I am renovating an attic space for a bathroom, bedroom and possibly a walk in closet. The house was built in 1897 and has an 11×11 square turret on the front corner of the house. Unfortunately, it has never been a livable, however it has potential to be a walk in closet. I can create an 80 inch tall walk way connecting the soon to be bedroom into the walk in closet space. The ceiling peak is probably 20 feet but there are connecting braces centered in the middle at approximately 8ft in height. There are also lots of boards that are braced in the turret, but in my opinion they don’t offer any purpose of support other than when the turret was constructed over 120 years ago. I am asking any advice or suggestions as to my goal of creating a walkway to turret from bedroom area. I plan to move one rafter out about 5 to 6 in and make a 24 inch walkway. Ultimately because of age of home there are 1×6 boards that run the rafters and then the wood shakes and asphalt shingles over the top of those. For the record, I am putting on a whole new roof so that part of the equation isn’t a deal breaker. I guess I am concerned about structural integrity of removing the angle braces and the turret stability itself. If there is a better topic thread to move this to in the forum I would appreciate those suggestions as well.
Thanks
Dan
Replies
Given the age of the house, this is too complicated for online advice. You need someone experienced with old construction to look over the situation in person. Look around for a good carpenter, a good architect, a good structural engineer.
A pic of the interior framing would be helpful. Can’t tell much from the outside about how the framing is constructed. Advice on this forum can not substitute for advice given by licensed contractors and engineers in your area, but we might be able to help you get started and heading in the right direction.
I looked at your video of the space and while it does show a lot of the framing and support, it's "too close" to everything to "see" what's going on. As jlyda said, pictures would be helpful.
I have a similar old house and that roof is holding a lot of weight with the shakes and asphalt shingles. I'd do the new roof first to get the weight off that old framing. that'll let you see any structural roof problem. new sheathing will help stabilize the framing.
having said that, Plumb13 is right about getting some experienced onsite help. The old saying about they don't build them like they used to is true. given my old house, I sometimes add " thankfully" - I have undersized framing, window openings framed w/o headers, notches where they shouldn't be, and more
some of what you (and possibly others-aka "I") think is temporary support structure may actually be the framing members.
good luck
good luck
Oops I missed the video. It is helpful, but some still photos might be easier to see specific elements. In general roofs are self supporting, but you need to make sure rafter dimensions are correct and that walls will not spread w/ roof load. Check rafter spans for your area and see if what is in place meets the requirements. If not, you can sister the rafters to achieve proper load carrying abilities. The ceiling joist/collar ties seem to be done properly for the most part, but again need to compare their spans to current code as well.I would incorporate steel strapping at intersection point of joist to keep them tight together. And do an all over look to add nails where needed as old structures were hand nailed and sometimes low on nail count. If your joist and rafters are solid and tied in properly you should be able to remove a lot of the cribbing in there. If it’s all 2x4 (which it appears to be) you are probably over span a bit and need to stiffen that up. Some of the cribbing might be in there b/c rafters dropped over time from being over span. Again, this is generally speaking. Should consult with a licensed engineer or carpenter in your area (not a handy man).