Raising Garage Flat Roof

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Hi all,

I want to raise the rear roof of my garage because the timber barn doors on it are rotten and at about 1.75m there’s limited headroom for replacement doors (or standard uPVC French Doors for example). The garage is a lean-to next to the house. The pitched roof of the garage seems to meet a vertical timber beam which I’m guessing is the structural support. I’m thinking about propping up the roof rafters whilst I remove this beam and reposition it about 50cm higher. To do this I’ll need to build up the brick pillars on either side. Once this is done I can put a new flat roof over the back and build a new frame for the doors.

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Am I thinking about this the right way, and is this potentially a disaster waiting to happen? My joiner has had a look at it and is a bit uneasy about it in general, which is why I’m asking for advice here.

Actually, I’ve just thought about it again and obviously don’t want to change the pitch of the roof, so in order to gain 50cm height the beam would have to be positioned further inside the garage, not just directly up. The rafters would have to be trimmed to meet the new beam position, and new pillars would have to be built to support the beam. It’s all sounding more complicated than I thought…

Thanks!
 
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Just read the end of your post and you are correct what you are proposing is a big job

Are you doing all this work yourself or will you be getting contractors in?

Have you checked to see if you require planning permission to do this work ?
 
Yes indeed, I'm going to scale this job back as you suggest. I'll be having a couple of guys doing this, but they are joiners first, builders second, so they will mainly be restoring the doors and frame. I'll leave the beam where it is but maybe gain 10 - 15cm of headroom just by redoing the flat part of the roof to be much more flat. That's about the most I can hope for. I was also hoping to do this under permitted development as it's less than 2.5m high and a lean-to rather than a permanent structure, but may have got the interpretation of that wrong.
 
It looks as if someone in the distant past, as done a botch job to extend the garage forward, hence the low head height and roof tiles finishing short.

The only sensible way I could think to do it, would be to decrease the angle of the entire roof, beginning where the corner of that upper floor window, where the present roof passes close to it. Your roof and tiles then go all the way to the front, maybe including a bit of a roof over hang for the door. You would need to ensure the roof tiles and their overlap were still suitable for the lesser angle.

What have you in mind to replace the doors with?
 
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It looks as if someone in the distant past, as done a botch job to extend the garage forward, hence the low head height and roof tiles finishing short.
Yes, I can see that now, there's a change in the brick work and pebble dash at that point. The original doors must have been where the structural beam sits. I've been here since 1980, so that would have been done in the 70's or before.

The only sensible way I could think to do it, would be to decrease the angle of the entire roof, beginning where the corner of that upper floor window, where the present roof passes close to it. Your roof and tiles then go all the way to the front, maybe including a bit of a roof over hang for the door. You would need to ensure the roof tiles and their overlap were still suitable for the lesser angle.
As much as I want exactly the result you're proposing, it would be an even bigger job than I originally imagined. Changing the roof angle and then supporting it without the whole thing collapsing sounds a nightmare. I would definitely want a very experienced construction company doing it and the budget would easily be a few thousand. Sadly I'll have to make do with something more modest.

What have you in mind to replace the doors with?
Well, since I can't raise the the height of the aperture much and the current doors are just 'barn doors' without a frame or footing at the bottom I can't replace with french doors as I wanted. Instead I'll have to get the guys to refurbish the existing doors by replacing the frame and rotten parts of the doors. I'll completely replace the white painted centre bits with vertical T&G larchwood or similar. I would have liked to modernise it with a completely different type of door, but not much works with the low head room and lack of footings.
 
Thanks for the advice in the thread. This is where I've got to, and it's a happy compromise between ripping out the old doors and raising the roof right up and what was originally built:

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Basically trimmed the bottoms of the doors off and fitted new wood, replaced the frame and head plate, added another course of bricks to the top and put a higher flat roof over. Obviously when working with old doors we found it was impossible to get them completly square when rebuilding the bottom, but close enough. Also, the door now has to open outward because otherwise it hits the low beam inside the garage. Work in progress, but getting there...

Now I'm just struggling with choice of lock and handle as there's not much room to cut out a pocket for a sash lock due to the joinery..
 
Thanks. Yes, I've got one of those. The problem is it's designed to fit on the inside. But I need to open and close it from the outside. Also, the door now opens out so I'm not sure if that would still be suitable.
 
No no the chances are you have a standard nightlatch which as you know are designed for inward opening doors (although they can be used on outward opening doors)

This is a dead bolt nightlatch which works just like a sashlock and will work on an outward opening door and seeing as you already have a standard nightlatch this would be simple to fit
 
OK, yes, you're right. Well the deadbolt bit is potentially covered by this then. But my main concern is just a latch I can open from the outside with a handle for frequent opening throughout the day. With this I'd need a key to open it from the outside each time and two hands. I'd like something like the uPVC door handle I have on the french doors of my Garden Room, but surface mount wooden door equivalent:

https://www.doorhandlecompany.co.uk...ver-door-handles-220mm-backplate-92mm--18087/
 
I should add that the only thing stopping me from fitting a standard sash lock is the mortise and tenon joint in the frame just at the point that the lock would be installed, preventing me from cutting out a pocket in the door frame. Hence my search for a surface mounted equivalent. However, when it comes to a deadbolt, I could position that anywhere in the frame really, so quite happy to have one on its own, lower down or something.

Does anyone know if the Briton outside access device I've got can be paired with any latch, or if it has to be a compatible one from Briton? I guess it's just dependant on the exact dimensions of the square spindle.
 
Does the spindle turn when you operate the push pad ? I can't remember if it does or not , if it doesn't your plan won't work as normally the latch on those access devices are surface mounted on the push pad unit
 
Yes, I'm sure the push pad turns the spindle, as does the outside access device. However I'm going to have to ditch the idea of using that push pad; it's far too bulky and catches the door frame when trying to open the door out. I'll need something much less obtrusive such as that ERA door knob posted above, or a standard sash lock. What I'm struggling with here is that the door only has a 70mm wide timber to mount a sash lock, not 100mm. And it'll have to be in the vertical outer timber, below the mortise and tenon joint. It's even trickier since the timber is rebated here to accommodate the door grip. Will I be able to find a sash lock small enough to fit in 70mm?
 
Thanks for the advice in the thread. This is where I've got to, and it's a happy compromise between ripping out the old doors and raising the roof right up and what was originally built:

That looks absolutely fine and similar to what I had in mind..
 

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