Replies

1. 
   BossHog | Feb 14, 2003 09:01pm | #1

   Do you have trusses, or rafters and ceiling joists?

   With stick framing, it might not be any big deal. Hard to say without looking at the situation.

   If they're trusses, forget about it. It's not impossible, but it will be so difficult and expensive that it's not practical.

   Leadership - The ability to hide your panic from others.

1. 
   shmoe | Feb 16, 2003 06:59pm | #2

   It's what I believe would be considered typical stick framing, 2 x 8 joists connected to 2 x 8 rafters leading up a pretty steep roof pitch.   As a pretty functional weekend warrior, I'm just not completely confident in the best way to a) attach the new joists to the rafters and plate, and  b) construct a multi-piece 23" joist that will function properly.  It SEEMS like it shouldn't be too bad, but then again you never know.  Thanks again.

1. 
   Piffin | Feb 17, 2003 03:19am | #3

   You are right to tread carefully and might want to find a book on framing that covers this.

   You are not only dealing with structural forces, but the ventilation and insulation issues too.

   You might want to scetch someth8ing uip and run it by an engineer or good framing contractor for advice. A 23' span means that you have a lot of roof with a lot of force acting on those walls.

   Basically, The ceiling joists you have now are also acting as rafter ties to prevent the walls from spreading out. A rule of thumb ( which sometimes only serves to discolour your thumbnail) says that you can move this a third of the way up the roof rafter. You are not going that far so You should be OK there but the trickiest part is fasteneing it to the rafter. Engineers are pretty specific about that.

   Then you hang your soffit back in under it..

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   shmoe | Feb 18, 2003 05:30pm | #4

   Thanks. I'll check it out with a pro.   Come to think of it, might as well see if he's interested in doing it.  That way HE can listen to my wife if it doesn't get done on time.  And, that might bring my dyi list down to 4 pages.

1. 
   Piffin | Feb 18, 2003 09:32pm | #5

   It is a pretty big project for a honeydooo item. Unless she's a honeyhelper.

   Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   TedStaples | Feb 23, 2003 12:32am | #6

   I built something like this in which the tray was actually a box beam designed to counter the thrust of the rafters. Rafter ties were installed but were near mid span of the rafter (see piffins note above). The box beam was designed as a hollow beam and I am running ductwork in it.

   I am in the middle of framing a curved section of framing off of the box beam up to the rafter ties - too confusion to describe here.

   Bottom line, if you find a engineer that will look at your project, you might get a real cool solution.

   Have fun with it.