Garage Remodel/Repair

6 years ago

Our home has a 3-car detached garage in the back of our property. The home itself dates to the late 1800s. The garage was built in the late 1950s. The garage is in a bit of disrepair. I'm planning to do most of the rehab myself. My goal is to weatherize the structure so that we can convert the third bay into an indoor/outdoor space (the side of the garage opens up to our backyard). It like involves replacing the siding and putting in new sheating/wrap underneath.

The existing walls are fairly basic. The exterior siding is wood; there is no sheathing or moisture barrier between the siding and the studs. The interior is drywall. Predictably, the drywall is coming apart in certain areas.

I began to remove the drywall and noticed something odd. The bottom plate of the wall(s) is not fastened/connected to the concrete slab (in addition, certain portions have rotted away). Some areas are also materially offset from the surface area of the slab. The studs in the corners don't appear to be connected to the slab either.

Has anyone encoutered something like this? I'm by no means an expert. I just can't figure out how this structure is being supported, and how that will potentially affect the repair work. I was hoping to save some money and DIY, but I may (begrudgingly) need to hire someone. Lastly, the garage was built on the property line - I would never get approval to tear down and build a new structure in its current position without a minimum of an 8ft offset.

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One of the exterior walls

Interior wall - note the separation from the surface of the slab

Interior wall - same as previous picture, view from above

View under one stud where the bottom plate has rotted away

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Comments (6)

PRO
PPF.
6 years ago
Since you are here asking, probably not a DIY job.

Suggest finding a contractor to do the structural repairs, then you work on drywall, siding, paint etc.
Seabornman
6 years ago
Hard to tell. Has the roof structure stayed where it should be? Does the slab have a topping? You may be able to build a temporary wall in from the outside wall, install a new plate, and horse the studs back to where they should be. The old plate may have been secured with concrete nails which have rusted away.
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DavidR
6 years ago
That garage isn't looking too healthy. It appears that the ground comes right up to the siding on the left (nearer) side of your photo. That might be part of the reason for your problem. Had a termite check lately?
PRO
GN Builders L.L.C
6 years ago
This is how they use to do things in the old days. Around here in older neighborhoods where houses date back to the 1900's etc most of the garages are build the same way and have the same issues.

Have a contractor come in and evaluate everything onsite and suggest what structural or not repairs must be done.

Sometimes these garages are beyond repairs or it will cost more to fix than it's worth, so the best remedy is to take it down and rebuild.

I did a job a while back and the garage was in very poor shape... it was leaning and most of the wood was deteriorated, so the only way to restore is to take it down.
User
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
That’s a teardown. Plus the lot needs to be regraded before any rebuild. Those walls tell a sad tale of inadequate construction finally come to an end.
ci_lantro
6 years ago
There's a good chance that the slab was poured at some point after the garage was built. There are a lot of old dirt floor garages still around in my community. I suspect a bunch of them started life as somewhere to stash the horse & buggy.