Victorian terrace - confused about roof structure!
Hi
I'm investigating how to go about putting a loft hatch with ladder into our house. It's a terrace from around 1900, two rooms downstairs, three beds up. Whole house is about 4.5m wide and about 8m front to back on the main structure. It's one house in a street of dozens of similar terraces.
Having made first investigation of the (incredibly mucky) loft I'm confused by what's going on with the structure. I expected to find joists running from front to back (i.e. perpendicular to the line of adjoining houses) with a couple of support trusses.
What I've found is two (what I'd call) Queen trusses - spaced a third of the house widthapart. There appears to be no structural wall underneath the centre of the truss.
Secondly I've found wooden members running perpendicular to the trusses - these are approx 1.2" x 3" in cross section, spaced at approx 15". What I haven't found (which I was expecting) were joists running parallel with the two trusses.
I'm looking for a sense check that I'm not missing something before I start thinking about locating a loft hatch and ladder. Any comments - this must be a common approach (given the number of such houses in the area) - it just doesn't chime with what I've read about roof structures online.
Keith
Hi
I'm investigating how to go about putting a loft hatch with ladder into our house. It's a terrace from around 1900, two rooms downstairs, three beds up. Whole house is about 4.5m wide and about 8m front to back on the main structure. It's one house in a street of dozens of similar terraces.
Having made first investigation of the (incredibly mucky) loft I'm confused by what's going on with the structure. I expected to find joists running from front to back (i.e. perpendicular to the line of adjoining houses) with a couple of support trusses.
What I've found is two (what I'd call) Queen trusses - spaced a third of the house widthapart. There appears to be no structural wall underneath the centre of the truss.
Secondly I've found wooden members running perpendicular to the trusses - these are approx 1.2" x 3" in cross section, spaced at approx 15". What I haven't found (which I was expecting) were joists running parallel with the two trusses.
I'm looking for a sense check that I'm not missing something before I start thinking about locating a loft hatch and ladder. Any comments - this must be a common approach (given the number of such houses in the area) - it just doesn't chime with what I've read about roof structures online.
Keith
