When I drew the plans for the extension of the garage I could see that the increased roof height in the rebuilt section of roof would be fine for shorter cars like the Mini but the joists of the original roof structure would be an obstruction to lifting average length cars like the Evo.  I didn’t want to have to dismantle and rebuild any more of the roof than was really necessary because of the extra time and cost, plus doing so would have made it impossible to secure the back 2/3 of the garage with Jem’s Mini in, while the extension was being built.  I also wasn’t completely sure what lift I would purchase so I couldn’t be sure exactly how high or where cars would be when lifted into the roof space.

So I figured I’d just wait and see then worry about getting a little extra roof space when I knew exactly how the new roof space worked and where a lift would land.

Well now it’s happened, as expected, a bit more roof space was required.  Fortunately the old roof structure sort of lended itself to fitting a couple of collar ties allowing the removal of a couple of the joists.  There’s a section with some webs and a queen post with purlins from the hip forward to where I would be removing joists.  So the surrounding roof structure could compensate for the fact the rafters to be held with collar ties instead of joists ar slightly narrower than you might choose.

I sent my design consultant up for a look.

 

I had a good look too.

 

One of the old joists cut down to become a collar tie.

 

I joined the collar tie to the rafter with some stud and…

 

…one of these special washer things to go between the two timbers.

 

Fitting in position

 

Not the most comfortable working conditions

 

Time to get the saw out

 

Collar ties in and the first joist cut at both ends.

 

Couple more cuts and the joists are out

 

Sorted

 

Now the restriction on lifting height is the car roof meeting the garage ceiling not the bonnet on the low ceiling section. 🙂