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Lifting a shed, replace foundation

Metaxa | Posted in Construction Techniques on June 15, 2009 11:22am

I have a large (10×20) shed in the back corner of my yard.

Existing, non-conforming. Tear it down and I can not rebuild, it sits hard on the two property lines, side and rear.

Side is a rental property and I have permission to enter and perform any R&R. Rear property owner is simply not approachable. When I bought here I entered his side to clean up debris and garbage (that had obviously been tossed there by previous occupants of my current property, garbage, not “stuff”), I tossed it out of his side onto my side and hauled it away. He got upset, called his son who called the police…you know. Anyway, thankfully it is a large property and we don’t bump into one another at all.

So, the shed is 2x semi reasonable homeowner construction with walls, roof in good to great shape but the foundation is sinking, allowing the bottom plate and sheathing to contact ground.No gravel, pier blocks are old rocks and broken cinder blocks, you know the drill.

I dug up the front and my side, replaced everything with PT, hauled out soil and organic matter but now I’m faced with the real probability of having to re-do the foundation. Or lose the whole thing to the forest.

Anyone have a tip or three on how I can get this thing six inches up in the air without access to the 20 foot back wall? Marginal access to the one side wall as I have to wait on tenant to be home so I don’t frighten her dog!

Sorry for length, I’m like that. Next time I tell you the same story it will have 60 more words!

Oh, one last thought…my side wall that I can get to has two Douglas fir trees, one at 80 feet the other over 100, hard up beside it so no poking beams in from that side unless there is a trick to that I can’t figure. Trees stay.

-Metaxa

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Replies

  1. MikeSmith | Jun 15, 2009 11:31pm | #1

    you  can  jack  and  shore  it in place and  replace  the  bottom  rot  with  ground  contact  PT

    course  you can't  maintain  the  back  side  on  the  bad neighbors  property..  so  might  be  a good  time  to  jack,  shore  &  move  it   say  4'   off  each  property  line

    i  could  move  a  10x20  shed  by  myself...  so  could  you

     

    which  begs  the  question  about  the  two  trees  growing  smack  up  against  it

     

    so.....  whatchagonnado  ?

    Mike Hussein Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
    1. davidmeiland | Jun 15, 2009 11:35pm | #2

      Agreed, if the place is big enough, move it so as to conform to current setbacks. That way you can stick stuff behind it. What good os a shed if you can't stick stuff behind it.

      I moved my 8x12 shed using a small truck crane. Took about 1 hour to rig, move, unrig. To do yours you would need to get around behind for a few minutes to thread the straps up and over, etc.

      When this comes up most guys seem to have rolled their sheds on pipes. I couldn't stand the thought of buying all the pipe, so I had it craned (cost $125).

      1. User avater
        Metaxa | Jun 16, 2009 12:06am | #4

        There is the crux, his property is large, mine not so much. Moving it it in would take away from yard that we use and love. We are in town but back onto a salmon stream, his property straddles that stream, hence the "wildness" of his property to mine and all the trees.So I'm handy but old. Moving it would be last resort as mature trees would have to come down, I don't want stuff behind my shed, etc., whaaa!Jacking it up, sure...but how?My thoughts were to run a 2x4 ledge all around the inside and rent, borrow, steal enough bottle jacks to lift it by pushing up on that ledge but then that rig is sitting right where I need to dig out and place gravel and pier blocks or pour a slab or whatever. I'd have to chop holes in the floor, place jacking pads on soil and just fake those areas after I'd set it back down on the new, improved foundation?

  2. john7g | Jun 15, 2009 11:45pm | #3

    I think it was Huck that just did a job like this and posted pictures of it.  Search under his name in the Photo Threads.

    he ran suitable 2x members the length of the shed through holes opened in the siding and attached the 2x's to the studs and then lifted from them with bottle jacks IIRC. 

    1. User avater
      Metaxa | Jun 16, 2009 12:15am | #5

      We cross posted, thanks.I'm new on here, registered today, so I'm off to find the photo threads and will look for Huck. Wish me luck, I'm better with a pork butt on the smoker than I am with this electronic message stuff. Thanks, everyone for your ideas and pointers.
      Keep them coming if you got them.

      1. florida | Jun 16, 2009 12:53am | #6

        Whats the floor. Unless it's concrete you could probably lift each corner with a lever and stick some blocks under it.

        1. User avater
          Metaxa | Jun 16, 2009 01:13am | #8

          From the ground up it is a mess of rock, broken cement, rubble on which sits 2x6 frame, like a deck frame. All dirt and forest duff underneath. It is both the duff building up and those rubble foundation points sinking in that are causing the issues. This
          foundation" was covered in plywood on top of which regular framed walls were built.The repairs I've done on the front and accessible side involved sticking a demo blade in between the bottom plate and the flooring and cutting all the nails, removing the plywood and hand digging out the duff from around the perimeter, adding PT as needed in both the foundation and studding, re-sheathing and ta-da.But that is not enough now. I really need to lift the entire shed (it's a cedar shingled, metal roofed beauty outside and good space for everything inside but with a wrong/rotten/sinking foundation)...where was I? ...Yes, lift the entire thing and do a proper base, foundation and put it back down.Is my idea of running an inside perimeter of 2x4 for a bottle jack to push up against and using that to jack it up workable? Plan is to remove everything, level and gravel fill, add proper pier blocks and build a level floored deck, set the shed back down.I guess I'm refining my thoughts as you guys chip in...I want to do it right BUT w/o removing or moving the shed. Is that the way to do it or is there another way is my quandry.

