A letter from Steven G.
I purchased 3 Ellis Screw Jacks (model SJ-4) to assist in re-building an old 12'x16' garage that had extensive termite damage with most studs on one side being essentially gone. What remained of the wall, largely still standing due to cedar siding, was about 2 inches shorter than the other side and leaning outward a couple of inches. The garage has roughly a 12'x8' shorter extension on the rear that is in need of a total re-build.
I made a base with the 3 jacks mounted on a 16' 2x4, one in the center and the other two about 2' from each end. (A 2x6 base would have been better.) I screwed two 16' 2x6s together as as a beam mounted on of top short (6") sections of 4x4 post inserted into the jacks. (I initially was going to use a 4x6, but went with items I could re-purpose in the rebuild process.) With the base being about 25" tall, I constructed a temporary 16' stud wall section with 5' studs at 24" o.c. and placed this on the base such that it came just under the rafters with the jacks in their lowest setting. Photo 2203 shows the base and temporary wall section (after being jacked up a couple of inches) with the old wall and siding having been removed.
The jacks' bases have considerable play, but several braces were able to keep the studs vertical and out of the way for installing a new section of wall studs. Photo 2205 shows part of the new stud section with the temporary section still in place. After the new stud wall was completed and made to be vertical front to back and braced to maintain this, the temporary section was lowered and removed.
I then re-purposed the doubled up 16' 2x6s and one screw jack to push the other side wall into a vertical position. I did this twice, first mounting a 7' 2x6 near the top of the rear studs of that wall with a 2x4 below it to support the diagonal 16' 2x6s. Once the rear portion was pushed to vertical, and several temporary support braces were installed, I re-positioned the jack and 2x6s to the studs nearer the front and pushed that section to vertical. Photos 2208 and 2209 are from stage two of this, the first showing the screw jack anchored outside the new side and the second, the diagonal beam pushing the front section of the opposing wall to a vertical position.
The project is still underway, and I'll likely use one of the screw jacks once more for replacing a stud or two in the rear section.