Four post in a small garage

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by pete3799

I'm no engineer but those cut rafters scare me.

This. A good windy day may make that roof just leave.

I asked a local home builder friend about modifying my garage. I have a full sheet rocked and insulated three car garage. It would have been over 30 grand.

I just dug a pit, and put in a scissor lift. I love it. When the car is out of the garage, and the lift is lowered, with the piece of plywood on top, it is basically gone.



It is great as a work space for my lawnmower.




I did hire a garage door guy to raise the door rails to the maximum height, and put in a new door lifter to gain some height.




I have done several transmission fluid changes, and the tunnel fuel hose replacements.
No it is not as nice as a real lift that one can walk under, but it works for my garage, and I love it.

I would hire an engineer to look at your roof and be sure it is safe. Your insurance company may not like that roof as is.

[JSV798]

Originally Posted by JSV798

As someone who has built garages I would double up on the bolts holding the ends of your repositioned rafters and add another rafter above and put two bolts in each end of those too. Then I would add an upright in the centre (short piece of timber) to the apex of the roof. And I would remove those cut off pieces of wood - in fact use those for your uprights in the centre.

Alternatively, I would look up some examples of roof truss design. You should be able to use those cut pieces to add strength. Typically, you would add these pieces, which at the moment are doing nothing, as v-shaped pieces between the rafters and your cross piece

Roy

[Mark44]

Originally Posted by kent olsen

If I lived in a climate with lots of snow the strength of the roof would be an issue, but I live in Oregon and we rarely have more than 3-4" of snow for 1-2 days. The strength of the rafters is just moved up a foot of two so that's an angular difference and without a lot of snow weight I don't feel it's significant.

I was in Portland on Feb 22., the day they got nearly a foot of snow. If my geography is up to speed McMinnville isn't to far away. Luckily, I finished my business there and was headed back north on I-5 around 3. Many people who left later were stranded on the freeways around there all night or abandoned their cars where they sat.

Originally Posted by kent olsen

The strength of the rafters is just moved up a foot of two so that's an angular difference and without a lot of snow weight I don't feel it's significant. Just the opinion of an old car nut who flew airplanes around the world for 45 years.

But did you design any airplanes?

Those cut rafters and the scabbed on pieces look exceedingly sketchy. I'm sure they would not pass any kind of inspection.

[MBAtarga]

Kent, what type of fasteners did you use to "reassemble" the parts after you made the cuts? Are they threaded or are those nails?

[kent olsen]

3" heavy screws. I may, this summer, cut off the short pieces and add them to the top braces this summer. Just a little more strength. Even though lifting the 750lb ramp of the 4 post lift, off my trailer didn't even cause a squeak from the roof.

[MBAtarga]

Screws are weak in shear strength.


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[pmax]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I have done several transmission fluid changes, and the tunnel fuel hose replacements.
No it is not as nice as a real lift that one can walk under, but it works for my garage, and I love it.

Do you sit under that or crouch and isn't it in the way of getting to the midsection of the car ? Engine drops doable ?

[JSV798]

Originally Posted by kent olsen

3" heavy screws. I may, this summer, cut off the short pieces and add them to the top braces this summer. Just a little more strength. Even though lifting the 750lb ramp of the 4 post lift, off my trailer didn't even cause a squeak from the roof.

I would have used through bolts; here in the UK we call them coach bolts or carriage bolts. They have a squared end at the head end that will embed itself in the timber and allow a nut to be tightened without the bolts moving. Drill right through cross piece and rafter so you can push the bolts through and secure with a nut. Two bolts at each end will stop any rotation. This is what I did on my roof.

Roy

[PeteKz]

Kent: Here are some building code considerations: The roof structure must be able to support the total load of a heavy snow on the roof. The typical design snow load requirement for a roof is 30lbs/sq.ft. The trusses on your roof look like they are 2 ft apart, so each truss must support a strip of roof 1 ft. on either side of it, multiplied by the length of the truss. I'll guess that at 20 ft. Thus each truss must support 2x20x30=1200 lbs. If you can support 1200 lbs hanging from the center of each truss, then your roof is strong enough. If your truss lengths or spacing are different, re-run the calculation with your numbers.

It still looks bad though, and any building inspector would flunk it.