How over engineered are timber framed homes??

Greenroom · Oct 15, 2020 6:51 pm

Hi all,

I want to get an understanding of how over engineered your typical timber frame home is. My home is 35 years old, walls are old hardwood studs at 600 ctrs with some metal cross bracing around and about.

The existing stick built concrete tile clad roof will all be removed and replaced with new trusses and again concrete tiles. Of course this means the prior internal load bearing walls will no longer be load bearing and all load will go from truss end to end onto the exterior walls. Am I correct in assuming the existing brick veneer exterior walls will be far more than strong enough for these trusses?

Look forward to some insight from the pros,
Green.

alexp79 · Oct 15, 2020 7:03 pm

Needs loads to be checked/calculated more with regards to the footings and stability of the soil under them rather than walls. Walls just "transfer" the load to the footings and soil.

Do you have structural design drawings?

Greenroom · Oct 15, 2020 7:06 pm

Hmm yes that is a good point. Unfortunately all of the existing plans went up in literal flames when the councils store burned down in the 1990's and all permits were lost.

How could I gauge the existing footings without cutting chunks out of them to see the sections?

SejaeD · Oct 20, 2020 12:20 pm

Greenroom

Hmm yes that is a good point. Unfortunately all of the existing plans went up in literal flames when the councils store burned down in the 1990's and all permits were lost.

How could I gauge the existing footings without cutting chunks out of them to see the sections?

you're not in bankstown are you? i remember the council burning down in the 90's, was amazing to watch. If I remember correctly a spark from a dude welding some air conditioning pipes.

if you are in sydney I can give you the number of a great structural engineer who can give you some advice

Greenroom · Oct 20, 2020 1:37 pm

Thanks mate, unfortunately in VIC but appreciate the offer

StructuralBIMGuy · Oct 20, 2020 2:04 pm

Hey greenroom I think you'll find your House is under engineered
and the codes would have changed, so your renovation design and engineering will need to be brought up to date
and certified.
To determine the footing size & depth you can drill holes or have the slab scanned (x-rayed). The latter is expensive
Cheers
Chris

Greenroom · Oct 20, 2020 6:30 pm

Thanks for the input Chris, I think drilling holes is a better idea than trying to dig out around it!