Ceiling Modification

[oldy28]

Hello,

I have the back half of a detached garage (18' x 20") for my simulator space. The ceiling joists are 8' high (there are 17 of them in the entire structure). I am not an expert- or even a novice- is it feasible to remove 3 or 4 of the joists and reinforce with collar ties to get the last 8" to a foot I need for ceiling clearance (basically creating an 8' wide hitting bay in the back third of the structure).

[pwade3]

Thinking you would be best asking a professional contractor. Trusses are engineered.

[Jay28]

What is your budget? I had exactly the same issue as you. 8ft to the joists in the garage. I ended up replacing the entire roof - with a vaulted ceiling. It's not cheap, but I now have the space to comfortably swing the driver. It may be better to do that and start with a cheaper launch monitor and set up.

The roof replacement didn't take that long - 3 weeks. I did get a contractor to look initially at removing a few beams, but I am glad I didn;t go down that route. It would have felt far too cramped to swing into a restricted area with the driver. The contractor was also very hesitant at the idea of braces on part of the ceiling structure. I can now swing full out with th driver and not worry about hitting any ceiling.

Deciding to do it was not a easy - I went through all the simulated swings slow motion swings trying to find what area I needed removed (when I was considering removing beams). Now it's open and I can swing unhindered at full speed I can see just how wide and high the driver can go depending on various swings (upright, flat, fully extended in the follow through, earlier folding of the arms in the follow through, etc..). Removing a few beams just wouldn;t have felt free. Added benefit is screen height... I can place the screen about 80cms from a side wall and get to a frame height of over 9ft.

[Brettster]

oldy28 - what kind of roof/pitch do you have on your garage? If you have a Gambrel roof, it's doable as I'm going to remove my ceiling joists and rely on collar ties, which are already in place. I might support the collar ties with additional supports on the gable ends of the building. If you have a standard Gable roof, you're going to have to do much more work, with supporting collar ties - after you speak to an engineer.

Gambrel roof shed:





Gambrel roof shed interior: Collar ties (at 10'), Ceiling Joists (8')

[JCK]

Trusses and conventionally framed roofs with ceiling joists and rafters should not necessarily be treated the same, structurally speaking.

A consultation from a contractor that understands loading will be a small price to pay in the long run.

[oldy28]

Thanks for the responses- father-in-law is an engineer but I can't get him here given the current stay-at-home order.
Just wondering how others have dealt with a similar situation. It is great to get some more ideas!

[enigmamatt]

See below for the thread where we're doing something similar in our basement.

https://golfsimulatorforum.com/forum/golf-simulator-forum/simulator-builds/248439-raising-basement-ceiling

Obviously a bit different than what you're looking at, but similar idea. I'll post some more pics soon -- it's almost finished (except for getting the screen and such up -- things a bit delayed at the moment).

Matt

[Mr.chick]

I had similar problem my garage ceiling is only 8'-6". my nephew was at our house remodeling our bathroom and I ask him if we could do anything to get me some more height. he only had to reinforce 3 trusses and then boxed it in. now I have 9'-10" to swing. but only for right handers. only took him 4 hours to do it.

[Brettster]

That's awesome!

[wanabe]

I have a similar issue - detached double garage with 9'5" to the bottom of the roof trusses. I am a surveyor so understand how trussed roofs work and how loadings are transferred, although i am not a Structural Engineer and can not calculate loadings. However, i have around 12 trusses and have worked out that if i were to raise the ceiling in the area where i need to swing (woods), i only need to lift the height of two trusses by 1', which would involve cutting the bottom joist section of two trusses, where it spans across the garage. I would then replace this horizontal lower element of each truss a foot higher up, and install two horizontal timbers across each truss i have altered, to double brace the truss, and redistribute the loads back to the outer roof slope and onto the outside wall, returning the loads back to the foundations. i very much doubt whether this would cause any weakening of the roof but i do not intend to move house four 10-15 years so by then, it would have proved itself, for when i sell.

I do not have heavy snows here in this part of the UK not am i in an area of exposure to winds, so my roof loadings are not abnormal. My carpenter will undertake the work and has discussed and viewed the works already and agrees

If it does all fall down on my head, i will have died on the gold course, which meets my final wishes in any case!

[final442]

I will join and follow closely. I have a similar situation. A 19' x 19' detached garage (a 1920 structure) but it has an enclosed ceiling above at around 8' currently. There is a 5-6 ft attic above that we would like to expose, so I am having an engineer come out and see what is feasible with the current structure. I would love to remove as many low joists as possible and replace with ties higher up the sloped roof but no idea currently if that can happen and the cost. Will update when I find out.

[Brettster]

final442 - what did you find out? I've come to the conclusion with research and talking with other engineers that the Gambrel roof I have (see pics above, in this thread), should allow me to cut out all of my ceiling joists, with minimal supports added to the already existing collar ties (which are at 10' up), and adding a scissored X support on each gable end of the roof will also help support it - but the Gambrel roof is the key for me.

I'm working in the shed in the pictures, which I would guess is a 1980's-1990's build, and is only 12' x 15' structure. The smaller size also reduces the load (weight), and I am not seeing much snow pile up on that roof, from my time in the house last Winter. Basically I worked on making the move to this house a year ago, as I knew by this point, after 3 years of trying to work out where I would install the simulator in the old house (basement, 2nd floor addition, back family room), that it wasn't going to work to have it in the house - the wife visited one of the pro simulators I played in, and noticed how loud they were and told me I would never have anything like that in the house... so I knew this shed idea would work as it's a separate building