How to straighten my boathouse?

[jmc]

^What anchored it from blowing away for 100 years? I'd start there.

If you stare at the bottom pic long enough, you can see an old Chris Craft floating in there.

 

[Streetcar]

What is supporting the roof if you can easily move the walls.determining supporting structure will lead you how to straighten the building

 

[fried1765]

OK, guys, here is a tough one for you. My 50' long, 100 year-old boathouse was sinking in to the lake at the end, but I have been able to replace enough of the (20' deep!) cribs on both sides so that the building is now up out of the water. BUT, it is crooked, and leaning. You can see in the photo where we tried hammering the walls to the right, hoping that the whole thing would move over, causing the whole boathouse to rotate a bit counterclockwise. And they did move (quite easily, actually). But only the bottom. (You can see where the side wall actually pulled away from the front wall.) Note that we have raised the wall a bit more since that photo, and in the Fall the water goes down quite a bit so we can walk on the crib joists. The second picture with yours truly shows this.

And because the end of the boathouse is 50' out into the water, we cannot simply attach a cable to the top corner and pull it sideways - there are no big trees growing out of the water LOL. This would be easy if the building was on land so I could just pull the top of the building over with a winch or what-not tied to a big tree.

It is so weird. I can hammer the bottom of both sides over, but the top does not want to come.

Any ideas, guys? Creative suggestions would be MUCH appreciated!

James



View attachment 604348
View attachment 604350

Post #10 by Moss Road essentially details the method I would use.

 

[Jstpssng]

Of course as you say,there are no trees in the lake to anchor to. Does it freeze in the winter time though?
Also, as you and so many others have pointed out it took 100 years for it to get that way, so you will want to take time putting it back. I know that when jacking up old houses they sometimes move them a little at a time over a period of months, to keep from popping things that they don’t want popped.
That is quite a project, and a nice building to be restoring.

 

[TimberHole]

The knee braces between the wall and the truss create a rigid moment connection. I would make some temporary braces for the walls with long enough screw jacks which allow enough adjustment and then remove the knee braces. Looks to me like the connection at the top of the wall would be considered a hinge. Looks like it would go right back in place. Maybe I’m missing something.

Fantastic building by the way!!!

 

[airbiscuit]

The knee braces between the wall and the truss create a rigid moment connection. I would make some temporary braces for the walls with long enough screw jacks which allow enough adjustment and then remove the knee braces. Looks to me like the connection at the top of the wall would be considered a hinge. Looks like it would go right back in place. Maybe I’m missing something.

Fantastic building by the way!!!

So the Knee Braces are holding it in the crooked state? Disconnect them, straighten the building and then reconnect them in the plumb and square state? I wondered the same thing.

 

[crashz]

Love the boat house! I had some good input, but this is beyond my building skills. But I want to commend you on your efforts to save such a cool, historical structure.

 

[TimberHole]

So the Knee Braces are holding it in the crooked state? Disconnect them, straighten the building and then reconnect them in the plumb and square state? I wondered the same thing.

That’s what I’m seeing. I would not remove the knee braces without temporary braces on the walls. With one end of the structure open it appears they have pinned the connection at the top of the wall creating a moment frame. At least that’s what it looks like to me in the photos.

 

[fxrupr]

A quick thought. With that new concrete pad you could attach ring bolts for tie downs and use cable or chain and turn buckles to start pulling things around. You say the cribbling is stable. Why not pour concrete caps on the corner cribbling and use those solid points fro pulling as well?

 

[Streetcar]

So the Knee Braces are holding it in the crooked state? Disconnect them, straighten the building and then reconnect them in the plumb and square state? I wondered the same thing.

If the knee brace was holding roof, the roof would move with wall. Op said roof stays in place when wall moved