barn conversion roof advice

[hexdex]

Hi all.

OK, this is a very early stage of fact finding really. We have a small Steading (barn) here in Scotland and we're thinking of converting it to a two bed property. The plan is to get the whole roof replaced professionally as a lot of the existing beams are rotten. Also, as you can see in the pictures, they are just sitting on timber plates on the wall with just a few ties.

So in order to keep costs down I would want to do as much prep work myself before the roofers come in. As I understand it, I would need a concrete ring beam over the existing wall in order for the roof to sit true and to comply with regs etc. Am I right? Searching the web only brings me limited results for this kind of work so I would really value opinions on this. The walls are really sound and true, but it's how I get it to a roofing standard that I'm querying.

Thanks.

 

[^woody^]

Ring beams (in concrete or timber) are a way to stabilise poor walls to stop the roof pushing them apart or parts of the walls dropping under load.

The type of roof, and whether vaulted or trussed will influence the loading on the walls.

But if the walls are crap, they will need to be dealt with regardless.

 

[hexdex]

No that's just it, the walls are in good shape. No bowing or cracks and the lime mortar is solid. The only issue is that the current beams sit on small timber plates which in turn sit on the top face of the granite walls - which need levelling a bit and are full of loose old lime mortar.