Removing Horizontal Beams From Hip Roof

Without joists the walls can bow outward and the roof ridge line may sag.

Removing horizontal beams from hip roof.

The trick in framing a vaulted ceiling is figuring out what to do with the ceiling joists. If you remove the ceiling joists its like removing the bottom leg of a triangle. Instead the method normally used was to provide large wall plates which act as horizontal beams holding the bottoms of the rafters in place and the wall plates are then themselves held together by tie beams at intervals within the building which are joined to the plate with a special tension. Ridge boards in the roof space as the name suggests the ridge board is the length of timber which runs horizontally along the apex of the roof.

The loads on the ridge beam are carried by vertical posts at the beam ends down through the building structural walls to the building foundation. When you remove the joists you must provide adequate support through the use. They make the surrounding walls taller often by adding taller support beams. A standard non vaulted ceiling has horizontal joists that span wall to wall to help support the roof structure above.

A structural ridge beam is a horizontal beam placed at the peak or ridge of a roof and is designed to carry much of the live and dead loads or weight of the roof structure by itself. But to answer your first question no you cant just remove the horizontal timbers as they are probably collar ties stopping your roof spreading. Stick with the se s advice put in some steels and support the roof. Static 6 jun 2011 7.

Without it the weight on the roof will cause the rafters to flatten particularly at the center of the span and bow the wall out where the rafters connect to the wall plate and ultimately fail. If you don t have sufficient space above the room then a contractor has to raise the roof in order to elevate the ceiling. These horizontal framing members tie a building s outer walls together and resist the outward force exerted by the roof rafters in conventional framing. Once a roof spreads its impossible to correct and would require the entire thing to be stripped and replaced.