Not just fixing a sag, but really raising a roof--- 25+ yrs ago the wife and I reworked an old farm house (we still live in it). It had two little and crude rooms in the simple attic. I raised the back roof from a 8 1/2 in 12 to 3 in 12 slope (installed PBR profile metal) to get 8 ft at the rear wall of the house. I first braced the front roof with oak posts (had them laying around) then added strapping at the ridge pole to function as a hinge (over the front rafters to under the rear ones. I installed a temp beam to lift against lower and toward the rear. I set up 5 jack posts like you have (and put in each one an old post style bumper jack (60s vintage) (I modified them to hook on the edge of the jack post (found at any home improvement store.) I picked good lift points on the ceiling/floor rafters (most on top of lower walls) . I cut the roof loose at the length I wound need when raised and just went up and down the line jacking. It took about a hour or two. I did have to reset the jacks at least once as they would only extend about 30". I had pre-built the rear wall which we lifter up in sections, installed, and then lowered to roof on it (but did not take the jacks out yet) We then installed ceiling joists and made them "tie rafters and installed bracing to form full trusses. in the attic. We build in three nice bedrooms and a bath. It hasn't fallen down yet. :-) Since no one is going to have any of those bumper jacks, someone could use those HF "farm jacks" if they will slide in the posts.
John Krause That's awesome, I would probably recommend a 2x4x10 instead of a 2x6x10 for the main brace. It might help getting a tighter fit. The boards need to be pushed back together and I think the smaller 2x4 would give you a better result. good luck
How long did you take in lifting the roof? It sounds as if you did it in one day. If that's the case, you never gave any of the joints time to rest in one position before jacking it again. I've built two new homes back in the 1970's and spent the 1980's gutting and remodeling the 1844 home I lived in for over 27 years. Back in 2014, due to termite and water damage, and a sloppy repair job from the previous owner, I had to replace 9 of my floor joists, the riser and the sill plate in our new (1953 build) home. I replaced each of the joist, first every other joist, one at a time, then went back and swapped out the others. Total time to raise the house 1/2" for just one joist was 6 days. It took me over two months to do the total job. Now i'm into correcting a severely bowed ridge beam over the breezeway. The cause - the original builder/owner built a roof to span the breezeway and cover the doors. The next owner prior to me (we bought the house from his son who was the executor) not only built and installed a new extended roof, but he built it over the original roof without removing it. He used the older roof, which had 4 layers of shingle, to support and brace the newer one. We've removed 90% of the original roof from the inside, 2 foot by 2 foot panel, one at a time. Each panel weighing in at 88 pounds. We will start jacking the original 1x6 ridge beam assembly with 4 hydraulic jacks, 1/8th of an inch at a time. Once every other day until the 1 and 1/2 inch required is reached. Working any faster than that would place too much stress on other joints and weaken them. To anyone else planning on raising a roof or floor to correct an age flaw or damaged part, take your time. Don't rush it.
+Jordan Paul The posts themselves(3 of them in my case) are called Shoring posts. They are adjustable by 2 spinning handles that are very easy to move and can be rented or purchased from lowes, home depot etc... You need to make sure you get the right size. As you can see from my video, I had to use 2x4 blocks on top of each post because the post topped out at 8'4". Good luck
Not just fixing a sag, but really raising a roof--- 25+ yrs ago the wife and I reworked an old farm house (we still live in it). It had two little and crude rooms in the simple attic. I raised the back roof from a 8 1/2 in 12 to 3 in 12 slope (installed PBR profile metal) to get 8 ft at the rear wall of the house. I first braced the front roof with oak posts (had them laying around) then added strapping at the ridge pole to function as a hinge (over the front rafters to under the rear ones. I installed a temp beam to lift against lower and toward the rear. I set up 5 jack posts like you have (and put in each one an old post style bumper jack (60s vintage) (I modified them to hook on the edge of the jack post (found at any home improvement store.) I picked good lift points on the ceiling/floor rafters (most on top of lower walls) . I cut the roof loose at the length I wound need when raised and just went up and down the line jacking. It took about a hour or two. I did have to reset the jacks at least once as they would only extend about 30". I had pre-built the rear wall which we lifter up in sections, installed, and then lowered to roof on it (but did not take the jacks out yet) We then installed ceiling joists and made them "tie rafters and installed bracing to form full trusses. in the attic. We build in three nice bedrooms and a bath. It hasn't fallen down yet. :-)
Since no one is going to have any of those bumper jacks, someone could use those HF "farm jacks" if they will slide in the posts.
These are great, it is EXACTLY what I need to do with my garage and these videos will be a great help! Thank you for posting these!
John Krause That's awesome, I would probably recommend a 2x4x10 instead of a 2x6x10 for the main brace. It might help getting a tighter fit. The boards need to be pushed back together and I think the smaller 2x4 would give you a better result. good luck
Looks super dangerous I like it.
How long did you take in lifting the roof? It sounds as if you did it in one day. If that's the case, you never gave any of the joints time to rest in one position before jacking it again. I've built two new homes back in the 1970's and spent the 1980's gutting and remodeling the 1844 home I lived in for over 27 years. Back in 2014, due to termite and water damage, and a sloppy repair job from the previous owner, I had to replace 9 of my floor joists, the riser and the sill plate in our new (1953 build) home. I replaced each of the joist, first every other joist, one at a time, then went back and swapped out the others. Total time to raise the house 1/2" for just one joist was 6 days. It took me over two months to do the total job. Now i'm into correcting a severely bowed ridge beam over the breezeway. The cause - the original builder/owner built a roof to span the breezeway and cover the doors. The next owner prior to me (we bought the house from his son who was the executor) not only built and installed a new extended roof, but he built it over the original roof without removing it. He used the older roof, which had 4 layers of shingle, to support and brace the newer one. We've removed 90% of the original roof from the inside, 2 foot by 2 foot panel, one at a time. Each panel weighing in at 88 pounds. We will start jacking the original 1x6 ridge beam assembly with 4 hydraulic jacks, 1/8th of an inch at a time. Once every other day until the 1 and 1/2 inch required is reached. Working any faster than that would place too much stress on other joints and weaken them. To anyone else planning on raising a roof or floor to correct an age flaw or damaged part, take your time. Don't rush it.
Great work
How much did this cost?
great solution for the cost of pancakes.
How did this turn out? Where are the other videos?
Turned out so good. type in: How to raise your roof
and it should take you to the other videos.
Where do you find these jacks post things at? Do you have specific name of this tool?
+Jordan Paul
The posts themselves(3 of them in my case) are called Shoring posts. They are adjustable by 2 spinning handles that are very easy to move and can be rented or purchased from lowes, home depot etc... You need to make sure you get the right size. As you can see from my video, I had to use 2x4 blocks on top of each post because the post topped out at 8'4". Good luck