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Garage out of square bad

Blahblacksheep | Posted in General Discussion on September 4, 2019 08:11pm

So long story short lots of idiots working on my new garage and sadly just have to carry on now, honestly makes me sick how much you trust in people but they don’t have a clue how to use a tape measure.

Foundation and framing off 3.5″ like a parallelogram, 7″ difference between diagonals. Wall to wall both ways is right.
Building is 30×40 trusses run 30ft length, the 30ft wall is the one which is out.

I will be using dimensional shingles but honestly how can I make this up in the roof so it doesn’t look terrible, Gable end overhangs have not been framed yet could some be made up there and then some in the shingles? If so what’s the best way to do it.

Any help is appreciated.

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  1. suburbanguy | Sep 05, 2019 01:09am | #1

    Your garage plans likely call for a gable style roof. My suggestion would be to make it a hip roof. I think that change will make the error undetectable to the eye.

  2. User avater
    Blahblacksheep | Sep 05, 2019 02:28am | #2

    The trusses are already on just gable overhang has not been framed in.

    1. suburbanguy | Sep 05, 2019 08:38am | #4

      Is modification of the trusses that hard? Fixing this mistake so that it isn't noticeable will require some work. There is no magic fix.

      A prow roof that is also suggested won't help. The gable edge of the roof and the eaves edge of the roof are still at 90°. The tabs of the shingles will still appear to "run-off". A hip roof will fool the eye.

      Another suggestion would be to allow the overhang on the gable to vary from the eaves edge to the ridge. If you make a large overhang, say 20", it may not be readily apparent that on one side of the garage the overhang is 20" and on the other it is 17".--or something like that.

      Here's another suggestion: Shingle the roof with cedar shakes. There won't be obvious shingle tabs running off the edge.

      I you must use asphalt shingles, the hip roof is your best bet to camouflage the error. If you absolutely want a gable roof, consider one of the other two suggestions.

      1. calvin | Sep 05, 2019 09:53am | #5

        Sub,
        Prow, the gable edge of roof will not be 90 deg., it will run out to the extended ridge.

        1. suburbanguy | Sep 05, 2019 11:15am | #6

          On the website to which you referred, only at the very top, where the prow is located is the edge not at 90° to the eaves edge. Otherwise the edges are at 90° and the shingle tabs will run off the edge of the roof.
          Of course, one could make the whole roof in a prow nature that would camouflage the error.

          1. calvin | Sep 05, 2019 11:48am | #7

            Of course.....

            Yes, that was my thinking. Run the roof o-hang from X to more at the ridge. Sorry I didn’t hunt till I found the proper link or diagram to make it simple.

  3. calvin | Sep 05, 2019 07:20am | #3

    A prow roof overhang might help......

    Here’s an example which is probably more than you want but by cheating a bit on the angles you might be able to fool most of the people some of the time.

    https://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2013/11/01/framing-a-prow-roof/

    This mentions making the different lengths of overhang enough that it doesn’t look like a mistake......

    Edit: removed this link as it had too much BS below the info.......spam-o-rama

    1. User avater
      Blahblacksheep | Sep 05, 2019 03:22pm | #8

      Very interesting idea, I will give it some thought but it does seem the easiest way is to just taper the gable overhangs with a larger over hang of 24" which would match the eave overhang.

      Luckily the one gable overhang is not easily visible from my yard and because the house is already at an angle you do not look at the garage straight on. More or less if I am coming down the driveway I really just want the roof to look square.

  4. DanH | Sep 07, 2019 11:34am | #9

    The idiots should pay you to hire an architect to figure it out.

  5. jlyda | Sep 08, 2019 03:36pm | #10

    It always amazes me how many times I encounter tradesman that do not know how to properly square their work. With poured foundation work at least there is the argument of a form(s) getting out of wack when pouring concrete. Framers never have an excuse. I’ve had multiple job site meetings with people about how to make your work square. A true carpenter never assumes the foundation they’re working on is true and square. It’s their job to make it so. The framer should explain why the framing isn’t lining up with foundation, so the GC and owner know to go after the Mason for the out of square work. I would ask the framer if they feel building something that far out of square is acceptable. If they say yes they are full of it. I’ve built a lot over the years. To be off that much is almost unheard of. In my contracts there is a statement of allowable discrepancies in work (nothing is ever truly perfect). If there was any statement in your working contract for allowances I highly doubt it was as much as 7”. That voids the contract and you shouldn’t pay them a dime. Just my thought.

  6. bobbomax | Sep 08, 2019 05:14pm | #11

    While I agree that you shouldn't pay the framers and perhaps not the concrete guys, I think you're making a mountain out of a mole hill. By my calculations, there are 32 courses (180" divided by 5-5/8") on each side of the roof (36 if you're using Eastern shingles.) Distributing a 3-1/2 inch offset over 32 courses is a tenth of an inch per course. Roofers deal with that kind of discrepancy all the time. They shouldn't have to, and it takes a bit of skill, but it's not that big a deal, especially w/ architectural shingles.

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