How to Reinforce Dutch Gambrel framing
I am going to be enlarging a closet by pushing a wall back in a dutch gambrel roof. See pic
I realize that the existing wall is an important part of the structural integrity of the roof framing. There is a 2X4 that runs horizontally where the two roof planes intersect. The house is about a 100 years old.
What would be the best way to strengthen this point once the original wall is removed?
Replies
I would think a "header" would do just fine.
Just like adding a door or a window in a load bearing wall.
When asked why is there four engines on a 747------ "cause we couldn't fit six" a Boeing engineer
I was expecting a photo, Boo-hoo...
;)
Simply building it with a "header" will not be accurate generic advice. A header needs to rest on jack studs. Those and the adjacent king studs need to transfer load to foundation. If they merely end on subfloor, there will be a big old sag in the floor there...
and for something a hundred years old, it is hard to imagine which of many unique ways this was framed to begin with....
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OK here is a real pic. This is a view on the opposite wall so the construction should be the same. The house is a two family set up 'Philadelphia' style. I know there are no supporting walls under those king studs, it is a kitchen underneath.
Not much for insulation there, eh?
I won't say how to do it specificly, because there is still way too much to be missed. I would presume that each stud lands over a floor joist. At minimal distance in from the main exterior wall below, there is load transferred to the foundation laterally on those floor joists IF my imagination is right. Moving the wall might make little difference. Or it might spell doomsday.
But I would be thinking of a couple things;
making each roof plane function as a while, using a diaphragm. A header helps too, but at the question of where does it transfer loads to. Will those joists sag at point loads from jack studs?
And
making sure the cieling joists function securely as rafter ties, to prevent the upper from spreading.
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