What can I do with this -

Ignore the horrible vermiculite or whatever it is (it's coming out), and the plywood box and flue, which is to do with the blown air heating (it's coming out). It's those roof 'trusses/beams' which worry me. There are 5 sets of those 'supports' at about 8' intervals. How do I remove at least a couple of them without the roof collapsing?

formatting link

Reply to
fred
Loading thread data ...

I'd get a structural engineer in to advise.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

transfer most of the roof load to the central supporting wall of the property.

Can't really see what is going on with the vertical beams - they may just be straps holding a tie beam that is there to stop the floor joists twisting and to support the ceilings a bit.

What sort of tiles are on the roof? (i.e. are they particularly heavy?)

What arr those purlins in cross section? (they look quite skinny)

What are you attempting to do - more storage space, partial loft conversion etc?

Reply to
John Rumm

fred coughed up some electrons that declared:

conversions. But I would advise having a suitably competent person do the design.

In my bungalow, they are replaced with verticals and those transfer their load to either the new reinforced floor joists or in some cases, the old

2x4" ceiling joists. This is an old conversion (mid 70's) and should not be taken as being indicative of good practise today. Having said that, nothing's bending or falling down. Furthermore, a lot of the old roof is missing due to the size of the two dormers so there's less load anyway. The dormer roofs transfer their weight via the end walls directly onto the new 8x2" floor joists within 18" of the house walls, so they are pretty solid.

A mate's whose loft was dealt with (single dormer, 3/4 house depth) a couple of months ago had a number of steels inserted.

You would be best off with a suitably qualified engineer or architect IMO.

Cheers

Tim

Reply to
Tim S

Yes. A structural engineer is what you need - and they are remarkably good value.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

They look pretty heavy.

Don't know offhand, but yea, skinny.

Storage.

Reply to
fred

Cheers folks, i'll get a structural engineer.

Reply to
fred

Seems a lot of expense just for storage.Couldn't you floor it and just store round about?

Steven.

Reply to
Steven Campbell

Beefing up the purlins would let you lose some of the diagonal struts that are supporting the purlins. I can't quite see on the photo, but I trust the purlins are supported on the end gable wall as well (if not that is something else that could be done)

Do the struts make that much difference then?

Reply to
John Rumm

That was the reason for my question about if it was ultimately going to be a loft conversion. If you were going that route, then you would be able to design a floor that would be able to carry the roof load as well, by sticking dwarf walls where the purlins currently are. However without the strengthened floor it is much more difficult.

Reply to
John Rumm

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "fred" saying something like:

Bear in mind the cumulative weight of all the dope plants.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

LOL, it's the cumulative weight of 18mm chipboard that worries me. About 15 sheets of 8' x 4'. The joists are only about 3" x 2"

Reply to
fred

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "fred" saying something like:

Pretty skinny. I think I'd look at beefing them up a bit, but see what a pro says.

Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

What I did with my loft that has a very similar joists was dump the chipboard and put some floor boards down, spaced out so that you don't end up falling between them. Floorboards are far lighter than chipboard and because you space them out, they are lighter still.

Reply to
Dave

That's certainly an idea, Dave. Do you know how much lighter they actually are?

Reply to
fred

Regrettably no, but try picking up an 8 x 4 piece of chip board and then a bundle of floor boards that will span 4 foot, even if they are longer. Anyone else on here that can be more definitive?

Dave

Reply to
Dave

From memory the density of chipboard is about 680 kg/m^3 whereas spruce is about 600 kg/m^3.

Reply to
John Rumm

Gordon Bennet, my sums must be wrong, that works out at around half a ton. Sounds like a re-think. Cheers.

Reply to
fred

Exactly the figures I see. Most people "remember" chipboard in terms of worksurfaces for kitchens, which are very thick and heavy. There isn't that much difference in the density in reality. Floorboards can work thinner than you would with chipboard though, so one might save a bit there.

Reply to
Bob Mannix

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.