I am working on converting an old concrete block 2 car garage to a workshop. The ceiling joists sag and there is a crack down the back wall. I want to raise the ceiling from 8 feet to ten feet for reasonable amount of room to work, and stud the walls for insulation in the wall. I want to install a sheetrock ceiling and insulate the attic. I want to remove the garage doors and fill in the openings with a wall in both with a personnel door in one.

The decision point would be whether or not a new one would be cheaper than modifying the old one.

I hired a structural engineer to evaluate the structure and produce plans for its complying with code and enabling this modification. He says that it can be modified and the walls raised to ten feet. The plans are due next week.

In deciding how to raise the roof, discussions were held about disassembling the roof structure and reassembling it atop the raised walls. Another suggestion was to lift the entire roof assembly and raise the walls, and replace the roof structure.

I talked to a contractor about lifting the roof, raising the walls, and reseating the roof structure in its entirety. He said that it can be done, after the structure is reinforced as the engineer will specify.

It will be an interesting project.

 

Id knock it down. Save the roof wood if you want are can.
You said Stud the walls , so thats the outside walls. close in the doors. All I see here is the siding cost to what you will have done with the old garage The cost to hold up the roof to 10 ft will pay for that.

ED

 

I'm with Ed on this one, i think it will be cheaper to start over. Plus if the wall is already cracked and the beams sag...

 

The engineering drawings were finished today. Now I will be able to get with the contractor to learn the one thing unknown so far: how much this will cost. The driving force behind the direction this plan will take would be the cost of one option versus the other: building a new workshop or converting the existing building.

 

Ill bet the new one will cost less If I have a the info.
ED

 

The option to lift the roof will cost $17,500. This cost struck me as being about $10,000 more than too expensive.

Now looking a building one from scratch for comparison.

 

So far, the rich contractor wants $18,000 to build a bare building, open studs inside, siding and roof over a slab; otherwise unfinished.

The penurious DIYer from South Carolina is looking at subbing out a slab for around $2700, and wrapping up with a finished, equipped building under $10,000. The plans would include insulated walls and ceiling, electrical, light, heat, paint, and ventilation. All built the way I wanted.

The old building will stay for storage.

As a side note, the engineer was appalled that the price to raise the roof was so high.

 

I am planning to install hydronic radiant heat in the slab.

 

Chris,

Just out of curiosity, what did the structural engineer charge you, and did he provide construction drawings?

I need to hire either an architect or structural engineer at Lake Murray.

 

The drawings were $550 and were stamped.

 

Thanks for the information, Chris.