Ideas on lifting a garage

[Blue74]

Getting ready to retire I bought a small house in Nebraska last year, close to Lake McConaughy so I also bought a used pontoon boat. The house was built in 1920 and I like my little house, the first house I have owned.

It has two garages, one that appears to have been built in 1920's. the other was built in the last 7 years. Two problems with both garages is how deep they are and how high the doors are. The boat is a 2013 Bass Buggy 18 DLX (18'), so over all it is about 22 or 23 feet long on the trailer and about 8.5 to 9 feet tall. The garages are about 19' deep and the doors are right at 7' tall. For now the boat is in storage close to the lake at $150.00 a month.

So the plan after I retire in mid-July it to raise the metal garage 4 feet. Planning on using cement block for 4 rows and then put a solid block on top. Planning to unbolting it from the foundation and bracing it in the corners and across the doors and then lifting it from side to side with hydraulic jacks to build the new base. Figure that will give me about 11' door openings. The boat then can be put in sideways for the winter.

I've never built a block wall but figure it should be straight forward since I'm not building a high wall to support a house or hold back soil like a retaining wall. A friend has offered to help but he also doesn't have any experience. He also will be storing his boat in the garage.

Something else I want to check is moving the divider between the doors to the left in the photo and making the opening 18'. Each door is 7' high by 9' wide and since I will need to buy new doors it is about the same to buy one big door as it is to buy two. And I figure it will be easier getting the boats in through one 18' door. There is a side walk through door and I figure to drop it down and fill the space above. I do have some of the siding left to use.

Any pointers I should know? I know to do a "running bond" on the wall and will tie the side walls in the corners. Will put new anchors in the wall to bolt the building back down. How long should I let the wall set up before lowering the building back down? I plan on leaving the cavities empty on the block except where I put the new anchor bolts. What kind of material should I use for a seal between the steel frame and the block wall? Thinking of putting a flashing under the lower edge of the steel wall and the edge of the block wall to divert water down the side.

Then next comes rewiring both garages and getting rid of the old glass fuses and changing the cloth wrapped wire in the wooden garage.