Loft conversion - king post / straining beam modification

[Adam Grady]

I am converting my loft and we have a king post / straining beam in the centre of the loft which would need to be modified to give us the required head height (currently only 1.6m clearance). What are the options for this, is it possible to leave the queen posts (vertical timbers) in place and then replace the king post with an A-frame (either steel or timber)? Any alternative suggestions welcome, cheers.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

As it is only 200mm it may well be possible to shorten the king post and support it on a new tie beam at a higher position between the tops of the two queen posts, with some steel brackets to fix the new tie beam to the queen posts. If the trusses had been a bit longer a simple collar tie between them at a higher point would have done the job, but as they are curtailed I'm afraid that a solution will need to be designed and fabricated

 

[Adam Grady]

Thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated.

Shortening the king post and supporting it with a new tie beam at a higher position between the tops of the two queen posts with some steel brackets would work perfectly - I hadn't thought of that. It might be worth having the tie beam in steel to save height, is this common?

Once again thanks for the response!

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I think it would be down to your structural engineer how it's actually done. I've put in timber collar ties a number of times which isn't difficult - in fact there's more work to put in the temporary supports and make sure the roof doesn't collapse while you work on it than there is to do the job

 

[Adam Grady]

Cheers mate, much appreciated and thanks again for the advise.