Low joists - Increasing head-room

[richardhowell]

My landing has a couple of beams/joists which are a particular headache (literally!) for tall people. I would like to solve this by removing a section as shown in the photos. Would this cause significant structural problems to the house? The beam, as you can see is not load-bearing.

 

[Notch7]

It looks like a collar to me, so it is acting in tension to stop the roof spreading.

I expect you can chop off a bit without it going bang in the night!

 

[richardhowell]

Thanks. The beam is 4x2. Could I shave two inches off do you think? Also I was thinking of bracing the weakened area by bolting on a metal strip. Would this be necessary?

 

[geraldthehamster]

You might be able to get away with moving the whole collar four inches up ...

 

[richardhowell]

Yeah, I thought of that, but that's a lot messier, and I'd need to get a builder in to do it.

 

[ivixor]

Moving it up is better. Cutting it will be a bodge.

It will take all of 10 minutes to chop out a bit of plaster, trim the timber slightly shorter, and nail it back into place.