leaning garage

[srazor]

Issue: I have a small one car garage, gable end over door and rear, that is leaning to the left. The garage is about 3.5 inches out of plumb over 7' of height. I know how to correct the lean having done it before on a garage that leans front to rear, but i have a question on this job. The rear wall will be simple to correct, I am going to let in a 2x running diagonal across the rear. Now for the question: How do I brace the front? The corner posts are doubled

2x4s wiith a space of around 6" between that and the doubled 2x that are the garage door sides/ header support. I don't believe that this small area will suffice as a shear wall if I sheath it with plywood. My instinct tells me it will just be a wider corner post, around 9" - (2 2X4 + 6 INCH CAVIVITY + 2 2x = 9") that will subsequently lean.

What to do?

Scot

TIA

[mike]

leaning to the left. The garage is about 3.5 inches out of plumb over 7' of height. I know how to correct the lean having done it before on a garage that leans front to rear, but i have a question on this job.

3.5" out of plumb? Heh, heh. By "knowing how to correct the lean", do you meaning tearing the heap down and building a new garage?

[Mike M.]

leaning to the left. The garage is about 3.5 inches out of plumb over 7' of height. I know how to correct the lean having done it before on a garage that leans front to rear, but i have a question on this job.

That would certainly be the best option. An old house behind my church had a leaning garage. It was of 1930's era, amateur construction, and the lean was due to insufficient bracing in the original construction.

Somebody was talking about how easy it would be to 'correct' the lean, and I had visions of four guys getting macho and underestimating the dead weight of the roof of that structure and getting a few of their limbs crushed when it collapsed on them. My vote went to the idea of tearing that puppy down and building a new garage the right way.

Mike

[glyford]

This doesn't address all your issues, but may help provide some insights:

I'd be tempted to say that some is better than none. How much of the door header do you have access to? Consider using the largest metal "L" brackets you can find and lag bolting them to the door columns and header from the inside...

Something along these lines, but bigger if you can find it:

Another way to do this might be to replace the header with one that goes all the way over to the corners. Then run your plywood that runs up the studs onto the header, and maybe even bolt it on addition to your nails or screws--add a piece on the inside as well.

Another way would be to make a large "L" out of ply that would tie the door columns to the header, like several feet on a side, on both the inside and the outside.

--Glenn Lyford

[Goedjn]

leaning to the left. The garage is about 3.5 inches out of plumb over 7' of height. I know how to correct the lean having done it before on a garage that leans front to rear, but i have a question on this job. The rear wall will be simple to correct, I am going to let in a 2x running diagonal across the rear. Now for the question: How do I brace the front? The corner posts are doubled

2x4s wiith a space of around 6" between that and the doubled 2x that are the garage door sides/ header support. I don't believe that this small area will suffice as a shear wall if I sheath it with plywood. My instinct tells me it will just be a wider corner post, around 9" - (2 2X4 + 6 INCH CAVIVITY + 2 2x = 9") that will subsequently lean.

Easiest way would be to drive an 8x8 post just outside that corner, and brace the garage against it.