New Garage 24x32

Kyle241 · Oct 15, 2010

So I finally got round to commencing on the garage and hopefully can finish before the snow flies. I am building a 24x32 garage pole method with attic trusses to provide a 12'x32' room upstairs. The piers are done as of a few days ago and the last two days I have installed the 6"x6" posts. The first floor will have 12' ceiling height and those were not too bad to handle. It was the 16's that were a bit of a bear as a lot of weight was well above where I could reach to stabilize the pole. These longer ones are at the gable ends for the last truss to attach to. All were done by myself, save one which DW helped with but I found a better method and did not need her for the rest. The next job is to sight and mark the top of the poles to get them all even and then the 2"x10"s go up sandwiching the posts. I'll be placing a 2' section of 2"x6" vertical on the poles to support the 'headers' along with 10" lag bolts. Here's a couple of pics so far.

The 2"x4"s in front are only attached on the posts to the right and I will be cutting them today. The garage doors will be 8'6"x10' as I was originally going 9'x10' however the forms for the piers could only be so close together due to the bell shaped bottoms.

The true beast will be the trusses as like I said, they are attic trusses and have 2"x8" along the base which act as the attic floors. I currently do not have a plan in place to get them up yet however I am going to call a local contractor who helped build my house and see whether he would be interested in earning a few extra dollars. If not, I'm looking at renting a machine that would lift them high enough but that may not work very well without a couple extra set of hands.

RxRatedZ71 · Oct 16, 2010

Great looking project. When I raised my trusses, that morning a bunch of friends came out to help. One guy formerly worked for a sign company and said they helped people install trusses with their bucket truck all the time. The business was open M-F and the guys put in overtime just managing the truck on the weekends while hanging trusses. They never had to hammer/nail, just operate the boom and bucket. He told me they only charged a hundred or two for several hours. Might be worth checking into!

PA hayseed · Oct 16, 2010

I don't know how much your trusses would weigh, but I have rented a tow behind lift before. Some lifts come equipped with a man bucket and a hook. The hook can lift 500 lbs. I rented one for a long weekend for a couple hundred or so. I think, but can't remember exactly, that it exteded to 30', and was fully articulating. You could run it from the ground or from the bucket.

Just an FYI. We used it for topping some old maples that were on top of a house, and for some other high work. I've rented the other kinds before, but they normally charge a delivery fee for the 4x4 self movers. The tow behind only required my truck and some gas. It went ok over rough terrain, but can be a pain moving it around the site backing it in with the truck. A pain, but not overly difficult. Just make sure you have some boards under the wheels and jacks if the ground is soft. If the ground is anything but rock hard, think about having some boards under the rear tires of the truck too. Don't ask how I know.

Birdhunter1 · Oct 16, 2010

I rented a 40' bucket lift that easily towed behind a truck. To get an idea I have a regular cab Ford Ranger 4wd with the 3.0 v6 and towed it back to the rental yard 20 miles and had no problems, towed it to the site with dad's F 150. It worked well, dad was in the bucket hoisting them up, my cousin and I were on the ground and securing them to the posts. The process went very well, it was also nice having that bucket to put the temporary bracing on as climbing up a ladder 20' to the peak to nail on a 2x4 is kinda scary unless you do it everyday. While my cousin and I are squirrely we would be more the resemblance of a black bear crawling on the trusses than compared to a squirrel. Of course I also used the lift to take out a few tree limbs, at $180 a day it was well worth it.

Kyle241 · Oct 17, 2010

Thanks for the ideas on lifting the trusses guys. This is the type of idea I had but was concerned over whether these types of lifts had the capacity to lift a truss. I'll look these over as a tow behind would be the most convenient and cheaper than taking delivery of the bigger 4x4 types.

Birdhunter1 · Oct 18, 2010

The trusses you'll be using on a barn this size aren't all that heavy, two guys in decent shape and strength can carry them around just fine.

Kyle241 · Oct 18, 2010

Friday was a total rain out but I did get some work in on Saturday and Sunday. I added 5/8"- to raise and level the floor. Packed it down every 4" with a plate packer. I then shot the posts so I can be sure of an even height and then installed the headers. I'm all ready for trusses to go up this coming weekend and the galvalume roofing should arrive later this week.

crazyal · Oct 18, 2010

I just used my BH to lift my trusses high enough so two of us could dra them up the rest of the way.

Kyle241 · Oct 26, 2010

Was able to get all the trusses up on the weekend. I rented a 'zoom boom' and installed all them myself. I installed braces along the header built of vertical 2"x4"x4' that I slid the trusses into for temporary support. The biggest job was moving the trusses from where they were deposited down the driveway to the garage (approx. 150ft). DW drove the Kubota backwards with a truss on the extended backhoe and me carrying the base of the truss. These were heavy trusses as they had 2"x10"x24' on the bottom.

Now just need to get the ladders up and strapping on.