Removing a load bearing wall in a bungalow

[jeds]

the engineer sez its too long a span for the roof truss

but the joists go across this wall,

This is confusing; If you have roof trusses (do you?) what are the joists doing? Or are you confusing trusses with joists?
Either way, trusses are usually designed to span from end to end. It is highly unlikely they would be relying on support from a cross wall.

 

[jeds]

I've only got stud walls, but a lot of them are load bearing. It may be wise to avoid assumptions about a wall's purpose from its construction materials

I remember smiling at a Sarah Beany prog a few years back. She explained that there are different types of wall - ones made from bricks and other made from timber studs. Indicating towards the wall in question - it was a timber wall in a 100yr+ property - she declared that this wall is timber and therefore it isn't load bearing and can be knocked down. She then turned with a sledge hammer in her hand and started pounding away at the wall. The scene cut away - she obviously stopped at that point and a couple of geezers stepped in to finish the job. The smiley bit was that built into the wall - slap bang in the middle - was a substantial 'A' frame. At a guess, a load point for the roof.

 

[Spamchops]

I was merely making it known that every wall here is breeze block.
The attic pics don't show much except the timbers have been cut where the attic hatch is, so the ends seem to rest on that wall. You can't see much as the previous owner went crazy with the insulation. There were six of these across the area that encompass the bit of wall we want gone and the doorway. Seems a lot...

 

[Dereekoo]

So what you have is a standard roof with rafters sloping up to the ridge beam and the ceiling joists spanning across the bungalow and are supported in the middle by cross walls?? If so its a simple case of working out the load acting on the wall from half ceiling either side of it and selecting a suitable size support which as the required span is only 6ft I would expect a standard pre stressed concrete lintel would suffice. Working on a loading of 0.5kn/m2 (high) and a total length of 4m of ceiling to support then the load on the lintel would be 2kN/metre run which is well in the capacity of standard lintels

 

[Spamchops]

We have found a builder! They have agreed to do it, but are not using a lintel at all, they are going to support the trusses instead.... so watch this space...

 

[Bouy]

We have found a builder! They have agreed to do it, but are not using a lintel at all, they are going to support the trusses instead.... so watch this space...

I thought thats what a lintel did

 

[Spamchops]

Me too... The whole wall is going, so there will only be ceiling where it was. I think that the ceilings are suspended, I don't understand that but this is not the first builder to mention joist supports.

 

[robinbanks]

And if we could see what they could see..