moving loft supports with photos

[Hairy Steve]

I am in the middle of getting my loft floored and installing partition walls and ceiling.

The house is circa 1920 and does not have gang nail trusses, instead there are 2x4 cross members, which are below head height, ideally i want to move them up around 12", to give a more reasonable head height of 2m.

Floor joists are 2x6, rafters are 2x4.

So, my question to you is this.

Are the cross members there to prevent roof spread and how can i strengthen the roof against this before moving them up?

Last pic shows the coross members

by the way, this isn't going to be a living space.

 

[Deluks]

To answer your Q. Yes, and don't know. You will need advice from a structural engineer to be honest. This won't be terribly expensive and it's nice to know that someones done the calcs before you start deconstructing the roof.

 

[Hairy Steve]

So has anybody done this, by that i mean got advice from and SE? Does he basically say "yes it can be done" or "no it cannot"

I ask because my Uncle and my father in law both have the same house as me and they both had their lofts done this way 10-15 years ago with no adverse effects (thus far)

I don't believe an SE was involved.

 

[Hairy Steve]

anybody else care to chip in their 2p, before i bring my roof down lol.

 

[masona]

Are the cross members there to prevent roof spread and how can i strengthen the roof against this before moving them up?

Yes they do, the ceiling joists will need to be beefy up with bigger joists then the upright studs like a solid purlin no more then 1/3 up from the wallplate with coachbolt/timber connector/square washers etc. Forget what the other loft have done, do your correctly for a piece of mind