Do you have the roofing materials in place already? If not cut a little slot in the roof and slide them in. Put the piece back in and glue a small piece of OSB on the inside to keep it in place. There is no way you are going to be walking on that portion of the roof at that angle, it's almost vertical. As someone else mentioned why is there no header, or even an attempt at one, over the garage door?

 

Do you have the roofing materials in place already? If not cut a little slot in the roof and slide them in. Put the piece back in and glue a small piece of OSB on the inside to keep it in place. There is no way you are going to be walking on that portion of the roof at that angle, it s almost vertical. As someone else mentioned why is there no header, or even an attempt at one, over the garage door?

- northwoodsman

I believe this is one of those prebuilt shed type deals. They don't really do headers in them. While I would never use a lot of their building practices they are usually ok structurally because of the small size. The whole building is only 16' wide. My guess is that it's also sided with T11 siding, adding strength.

 

If you can't take the 8s back, buy 2 lvl beams. One in the front, one in the middle and use the 8s in between.

While the lvl's add cost, it's better than buying all new

 

Just because you won't put a lot of weight up there doesn't mean someone else won't come along and load it up with lumber or whatever. I think you need to follow code for supporting a load per square foot or at least get close enough to it so as to not be grossly negligent. Might not be a bad idea to post a "Max Load _" to get an idiot's attention before they start hoarding wood after you sell the place.

 

Already bought them so you re stuck with them now

- corelz125

Heck no! He's got gold on his hands! Put 'em up for auction and watch the bids go up!
;-)

 

I think a storage shed is a great idea. We used to use our house attic, but that was when we had 3 inches of insulation and could deck them. I still have a garage attic that would be suitable for storage if I put in a drop down stair, but I have the luxury of a full load bearing storage loft in my shop so the junk I should toss has a home. Code for storage, but not occupancy. Different codes.

 

CWWoodworking - I have a similar shed, it was a kit. While I didn't redesign the framing I did notch out the 2" x 4"'s over the door and put in a 2" x 6" on edge. It may not have done much, but it gave me more of a piece of mind. I know that it won't be sagging and binding the doors.

 

CWWoodworking - I have a similar shed, it was a kit. While I didn t redesign the framing I did notch out the 2" x 4" s over the door and put in a 2" x 6" on edge. It may not have done much, but it gave me more of a piece of mind. I know that it won t be sagging and binding the doors.

- northwoodsman

If I were building a kit, probably do the same. There cheap for a reason though. I have one that's metal. 2×4 walls. Studs 3ft on center. Went through straight line winds that ripped part of my neighbors roof off so I guess it's fine. The skin on them helps sturdy them up.

I would not opt for a separate storage shed just because you have the 8s.

One of the biggest advantages of a gambrel roof is the ability to add storage relatively easy. Take advantage of it.

 

Brother-in-law has similar storage barn. His has a narrow U shaped loft that doesn't encroach on door. I can't recall for sure, but I think it has a column at each inner corner of the loft.

 

Auction off the lumber and use steel. Then you can put them in place and weld them back together.

 

Already bought them so you re stuck with them now

- corelz125

YeahBUTT if he bought them 2 months ago, he could resell them, and almost build another shack, provided he can find cheaper wood down the road a bit.

 

Don t forget the exchange rate $ CDN vs $ US …

- Madmark2

Pretty sure AZ and IN are both in the go ole US of A?

Another vote for dont cut them. Was it mentioned was the OC dimension is? It appears the gambrel trusses are 24" OC, that will absolutely not work. My shed is a touch over 16' wide leaving a free span of 15'7" and I used 2×8x16' for the ceiling joists at 16" OC but it literally can't be over loaded with no ladder access other than climbing around the edge of the floor and between the joists. If planning on loading it up, you've been given several good ideas to make it more secure, yes, it's going to cost more $$ but not as much as having it fail damaging property and potentially hurting someone.

 

Here's a idea, not yet discussed…and that is tying into the roof structure to help support the load. My mini-loft (more like a mezzanine) does span across the 20' garage with 2×4 lumber. 2×4 ties every 4 feet drop down from the ceiling joists. That means that the 2×4 is only supporting a span of 4' which is very strong.

This suggestion moves some of the vertical load from directly off the walls to the ceiling structure. Given the shape of your roof, that vertical load would tend to push or bow out the sides of the roof. Therefore you would need put in cross ties wherever you connected the loft to the ceiling.

In a way, this idea means creating a truss-like structure to help support the load. You give up having a completely unobstructed deck structure, but you gain in strength. My home has 26' free-span trusses that are 2' on center (so there are no interior bearing walls), and the trusses are all made of 2×4 lumber with the longest length of any of the lumber being 8'.

Not mentioned is the problem of seismic safety, and Alaska is known for earthquakes. If I were taking on this project, I would use the opportunity to install lateral bracing on the walls. Based on what I can see, this garage would flatten like a pancake in even a small earthquake.