Repairing an old garage

[CHRiley]

Greetings all, I have a garage thats old and falling apart. I need to repair most of the garage. A few years ago I put a new garage door on it and reframed the front to hold the new door. However now I need to start working on the walls. I know how to support the roof while removing sections of the wall, that is not my problem. My problem or fear is that when I remove sections of the wall my foundation will not be level. The foundation is about 12" to 16" of large rocks. Just like the basement of my over 100 year old home. I was hoping I could just leave the sill plate alone and add an additional 2x4 over top of it. However in some areas the wood has started to rot so it will definatly need to be replaced. Now another problem would be how do I attach a 2x4 to the old rock foundation? Is the rock going to crack or break if I drill a tapcon or something into it? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you

[Don M]

I would try to avoid attaching anything to your stone foundation & work at replacing what ever part of your sill that needs it. I had rotted sills on a spring house workshop. I jacked up the building in various spots & replaced the 4x4 sills as needed then set the building back down on the sill. The weight of the building held the replacement sill in place & then I used metal strapping to attach the walls to the sill. Old house & barns usually just sat on the foundation & were not attached to it.

[stepan]

I was that time where I was doing garage replacement and renovation at the same time. It went fine when I call garage service company that handles the makeover while doors and safety sensors were installed.

[Faust]

"My problem or fear is that when I remove sections of the wall my foundation will not be level"

There is no need that it is, what you are concerned about is a level roof line. That can be adjusted by varying the wall height. I am assuming the "out of level" condition is slight. While modern houses are anchored to the foundation, most old buildings are not.

I would lag a 2 x 10 horizontaly across the studs (I assume you have them) then use bottle jacks to lift the building slightly. With the weight off the sills, you could replace the rotted sections

[dpkmpy8]

Agreed, if your roof line is level now, simply tie all the wall studs together with the 2x10 as mentioned, and lift it to repair the sill. If the roof line is not level, you can use the 2x10 method still, it is just more labor intensive. Tie it to the most level studs, then jack up the low studs until the roofline is level, then tie them into the 2x10. Then you will have to replace or sister the bottoms of the now shorter studs so they touch the sill.

[stepan]

Well, Keeping your garage clean, safe and functional is an ongoing job. We must learn how to remove dirt and stains from garage floors and how to repair cracks in concrete. Repair holes in drywall and replace broken glass in doors and windows. Maintain garage gutters and downspouts. Troubleshoot problems with the garage door opener.