Garage moving project

[ultrarunner]

I helped a neighbor a few years back move a 12 x 24 garage... another neighbor was adding on and gave away the garage.

It really was a simple low cost solution.

They rounded up a bunch of C-clamps... 6 were mine and used them to attach 2 x material from sidewall to side wall... they schedule a garage party for a Saturday and invited neighbors, family and friends to the BBQ.

I guessing somewhere between 30 and 40 men got inside the garage and on command lifted and walked the garage to it's new location...

I realize there is a big difference weight wise between this one car garage and the two car you are moving...

It's been years and people still talk about the big garage move and party...

 

[Cord]

Well we got the bracing installed today. I have a source for used sign posts. The posts mesure 4x6 and are 12-19' long. I ran a row of these around the bottom of the wall and screwed them to each stud using 1/4x6" spax screws. To make sure the sill plate stays on when sliding off the anchor bolts I ran a 2x4 around the bottom with a screw into each stud and another into the sill plate. Everything is triangulated in the X-Y and Z direction. Where 4x6's were lapped over each other I used a 3/8x10" spax bolt. Initial tests show the Hi-Lift jacks lifting the building, but it's pretty heavy. I'm hoping that this is from the anchor bolts dragging on the sill plate. We have a couple of bottle jacks that will help "kick" the building up.

Tomorrow we lift!

 

[dave1949]

Good luck!

If the anchor bolts are a problem you could relieve them with a hole saw, maybe 1/2" larger diameter than the bolts. Or pry up, or drive a wedge under the sill enough to get a sawzall blade under the sill and cut them.

 

[2458n]

I think I would look into bottle jacks at a rental place. My high-lift jacks get pretty tippy. Would move with 4x4 dually with the low range. Or big 4 wheel front drive tractor,again in low range.

 

[Cord]

Well we got the garage lifted and placed on the trailer. Out of daylight and tired we decided to wait until tonight to move it. Highlift jacks lifted the garage in one pass, but they were pretty much maxed out. I can see some of the safety shear bolts are bent. Biggest problem was getting the garage off the sill plate bolts. We used a bottle jack as a kicker to help the Hilift jack get started. Seems that several bolts were under studs or at the wall corner where they couldn't be seen. I think we counted 5 hidden bolts. Once they were released then things started going up faster. Jack braces worked great with no signs of lateral movement.

 

[Cord]

Well, we finished the move the other day. The garage had to wait on the trailer 5 months while we got some yard work done and then built the foundation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-62o6KIDPs

 

[deerseeker001]

Good Job,it went pretty smooth.

 

[mark02tj]

Very cool!

 

[KubotainNH]

Very cool, I like the video. Any close up pictures of the foundation? Looks like an interesting setup.

 

[Cord]

It's a slab on grade design, 8" thick at the edges, 5" in the center with a 3' grid of #4 bars and (3) #5 bars at the edge. We excavated the native soil down to gravel and then built a pad back up using compacted 3/4" traffic bond. The bank walls are 12" CMU with ladder reinforcement every 3rd course and vertical #5 bars 48" oc. The verts are doweled into the slab to prevent sliding. The top of the wall is reinforced with a #5 bar in a bond beam with the vertical bars penetrating the beam.

The floor system are 2x10's 12"oc with the center span top supported off a W12x19 beam. The one end of the beam rests on the pilaster and the low side bears on a short double 2x12 header with (4) jack studs. The sheathing is 3/4" plywood, treated within 4' of the doors. To restrain the wall the plywood is screwed 4" oc with blocking at 24" intervals for the first 4'.

We excavated, built the pad up and tied the rebar cage ourselves. Our mason poured the slab and built the walls. We then took the project over; framing the floor and backfilling the foundation.