My 30 year old detached garage has developed a 4 inch sag in the roof line. This is a 2 car garage about 20x24 ft. Gable end roof. Is there a safe way to eliminate this problem myself, or should I hire a contractor?
Answer:
Before you do anything, you have to determine what caused the sag. You may very well be into hiring a contractor more because he has the equipment to do a credible job than for his expertise. Renting the equipment could be more than the contractor charges for the whole job. Contractors also provide warranties. It would appear that you have rafters rather than trusses to support that roof and if you were to stretch a beam under at least ten feet of the ridge and then jack it up, you could try introducing cross ties to the rafters so they don't spread again. On that kind of span, I would want cross ties to be at least 1X8 spruce and not shorter than sixteen feet.
