Moving Loft Hatch

[kevin_robson]

I am looking at knocking our bathroom and toilet through into one room. The dividing wall is just a stud wall so no probs there. I'd just need to put up a stud wall/door frame further on down the landing.

Only trouble is I wouldn't be able to get to the loft hatch then.
See pic at : should rotate it 90 degs to right

http://freespace.virgin.net/kevin.robson/loftpics/loft.jpg

The arrow shows which way the hatch would have to be moved. Probably by 2-3 beams or 1 Metre. The black square is where I want to put the door.

I'm a little worried about cutting beams in the loft though. Can I do any major damage? I'm assuming I would cut two beams, and use the two outer remaining beams as the base for the hatch frame?

But what would I do with the old beams that had already been cut for the previous hatch? Would they need replacing or do they not hold anything weight-wize? Or could I just screw plasterboard over it and forget about it?

Some more pics are below - not sure how easy they will be to see what I mean, especially as the loft is currently boarded, though you can see some of the beams. The beams are approx 40cm apart and I reckon I need to move the hatch approx 1M - would hope to get away with cutting two of them.

I'd also be getting very close to one of the joists that hold the roof up. I think this joist would be attached to the beam that would form the basis of one of the loft hatch edges. Is this a problem?

http://freespace.virgin.net/kevin.robson/loftpics/loft2.jpg
http://freespace.virgin.net/kevin.robson/loftpics/loft3.jpg
http://freespace.virgin.net/kevin.robson/loftpics/loft4.jpg

Hope this makes some sort of sense to someone. I'd really appreciate any advice you can give me and hope the pictures are clear enough for you to get an idea what I am on about. Please say if this is too much to take on for an ambitios amateur DIYer.

Many Thanks,
Kevin

 

[petewood]

You do not need to replace the joists where the hatch is being moved from.

You should really get a joiner to have a look at where the new hatch should be so he can advise you how to support the ends of the joists you want to cut. If you lift the boards around your hatch as it is now, you should get an idea how it should be done.

 

[kevin_robson]

Thanks
I will left the boards over the next few days and have a look.

Just for my info how can you tell:
a) that the existing joists that have been cut dont need replacing
b) that the joists I will be cutting will not be supporting anything?

Thanks for your help

 

[petewood]

a) The joists around where your loft hatch is currently located must already be supported or your ceiling would have fallen down.

b) I can't tell, that's why I suggested getting a joiner in to have a look.