Carport turned into Garage
#1
06-11-12, 12:49 PM
Carport turned into Garage
Hi,
I recently bought a 1950's one level bungalow that when it was built had a 14 foot wide carport. With in the last 10-15 years the owner at the time added a 2 feet extension on to the width of the carport, the best I can figure is that they wanted some workspace beside the car. They did this by taking out the old pilings, post and beam and moving them.
Here where it gets a little messy. The did nothing more than scab a 2 foot extension to the ridge beam and add another truss. So long story short with the open truss system in the garage, and the added weight of a garage door and opener the ridge beam is starting to sag and now I need to brace it. Any Advice as to how I could do that and how I can find a way to make the two parts (the original ridge beam and the extension) act and perform like one?
I recently bought a 1950's one level bungalow that when it was built had a 14 foot wide carport. With in the last 10-15 years the owner at the time added a 2 feet extension on to the width of the carport, the best I can figure is that they wanted some workspace beside the car. They did this by taking out the old pilings, post and beam and moving them.
Here where it gets a little messy. The did nothing more than scab a 2 foot extension to the ridge beam and add another truss. So long story short with the open truss system in the garage, and the added weight of a garage door and opener the ridge beam is starting to sag and now I need to brace it. Any Advice as to how I could do that and how I can find a way to make the two parts (the original ridge beam and the extension) act and perform like one?
#2
06-11-12, 02:06 PM
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Wet side of Washington state.
Posts: 16,321
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I'm confused. I am not a carpenter and I have only a limited amount of knowledge concerning basic framing but I am unaware of truss construction having a ridge beam. Are you sure you don't have rafters instead of trusses? And, the ridge beam would run perpendicular to the rafters so adding on to the ridge beam would make the garage/carport longer, not wider.
With either truss or rafter construction the position of the vertical supports IS critical. With rafters you would have to have wider rafters if the span, from ridge to the walls, if the walls were moved outward. With trusses the entire truss would need to be re-engineered.
Could you post several pictures of what your construction is like?
With either truss or rafter construction the position of the vertical supports IS critical. With rafters you would have to have wider rafters if the span, from ridge to the walls, if the walls were moved outward. With trusses the entire truss would need to be re-engineered.
Could you post several pictures of what your construction is like?
#3
06-11-12, 02:44 PM
Thanks for the quick response. Maybe I should clarify the house and garage have one peak running from north to south the garage opens west. so when they added on the the carport the ridge of the roof got longer and that made the garage wider. When it comes to trusses and rafters you are probably right they would be "rafters." I know that with the house being built 60+ years ago I don't know that the Rafters were meant to hold the weight of a modern garage door and opener and with the ridge beam not being properly extended only magnifies the issues of weight. Once again any help would be great. I will post pictures as soon as possible to maybe make this a little less confusing.
#4
06-11-12, 03:05 PM
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Wet side of Washington state.
Posts: 16,321
Received 38 Upvotes
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I getcha! Rafters never support the doors, you need to frame up the door opening with king studs at the outer sides and jack studs supporting a header above the opening. Like this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1093[/ATTACH]
(image courtesy of thevennumhouse.com)
Obviously much wider for a garage door but the same principles involved. This way the weight of the roof (rafter tails) is supported by the header which in turn transfers the weight to the jack and king studs. The door is supported by the tracks (overhead door) which attach to framing members under the rafters (ties or collar ties) and the studs. In the case of swinging doors the weight of the doors is borne by the hinges which attach to the studs.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]1093[/ATTACH]
(image courtesy of thevennumhouse.com)
Obviously much wider for a garage door but the same principles involved. This way the weight of the roof (rafter tails) is supported by the header which in turn transfers the weight to the jack and king studs. The door is supported by the tracks (overhead door) which attach to framing members under the rafters (ties or collar ties) and the studs. In the case of swinging doors the weight of the doors is borne by the hinges which attach to the studs.
#5
06-11-12, 10:49 PM
Once again, Thanks for the quick response. I know I will have to check to see if they have done that above the garage door. My main concern though is that I need to fix the sagging roof. I can address the garage door weight as I have a brother in law (a garage door professional) who has that on his to do list.
Any suggestions on how to address the issue with the bad join in the ridge beam? and correcting the sagging peak of the house because of it?
Any suggestions on how to address the issue with the bad join in the ridge beam? and correcting the sagging peak of the house because of it?
