What's this doing and can it be removed ?

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Hi

I've got a wooden joist running from one side of the house to no where. It stops just before the chimney stack. Same from the other side of the house. It sits on top of the loft joists and doesn't appear to be supporting anything. See picture below of the original house plans.

What is it for and can i remove it ?



Also, does anyone know if i could remove the king posts (centre posts) ? There is only 2 of them and they are only 0.5" x 3" and can't really be offering any kind of support.

 

[tony1851]

The timber joist above the ceiling (running perpendicular to the ceiling joists) is there to provide some support to the ceiling to prevent excessive deflection, and should not be removed.

The central verticals are not king posts, they are just ties. It is possible there may be a spliced joint at the middle of the bottom chord, and the tie is a way of preventing excessive deflection at that point. As above, it shouldn't be removed

Your questions suggest that you want to board over the loft and use it in some way. If you do remove the pieces mentioned, your roof won't collapse, but you may notice excessive bend in the ceiling below.