steel in roof?

R

*rose

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hi everyone,

we are just about to start out roof (tomorrow all going well!) we were told by our carpenter to put steel along the length of our roof (storey and a half). we ordered four lengths of 26 ft steel (house length is 52 ft).

we put it up during the week and were told by guy with teleporter that we would need a lot of support as it was being bolted in the middle and might sag in the future.

our engineer didn't even mention steel to start with, carpenter thinks partition walls would be fine, now we're worried about it ....

has anyone else been in this situation? are partition walls enough? should we have solid walls underneath it?

hope someone can help! thanks a million :)
 
You will need solid walls to support the steel although I have seen it supported on stud partitions but that would normally be wrong based on the timber sizes and fixing methods.

You really should discuss this with your engineer.
 
Definitly talk to engineer. And generally go with what he says ,hes the most qualified out of the three of them and he has professional indemnity insurance.
 
Sounds like you need a frank discussion with your engineer or perhaps a new one?
 
thanks a million for the replies.

we are meeting our engineer after work this evening. he had given us a list of steel for the conservatory and bay window, but never mentioned the roof.

we have started the roof today - is it still possible to put up solid walls upstairs?? my boyfriend said we will have to cut out joists to build solid walls upstairs and have to altar rooms upstairs .... will ask engineer this later

thanks again, appreciate the advice, will let ye know later what engineer says!!

are the stud partitions strong enough to hold the steel?
 
Rose,

You can build a structural timber stud with a double 4X2 as the base plate but these would really want to be bearing on to a ground floor block wall or an RSJ that is run between walls.

What part of the roof are you using the steel in? Why not use timber purlins? What is the width of your house?

I think you should have consulted your engineer before buying and erecting the steel it may be an unnecessary expense!
 
thanks jollyman .... really needed to hear that!!! (only joking!)

anyway steel is up and bolted now, so it's staying put!!! 2 lengths of steel are running along the length of the house, 52 ft long .... i think the width of our house is 34 ft

when carpenter told us to put in steel, we agreed straight away, as we had a lot of structural damage to our house before christmas during bad weather when 3 of our gables fell down and we both agreed we wanted as much security and support as possible ....

anyway back to the steel ... will speak to engineer and carpenter about timber stud partition .. thanks for advice jollyman!!! these are definately the parts of self build we DO NOT enjoy!!! rose
 
Thats unfortunate about the Gables coming down has happened several people i know, best practise is to make sure you have the carpenter following on shortly after the gable has been built will prevent it being exposed to wind loads and the roof structure offers support to the gable.

Id have a good talk to the engineer tonight and ask him about the use of purlins running along the length of the roof with kickers down on to the floor joists that should be supported from your block walls; you can double up on the joists if neccessary.
 
*rose said:
hi everyone,

we are just about to start out roof (tomorrow all going well!) we were told by our carpenter to put steel along the length of our roof (storey and a half). we ordered four lengths of 26 ft steel (house length is 52 ft).

we put it up during the week and were told by guy with teleporter that we would need a lot of support as it was being bolted in the middle and might sag in the future.

our engineer didn't even mention steel to start with, carpenter thinks partition walls would be fine, now we're worried about it ....

has anyone else been in this situation? are partition walls enough? should we have solid walls underneath it?

hope someone can help! thanks a million :)
Click to expand...

You require a load bearing wall and the engineer should be able to specify dimensions having considered the loadings etc. I hope your carpenter knows something about carpentry!
 
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