We recently got approved planning permission to install a smaller window (680x680) on the upper floor of our townhouse. I bounced some ideas with people here on the forum and a local construction company about how to support the window. Unfortunately, I didn't provide detailed descriptions of the house, only a facade drawing, and received the response from everyone that the wall on such a gable-roof house is not load-bearing (which I understand is the case 9 out of 10 times), so it can be reinforced with two horizontal and two vertical studs around the window.
However, when we were about to install the window and opened the wall, we discovered that there were three studs placed fairly close together instead of the one I had expected. The middle stud was quite loose and was significantly affected by the saw when cutting. We chose to reinforce according to plan anyway. Once the window was in place, I got a bad feeling and started to look into the roof structure more closely. After some more discussions with knowledgeable people, I found out that the gable wall is partially load-bearing and supports the ridge beam. In hindsight, I have tried to reinforce around the window with extra studs on the sides and some reinforced angle irons. I also added an extra stud in one corner below the window that has support in the top plate at floor level. Above the corresponding corner on the top side, there are only noggings between the standing studs, so maybe an extra stud there wouldn't help much? The weak link here is probably the horizontal stud above the window.
My question is: do you think it will hold, do I need to reinforce more, or should I bring in someone who can calculate this and come up with a new solution?
I would be very grateful for help with this!
Attached are various drawings, a picture of the build, and a facade drawing.
A bit difficult to assess. The drawings are not complete enough to make calculations. In addition to the ridge beam, there are longitudinal roof rafters. The transference of the gable window is probably insufficiently executed, but the best thing is to first calculate the load from the ridge beam.
Thank you! Unfortunately, there are no more construction drawings at the city planning office. Is there any construction that can be done to confidently match the load-bearing capacity of the three cut standing studs (38x118) without having to calculate the load?
You need to create a support around the window with studs on edge. How far is the distance to the ridge beam's next support? How wide is the house? Where is it located (i.e., snow zone)?
I had to open up a section of the plasterboard in the attic to see how the support for the ridge beam looks. The beam rests on a stud and the others are supported in the roof. The center stud and the left stud in the picture are the two outer studs of the three that we cut off at the window. The cut-off center stud only has support in a cross stud located about 40 cm above the window. The distance from the window to the ridge beam is 2.5 m and these studs go directly up without support along the way. Hope it was understandable.
The gable wall is 10.89 m wide and the house is located in snow zone 2.
The distance between the walls in the attic is 4.10 m and from what I can see without removing the plaster, it has the same design with support on that side.
There are no large loads on the ridge beam with the current roof construction, but the framing around the window should appear as shown in the image below.
I used 45x95 C 24 timber. It may also suffice for the center posts, depending on how long they are.
Then I will replace the existing with that. I think I will keep the existing standing studs in 38x118 that come down from the ridge now, so they will remain in that dimension.
Many thanks for the sketch and for taking the time to calculate this!
Click here to reply
Vi vill skicka notiser för ämnen du bevakar och händelser som berör dig.
