"Structural Engineering Forums" by thestructuralengineer.info

Hi Guys,

I'm a mech engineer so you can talk technical to me but I am so rusty in the structural field I have very little confidence in my ability to accurately analyse this one myself - even when reviewing my technical books (yes I am really that rusty).

I understand the importance of certification and have a local contact that will look this one over, but I am hoping someone here will be kind enough to offer some advice and potentially a starting point.

Basically I want to remove a wooden stud wall. I know it's load bearing because the pitched roof has a brace that sits directly on this wall. Also the double stud in the center with the diagonal brace tells me there's extra support there for a reason.

Please see the attached image. Stud #1 probably continues to span left to the load bearing outer brick wall, but this is almost flush with the plasterboard so I can double stud there if required. I can't get to it to double check unless I start removing the roof tiles which I'd like to avoid as I have asbestos under sheeting in the roof and don't want to disturb it.

I can't easily measure the top beam #11 but can if I need to. I wasn't planning on moving it if that can be avoided, but it does end flush with the right hand side of stud #10.

In terms of sizes, all the studs excluding diagonal brace #8 are 70mm x 40mm. Diagonal brace #8 is 15mm x 45mm.

All of the spacings are in mm.

I'm not after some fancy calcs to cheapify your profession but if you feel so obliged please feel free. I am really only after some ideas on what I will need to do to tackle this one, and how to brace beam #11 while potentially inserting an extra stud (same size? larger?) at stud #1 and stud #10.

Thanks for any help guys, much appreciated.