raise the garage roof:

1. With the use of a truck crane. This option is suitable when the roof of the building is made of concrete slabs or is made so that it can be strengthened by creating a single outline. After installing a reliable circuit, the crane lifts the roof and leaves it to the side, on a previously prepared flat area. After that, the walls of the garage are raised to the required height and the roof is put in place. The disadvantage of this method is that holding the crane while the walls are being raised is an expensive pleasure, it will be cheaper to call it twice, but it will also cost a pretty penny.

   

   The roof can be lifted quickly and safely with a mobile crane, but it is expensive to rent

   Installation on internal supports. In this case, you will also need a powerful truck crane. Before calling it and creating a single contour, you need to prepare the supports. Usually these are metal racks that are easy and quick to assemble. They are installed along the walls and in the corners of the garage. After the crane lifts the roof, the internal supports are installed and the raised structure is lowered onto them. The resulting gap between the wall and the roof is laid with bricks or other material. In this case, it will be enough to call the truck crane only once and you will not need to delay it for a long time.

   

   After the roof is lowered onto the internal supports, the space between it and the wall is filled with bricks

2. Jack. This is the most time consuming option, which will require more time and more thorough roof preparation. On the inside, additional binders are installed, which will not allow the roof to skew during its raising. You will need a few jacks, and their number must be even. After raising a certain section of the roof, it is fixed, and they move on to another section. Thus, it is possible to lift not only roofs made of concrete slabs, but also a wooden rafter system, only it must be properly strengthened.

   

   To raise the roof, only hydraulic jacks can be used.

If you have a steel garage, then if necessary, raise the roof, which is rigidly and firmly fixed to the walls, it is easier to raise the walls of the building. First, you need to assess the condition of the garage, see if there are any traces of corrosion, so that during the work, unforeseen situations do not arise.

Such a garage is raised to the required height using a crane or jacks, after which it is installed on supports. The remaining space between the floor and the wall is covered with metal sheets or a brick base is made.

The location of the garage is of great importance for the sequence of work. If it is a detached building, then any of the methods described can be used. If there are common walls with an adjacent garage, the order of work will be slightly different. To maximize the safety of work on raising the roof of the garage, the joint use of a truck crane and hydraulic jacks is often used.

Jacks

Several hydraulic jacks can be used to raise the garage roof without the need for expensive bulky equipment.

The procedure for raising the roof in the garage in this way will consist of the following steps:

1. A minimum of two hydraulic jacks are required to complete the work. Depending on the structure of the roof, the lifting capacity of the jacks may vary, but usually 3-4 tonne models are sufficient.

   

   The lifting capacity of the jack must be at least 3-4 tons, there must be at least two

2. Creation of supports for jacks. You can make a support from bricks, while they are laid without using mortar.

   

   You can make a brick support for the jack of the required height or use a wooden beam of the appropriate length

3. Creation of a single contour. If the roof is made of powerful reinforced concrete slabs, then they can be lifted in turn, without creating a single contour. If you doubt the strength of the slabs or the roof has a wooden truss system, then a single strapping is performed, which will not allow the roof to tilt during lifting. A channel is used to create such a contour.

   

   A metal channel is used to create the roof trim

4. With the help of the simultaneous action of two jacks mounted on the columns, the roof is raised by 5–7 cm. It is impossible to raise the roof by more than 10 cm at a time, since, and this may cause it to skew. If the roof has a small area, then it can be raised immediately; for this, at least 5 jacks are used. The roof is strapped, jacks are installed in the center of the garage and in its corners. If the garage has a large area, then each roof slab is raised separately.

   

   It is not recommended to raise the roof by more than 5-7 cm at a time, so that there is no distortion

5. Fixing the slab. After the slab has risen above the wall, reliable supports are installed between them. These can be bricks, metal bars or wooden beams. Then they move on to raising the next section of the roof.

6. Building up walls. After raising the roof to a given height, the walls are built up.

   

   After fixing the roof, the space between it and the wall is laid with brick or other material.

7. At the last stage, they inspect and check the reliability of the structure, and carry out finishing work.

If the garage is metal, then the roof is raised with jacks along with the walls, and the remaining space is filled with brickwork. In order to independently raise the roof of the garage, powerful hydraulic jacks are used, other models are not suitable.

Truck crane with temporary laying on steel supports

If there are funds and the ability to call a crane, then the work of raising the roof is greatly simplified. In this case, the sequence will be like this:

1. Preparing the racks. The most commonly used metal quick-assembled racks. They are installed in the corners of the garage and along the walls, the number and size of the racks must ensure reliable fixation of the roof.
2. All elements of the roof, which will be raised, are reliably connected with crossbars.

3. Raising the roof. With the help of a crane, the roof is raised and held over the walls.

   

   The crane raises the roof and holds it until the racks are installed, and then lowers the structure on them

4. Installation of supports. At this time, prepared pores are quickly installed, after which the roof is gently lowered onto them. After it is securely fixed, the crane can be released.

   

   Quick-assembly metal supports must be installed in the corners of the garage and along its walls

5. Sealing the formed gap. After raising the roof, the gap formed is laid with bricks or other material.

A truck crane can be used to lift the roof of a garage quickly and safely, but the cost of such work will be high

Raising the roof when the garage has a common wall

Very often garages have a common wall, in this case it will be more difficult to raise the roof than in a detached building. This is due to the fact that the width of the common wall usually does not exceed the width of one brick, and there is little supporting surface left for the jack.

To solve this problem, you need to make an additional support surface, this can be implemented in several ways:

• creation of reinforced concrete or brick support columns, which are located under the slab connection line;
• you can make an additional common wall, it is made in half a brick, while making a mandatory dressing with the existing masonry;
• the columns can be made of powerful metal channels, which are additionally tied with a steel profile.

If your garage has a common wall with a neighboring building, then after raising the roof, you will have to restore the roof not only on your own, but also on the neighboring garage

If the wall near the garage is common, then after raising the roof, it will be necessary to restore the roof on your and the neighboring garage

Lifting slabs with the creation of additional internal supports can only be done when the garage has a monolithic foundation. If the foundation is strip or pile, then this method cannot be used, since over time, without a reliable support, the erected structures will shift.

Video: lifting the roof of the garage with a crane

Material and equipment for lifting the roof of the garage

Depending on the chosen method of lifting the roof, you may need different materials and equipment, so you must have:

• several hydraulic jacks, with a lifting capacity of about 3-4 tons or call a truck crane;
• brick, cinder block or other building material, with which the gap between the wall and the roof will be closed;
• cement mortar;
• metal channel, it is needed to create a roof trim;
• quick-assembly metal structures, if the roof is lifted by a truck crane with installation on supports;
• brick for creating supports for installing jacks.

If you decide to independently raise the roof in the garage, then remember that this is not only time consuming, but also quite dangerous process. Before performing these works, it is necessary to study the technology for carrying out all stages and take care of safety measures. Only serviceable hydraulic jacks may be used. The safest method is to raise the roof of the garage using a truck crane, but calling a truck crane is expensive, so this is usually done with jacks. Raising the roof is a rather complicated process, therefore, during the construction of a garage, it is necessary to immediately foresee the possibility of purchasing a large-sized car and installing a winch or hoist.