Remove a wall

[stevenroyals]

Hi

I want to remove a gyprock wall in my house but there is a timber resting on the top plate which supports part of the roof. Is there a way of removing this wall without having the roof collapse?

Have a look at the photos.

Thanks
Steve

[Shedhand]

Its abviously a load bearing wall. So care needs to be taken. If you remove the plaster sheet you can house a structurally appropriate beam in the stud wall then cut the studs off at the base of the beam. Ask someone - a builder for instance - with a span chart to find out the appropriate beam dimension for the span and roof weight.
Good luck

[stevenroyals]

The span is about 3.8 meters from the outside wall to the internal wall facing it and has an iron roof.

Steve

[Two-Words]

Steve, with the greatest respect, I think if you have to ask the question here, you shouldn't be doing it without the proper professional help.

[Shedhand]

The span is about 3.8 meters from the outside wall to the internal wall facing it and has an iron roof.

Steve

minimum beam should be 200mm x 50mm F17 Hardwood. Check with a builder.

[ThePope]

You've two choices, you can run a beam under the ceiling as mentioned already or a strutting beam above the ceiling. Beam needs to be sized to carry not only the roof weight but also the ceiling weight currently being carried by those three hanging beams.

200*50 is not suitable.
250*75 would be close to the mark.

[Pulse]

steve, Wayne pretty much beat me to it but you really picked a tricky wall to remove. As Wayne pointed out the wall supports 2 hanging beams and an underpurlin via a roof strut. It therefore supports a ceiling and a roof load.

I just printed out a copy of the latest AS 1684.2 and on page 102 it describes a combined counter-strutting beam. The photo below shows what you need, except you will probably place it as a "lintel" in the wall below if you just want a large opening rather than complete removal of the wall.

The supplements have the span tables.

You probably need a copy of the page from the standards and the relevant supplement for the timber you wish to use. PM me your email.

Cheers
Pulse

[namtrak]

We did a similar thing in our roof, but I moved the strut to a nearby wall. And used another hanging beam to hang the ceiling. We hung the existing hanging beams perpindicular to the new beam. All worked okay, but if your askign questions here you really need to get a builder up in the roof and spell it out for you.

Cheers

[stevenroyals]

Thanks for all your replies.

I think I might get a bulder in for this one. I've got plenty of other things I can do to the house without worrying about this job.

Any ideas roughly how muich it would cost?

Thanks
Steve

[Shedhand]

Good idea steve. No idea what it will cost but certainly cheaper than repairing a stuff up. Just in response to Wayne my builder has removed an external stud wall which supports a hipped roof. The engineer specified a 240mm x 45mm F17 hardwood beam to span 4.0 metres. It will support hip trusses and a custom orb roof.
Cheers

[ThePope]

That sounds right for your situation Shedhand, whoever Steve gets in to do the job will work out what's actually required based on what they find onsite. Costs would start at around a grand Steve.