OK we are talking about maybe $200 worth of 2x4s and a coupla hundred
for plywood (or go scavenge some from some building demo for free), even
if that much, to raise the thing up, and maybe another coupla hundred to
rent some jacks and buy/rent some beams. The DC building inspector will
probably extract a couple bennies from you so you don't have "problems"
but maybe you could just give him a fifth of 4 Roses and some weed or
blow, and he would leave you alone if he even shows up. I mean, we're
talking DC here, not some civilized place where the city gummint
actually works or gives half a sh*t what you do to your garage. Or just
start on Fri evening and have it done by Monday morning, and plead
ignorance to any changes.
Aesthetically, we are talking about a garage here, not the Taj Mahal.
Mama shouldn't care much one way or the other if it makes you happy.
Invest another coupla hundred in a some nice lugustrums and climbing
roses or something, and you won't even see the building next summer. Or
better yet, buy her a plane ticket to Nantucket for a weekend, we'll get
a few manly men and some beer, and get the thing done and she probably
wouldn't even notice.
You are overthinking this, the energy you are spending on overthinking
could get it done and you could have a doghouse if she notices, and a
nice place to work on cars.
--R
andrew strasfogel wrote:
This all sounds plausible, except that I would need to obtain another
residential construction permit from the D.C. authorities. I doubt there is
a height limitation, however, so maybe this won't prove too painful an
exercise...
The other non-trivial challenge is to persuade my sig. oth. (who is an
interiors architect) that this is a worthwhile and esthetically winning
project.
Other than that, it's a walk in the park!
So the pit digging option is looking better by the minute. What type of
contractor handles this sort of controlled mayhem?
On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 4:44 PM, Curt Raymond <curtlud...@yahoo.com> wrote:
If you got Rich to do it I'd give serious consideration to driving down to
help just for the experience...
-Curt
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:49:25 -0400
From: Rich Thomas <richthomas79td...@constructivity.net>
Subject: Re: [MBZ] Need a lift?
To: Mercedes Discussion List <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Message-ID: <4a5f8445.6020...@constructivity.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed"
Actually, jacking up the whole garage a few feet is not very difficult
or expensive to do. The only issue would be if there is a zoning
constraint (or the neighbors complain if you just do it). If the
structure is in your backyard, not particularly visible from the street,
and the houses are all fairly tall then another 4 or 5 ft or whatever
would not really be much. Poll the neighbors when you take them some
nice homegrown produce, and see what they would say to a higher garage.
You could build the stub wall insert ever how high (say 4 ft) out of
2x4s, the whole thing sized right, call a foundation company to come
jack up the whole deal (that would probably take about 2 hrs to do at
most), or just rent some beams and jacks and do it yourself. Then slide
the inserts under the existing walls and drop the structure back down,
tie it all together with nails and straps and whatever, then put on some
sheathing and be done with it. That's like a weekend project for a
coupla guys with some beer and saws and nail guns (heh heh, look I said
"guns" heh heh). Hell I might even come up and help you do it if you
feed me summathem fresh 'maters and hide your Obama stickers and such,
maybe take me down Wisconsin Ave/M St for some eats.
By raising the roof, what is meant is to leave the walls where they are,
jack the whole roof up (new shingles and all) after cutting off the top
sill nails (so the rafters are still attached to the top sill, slide
your new wall inserts in, and have that on top not the bottom. Similar
deal, but you need longer jacks and posts and it would be a bit more
dangerous If it is a flat roof that makes it even easier. Either way,
this is like 16th century technology, so nothing radical involved.
I was thinking to do that to my garage at the old Victorian I restored,
to get a 2nd floor loft in it for storage. (which you can kinda see on
the left in this pic
http://www.constructivity.net/images/70e_1982.jpg) OK I can see your
house on google, looks like you have an alley so the garage is way back
there behind some pretty big houses, I would just go tell the neighbors
you are restoring your garage or roof or something, jack it up, put in
some stub walls, plant some fast-growing bushes, and be done with it,
not like it would be a big deal or cause any major heartburn to anyone.
--R
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