Jacking Up a Small Roof?

Just reverse engineer however you lowered it to begin with. Get it higher than your proposed walls, prop there, build walls, lower roof. Trying to build walls then lift the roof on top is the hard way at it. At least that seems to be what you are proposing.

Harry K

I did it to raise a bar joist/hot tar roof about 6'. Used rented shoring scaffold, screwjacks pushing on stringers fastened to the bottom of the bar joists.

Egad, I wish this Newsgroup would permit a small pix to illustrate my dilema. I understand and agree with what you're saying. Lifting the roof over already-built and standing walls was not my intent. Sorry if it came over that way. However, the challenge remains in devising a safe way of actually getting the roof _even higher_ than it is currently supported on the 4 corner oil drums ..and doing it safely and inexpensively. I need a good simple method here. Wayne

Thanks, Dan. I'll check our local rental outfit and see what they have to offer for this application. My concern with this method, however, is how to insert the wall structure and upper plates with the scaffolding in place (covering the underside of the roof joists)? I am pondering the idea of first building the floor deck in place. Then using that as a platform placing the scaffolding or other supports on that and go from there ..with a myriad of bottle jacks ..or are there special long-extension jacks available for just this purpose? This would leave the outside perimeter of the roof/ceiling/joists for acceptance of the new walls. Wayne

you might to try some jacks they have for pickup truck campers where you would work them in pair lifting to the max then shimming the second. or the lally column screw jacks they have for houses You want to make sure you have good side to side stability. Don't rule out a small crane they crane in hot tubs to back yards and decks all the time I think mine was leas than

Wayne

Thanks, Wayne. A crane would be nice, but ..nyet. You might have determined from my original post that I would like to accomplish this on the relative cheap. It will be afterall, only a shed and I have spent way too much on it in both building materials and time already. Me thinks the cost of building a new roof would be cheaper than hiring a crane. And building another roof ain't gonna happen as that would probably tip the scales of cost/rewards.

Here's some more background: this whole exercise started when I wanted to remove an unsightly carport and nobody needed one. I had the "bright idea" to move it and frame it out into a shed or ?? So now it sits waiting for my decision. What I need is a nifty diy plan with supplies at hand.

Wayner

(outrigged)

Being a guy who has done all kind of things 'on the cheap' some that worked, some that didn't, I don't think you will be able to accomplish the mission. It is going to cost you money. You will have to rent (or scrounge - not likely) the proper jacks, rent the scaffolding as mentioned above, or at least scrounge a -lot- of dunnage.

As for building the walls with the roof above them: The procedure is to raise the roof high enough to enable erecting the walls below them then lowering the roof into place. It is possible to build the wall into the roof while it is blocked up but it is a frustrating job, basically you have to have your stringers supporting the roof parrallel to, and a short distance away, from the wall you are building.

Harry K

If you've got the space around it, and fairly deep soil with no piping under it, you just stick a post near each corner, anchored with cables, and hoist the thing. Use 4' long bits of #10 rebar as stakes. If you haven't got the space for that, build a tripod out of 10' galvanized pipe at each corner, and hoist the roof on a pair of 16' 4x6s slung between them.

Jeez. The more I think about this task the more I'm beginning to wonder if it really is worth the effort ..and $$. Salvaging the carport roof was more of a recycling project that is turning into a new building but with the added twist (and cost) of working with an old roof. How many people construct a building around it's roof ..especially a 16x9 shed? Perhaps I should really weigh whether it should just be deconstructed and another built once the walls are up ..or factor all that into it and postpone or even nix the project. Another twist is the cost of the concrete for the footings/pads (already cribbed) will be picked up by the municipality as they are repouring curbs on our street later this week and will have extra left over for me. Nice guys. So, if anything the pads can be used elsewhere as HD stepping stones ;^\

Wayne

After asking myself 'what would I do?' I did come up with a possible cheap way. You would need several strong guys and a few helpers. Prop it up as high as you can without going to excess, lay strong timbers at a slant up to the new wall plates, levers, pushing, grunting, blocking to keep it from sliding back down, etc. Maybe a couple come alongs over the top of the walls to pull with. My motto always was 'if I can move it an inch, I can move it a mile given enough time'. It doesn't have to be done all in one day.

Harry K

How about lifting it as high as you can (like I kind of remember it already is sitting on steel barrels), and then lift one end up about 5 or 6 feet and build a temporary wall under it -- don't forget to add diagonal braces! Jack the other end up to the desired 8 feet and build a real wall under it -- don't forget the diagonal braces! Now jack the first end up off the temporary wall, knock down the wall and build a real wall. Frame the 2 sides and tie it all together and you're done.

Bob

Nice idea, Bob. However, the scary thing about that idea is having the 1500 pound load skidding out on me and collapsing to the ground, pinning me there with blood rushing out of my mouth. And my wife doesn't get home until 5. lol Seems to me we would be talking about one end on the barrels (which could present a stability problem when boosted even higher) and the other end being elevated further. At some point -- not too far up -- the barrels will become super unstable and slide out OR the other end will do the same. Either way the force on either the barrels or the temp wall will be exagerated. So it seems to me the angle ratio will be quite steep and I'll bet some physics laws come into play here.

Further comments..?

Wayne

Actually, what I think I'll do is make another pix of the site and post it to a link, then share this with you. A 'visual' may be a better demo of my situation.

cost/rewards.

How about this; make a bunch of A-frames out of 12 foot or 14 foot 2x4's bolted together with a single carriage bolts near the top. Suspend the roof from the A-frames with short pieces of safety chain. Have some of the frames going this way, and other's going that way. YOu don't want the m parallel or they might tip over. You'll need some sober friends to help you -- lift the thing a little at a time. Nail braces all over the place to stabilize it.

Bob

According to Wayner :

I think you need to sit back and consider two things:

- does the roof meet your requirements? Or should you abandon it and start over?

- if it does, it will be _extremely_ unlikely for you to be able to jury-rig _anything_ to hoist the roof cheaper than a 1-2 hour visit by a crane.

Heck, even if building "tripods" of 2x4s or steel pipe, or any of the other ideas I've seen proposed here would work at all, I don't give two bits for their safety. I'm convinced that it'd be cheaper to hire a crane than try cobbling together tripods (the pipe isn't free either) or even renting scaffolding.

A heck of a lot safer too.

In the scheme of things, 1500 pounds isn't that much. A delivery truck crane (ie: those used for delivering shingles) could handle it.

The cranes they use for erecting trusses should be able to handle it too, and they're cheap for short jobs.

Thanks, Chris. But as I indicated at the beginning, I can no longer get any heavy equipment to the site. So I am left with doing this chore by hand. Having a crane at the front of the house and maneuvouring it over to the rear is far too expensive for something that was supposed to be a lowly salvage/recycle operation. Wayne

According to Wayner :

You'd be surprised at the reach of some moderate size cranes. Like the ones they use for lowering trees in awkward places. I've seen one reach over a house to lower a big chunk of tree.

Can't hurt to call around and see how much it'll cost to come visit for an hour or two.

So the question is, is the roof now on walls and if it is, how did it happen?