Babnik Posted October 30, 2004 Share Posted October 30, 2004 A question for those more experienced than I. I have 4 very large exposed beams in my house. Two of them seem to be original beams, and two look very recent (Roof has been redone recently, but before we bought the house). The two old beams look as if they were cut using an axe, whilst the two new ones were definitely not done by hand. The two old beams have a natural curvature to them in the centre that gives an extra few centimetres headroom, but the two new ones are perfectly straight, and a little in the way (unless you are about 1.65m tall or less) Whilst, it's not that bad, can anything be done about these two beams? Someone has mentioned lowering the floor in the area of the two beams, giving an extra 10-15 cms of headroom. Also I have recently seen pictures of how a beam can be replaced by quite an intricate (well in my eyes at least) structure of joists and cross beams. Is this possible, and if so is it prohibitively expensive? Or is lowering the floor a more practical solution? (first floor!) Anyone had this problem?Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neutralzone<EM>Lets not <STRONG>bitch!<STRONG><EM> Posted October 31, 2004 Share Posted October 31, 2004 [quote]A question for those more experienced than I. I have 4 very large exposed beams in my house. Two of them seem to be original beams, and two look very recent (Roof has been redone recently, but before ...[/quote]Have you seen charlotte3's post on "Beam Diverters " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddie Posted October 31, 2004 Share Posted October 31, 2004 Hi, yes we had this problem with our "upstairs". The two main beams running the whole width of the house (each about 9 metres long) and essentially holding the place together were impractically low so we had them removed and news ones fitted, raising the head level to a far more practical one. It involved inserting 4 new beams (2 huge pieces of "modern" timber for each old beam) bedding the ends into the walls and then attaching them to the either side of the existing beam framework using a series of massive bolts. It's not terribly pretty in the sense that it is modern timber but the each beam is a whole piece with no joins (which really impressed a friend of mine who was in the timber industry). It would have been possible to pretty them up by distressing them but they will be hidden by walls eventually. It was expensive though.I have no idea how long it took as it was done before we moved in but I do know it involved the hire of a massive crane (which broke down) to haul them into place. I think it was certainly money well spent but we didn't really have much choice. People who have seen it are quite impressed and it seems a very simple process. Then again we may have been lucky to have a particular type of roof framework which could be easily adapted, I have no idea!Nic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babnik Posted October 31, 2004 Author Share Posted October 31, 2004 I was pretty sure it could be done...here's an illustration of what I mean I'd only change two of them, but it all depends on cost really..... Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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