          1. florida | Jun 16, 2009 04:23am | #13

            Very workable. I might nail 1/2" ply to the lower inside walls to stiffen it a bit then jack away. A structure that small should come up with no problem at all. Access to the back would be nice but with no floor doing it all from the inside should be pretty easy. I wish I were nearby, I'd come help just for fun.

          2. User avater
            Metaxa | Jun 16, 2009 08:50am | #14

            Well, it had better be fun!!!Thanks, all of you. The suggestions, the options, the thoughts...I appreciate it.No one has taken offense at my interior jacking thought, no one has taken offense at my not wanting to remove the trees, great insofar as I'm concerned. Adding the plywood to stiffen and help the exterior sheathing sounds like a plan and you know what? I'm in an Air Force town...might be able to wrangle a Chinook or something. That would be something. It's a search and rescue base as well as sub hunter and whatever else they do, maybe I could tell them I'm searching for my foundation, eh?-Metaxa

      2. davidmeiland | Jun 16, 2009 01:06am | #7

        You have access to three sides. I would run a pair beams thru the building a foot or two off the floor, lag-bolted to the walls. From the outside, at each end, you have those beams sticking out and you can jack there. You don't have to set foot on the fourth side as long as you're willing to cut thru the floor to work. Pretty standard stuff for foundation replacement...  the floor gets cut up.

    2. rlrefalo | Jun 16, 2009 03:30am | #11

      I think it was DonCanDo

      Rich

      1. john7g | Jun 16, 2009 03:45am | #12

        you are quite correct!  thanks

        http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=118444.1

         

  3. mike4244 | Jun 16, 2009 02:35am | #9

    Thru bolt a 4x4 thru the wall studs on the outside  of two ends ,or sides depending on the access. Place a hyraulic jack on each corner .Lift  a couple inches and chock. Repeat on the other side. Do this until you have working room.

    I once moved a garage from one house to another with a small farm tractor and a nice icy field. I did it similar to what I described for you except the 4x4's were 4x10's and were bolted with the bottom 3" below the bottom plates. I essentially bolted a skid on the tractor shed, which became a two car garage.

    You could if you wanted to,skid the shed away from the foundation. Install new foundation and pickup and drop shed onto the new foundation. A truck crane can easily lift a 10x20 shed.

    mike

    1. aworkinprogress | Jun 16, 2009 03:10am | #10

      come on guys and here I thought breaktime was known for its creative problem solving approaches ..... One work or maybe two Chinook-Boeing, or Sikorsky, as in Igor.....Thats how I would handle it.

  4. PatchogPhil | Jun 16, 2009 10:43am | #15

    Pictures of your situation would help.

    Here's what I would do, based on what I think I understand of the problem.

    Work totally inside the shed. See the attached sketch.

    View Image

    The RED lines are your property line. The BLUE is your shed walls. Stiffen the walls horizontally at the top of each wall with a 2x4 screwed/lagged to the studs. Add some diagonal bracing as well, flat on each wall. You could also add corner braces if required (i.e. short 2x4 from long wall to short wall, maybe 4 feet in length).

    At about 15 to 18 inches from the bottom, attach a "ledger" horizontally to the long walls as represented by the YELLOW lines. Screw/lag into each wall stud.

    Then do the same on the short walls (shown as purple), resting this ledger on top of the long wall ledger (yellow). Attach purple to each stud and also to the yellow ledger.

    Using 6x6 posts (shown in BROWN) 4 feet from the short walls, position them parallel to the short walls UNDER the yellow ledger. Lift these "beams" with 4 bottle jacks. One at each end of the beams nearest the yellow ledger. Place some stacked cinder blocks under the beams and remove bottle jacks.

    Dig a new foundation trench. No forms required, if surrounding soil is stiff enough. Pour in cement. Trowel level. Or use foundation blocks which you'll need to sit on flat "patio" blocks (2" thick 4"x8"). Must also be level.

    When cement dries, lower your shed.

    You could add threaded foundation bolts to the cement and bolt down a sill.

    Or forget about digging for a cement foundation . Just set in some corner blocks and rest a permanent ledger on them.

    There was an article in FHB issue #194 May 2008, on building a shed using REDI-FOOTINGS http://www.redifooting.com which are easy to level.

     

    Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

    1. User avater
      Metaxa | Jun 16, 2009 07:49pm | #16

      You have taken my "Harry Homeowner" plan and run with it. Thank you, thank you.Especially for the time to draw it up. Spread the load is what I'm getting from your and other posts and, yes, it can be done from inside.Everyone..I appreciate the time and courtesy. Now to start collecting the stuff I'm going to need.
      I'll do it this winter or maybe early spring (I'm in a tourist serving sort of biz and we are just ramping up) and I will let you all know how it goes.Might even pop for one of those new fangled digital cameras and post a shot or two.Again, my thanks.

      1. florida | Jun 17, 2009 04:19am | #17

        Just so you know it can be done watch this video. Skip ahead to the 2 minute mark for the part about moving a building.http://tinyurl.com/yk3gk4

      2. PatchogPhil | Jun 18, 2009 09:46pm | #18

        Glad to help.Micro$oft Paint is easy to use and can make a quick sketch to get an idea across.Have fun with your project. Post some pictures. Get some pics of your lousy neighbor eyeballing your project as you pretend to step over the property line. 

        Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?

        1. brownbagg | Jun 19, 2009 02:58am | #19

          just up the front, roll a pipe under it, jack up the rear, roll a pipe under it, then push it where ever you want. get the slab finish, push it back

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