loft question

[opisube]

Hi Im new here , so firstly hello!!

I have a question regarding my loft I hope you can help me with.
I have an old terraced house (c1910) with quite a large loft and I would like to open it up to make it easier to use for storage.
At the moment the loft has horizontal beams at about chest height connecting
every rafter on each side of the roof.
My question is really, can these be removed or modified in some way to allow the loft space to be unobstructed?

Thanks in advance...

 

[joe-90]

They are called 'purlins' and they take the sag out of the rafters.

If you remove them you'll end up with a roof that looks like a Japanese pagoda.

 

[Static]

It would be an expensive process to remove these

 

[opisube]

So is this specific to this kind of roof?

No way of opening this up easilt then?

 

[opisube]

Just to confirm we are talking about the same thing!
The beams Im talking about cross the loft space and run parallel with
the joists , are these still purlins?

 

[Static]

These are probably tie members for the rafters, stopping them spreading out at eaves level and holding the roof together.

 

[masona]

Known as Tie beams or Collar beams, see the picture, is that the one?

 

[opisube]

Yup masona , thats the ones, they are probably set at about 4 feet
above the loft floor.
Can these be removed , would the roof then need strengthening with some
sort of steel?

Thanks for the help.

 

[masona]

Can you do a photo

 

[opisube]

I'll post a photo, It will probably be saturday before
I get a chance to go up there though!

Cheers again for the help

 

[opisube]

Hi , Here are some photos of the beams Im talking about.
Any idea whether these can be removed?

[/img]

 

[opisube]

Dont know if that worked very well ,heres the URL.....


http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/I.jsp?c=2wg4js4d.6d2xkbvh&x=0&y=ycar0g

 

[Static]

They are tie members for the trusses and cant be removed without major surgery.