Sharps40
Old Mossy Horns
I have a ranch. Buil tin 1989. Roof weight is typical single layer alphalt shingle over plywood. Roof construction is truss, 2x4 constructed and spanning 25 feet. Bottom of each truss is one unbroken 2x4.
At all locations checked, the interior partition walls have a gap of 3/8" between the top of the walls doubled top plate and the bottom of the perpendicular truss that spans the exterior walls. (i.e. all load appears to be xfered to exterior walls, there is no sag making contact with interior partition walls...only contact at any point on the truss system is the exterior walls. The attic is uninhabitable/no floor/no storage.)
Floor joists are also 2x4x25 feet truss construction but closer spacing.
Additional information, the center wall running half the length of the house, on the right side of the first photo below has no header above any of the door openings.....cripples only to allow for attachment of dry wall.
The center wall is also 5" off the center of the roof truss....i.e. the center of the bottom of the V in the truss does not line up directly with the wall below it.
Also, my contractor (not the builder, he's 30 years away with the plans long ago lost in the trash) states in his professional opinion, the interior walls are non load bearing.
What I've done is start opening about 8 foot spans to bring the kitchen, dining and living areas all together as one large room. Each wall stud I cut out never bound a blade and in fact at this point the corner stud shown in the picture is easy to move back and forth with one hand (I cut away the bottom sill to see if there was weight on this area.)
I'm proceeding slowly but am becoming more confident that opening the room will not require spanning the openings nor installation of a corner post. i.e. I can have a true open living/kitchen area. (already the ac is working less hard.....just opening the kitchen improved the air flow enough that the overall temp of the front of the house now feels just as cool as the back of the house.
Thoughts from those in construction and/or engineering? I am leaning towards a true opening without header and corner post.
The area to the left of the corner post/greenish wall in this photo is a fully spanned/unsupported 25ft wide by 12+ feet deep. (The wall to the right, just behind the Adirondack chair runs 1/2 the length of the house, perpendicular to the trusses and joists and has no headers over the door openings. Also this is the wall that is just to the side of the exact center of the spanning trusses. At no place I can find, does the tops of these interior walls come into contact with the bottom of the trusses.)
At all locations checked, the interior partition walls have a gap of 3/8" between the top of the walls doubled top plate and the bottom of the perpendicular truss that spans the exterior walls. (i.e. all load appears to be xfered to exterior walls, there is no sag making contact with interior partition walls...only contact at any point on the truss system is the exterior walls. The attic is uninhabitable/no floor/no storage.)
Floor joists are also 2x4x25 feet truss construction but closer spacing.
Additional information, the center wall running half the length of the house, on the right side of the first photo below has no header above any of the door openings.....cripples only to allow for attachment of dry wall.
The center wall is also 5" off the center of the roof truss....i.e. the center of the bottom of the V in the truss does not line up directly with the wall below it.
Also, my contractor (not the builder, he's 30 years away with the plans long ago lost in the trash) states in his professional opinion, the interior walls are non load bearing.
What I've done is start opening about 8 foot spans to bring the kitchen, dining and living areas all together as one large room. Each wall stud I cut out never bound a blade and in fact at this point the corner stud shown in the picture is easy to move back and forth with one hand (I cut away the bottom sill to see if there was weight on this area.)
I'm proceeding slowly but am becoming more confident that opening the room will not require spanning the openings nor installation of a corner post. i.e. I can have a true open living/kitchen area. (already the ac is working less hard.....just opening the kitchen improved the air flow enough that the overall temp of the front of the house now feels just as cool as the back of the house.
Thoughts from those in construction and/or engineering? I am leaning towards a true opening without header and corner post.
The area to the left of the corner post/greenish wall in this photo is a fully spanned/unsupported 25ft wide by 12+ feet deep. (The wall to the right, just behind the Adirondack chair runs 1/2 the length of the house, perpendicular to the trusses and joists and has no headers over the door openings. Also this is the wall that is just to the side of the exact center of the spanning trusses. At no place I can find, does the tops of these interior walls come into contact with the bottom of the trusses.)
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