Please Help - Loft Hatch

tintagel11

Hi all, this is my first post so sorry if I don't do this properly!

I am wanting to expand my current loft hatch but have been told the roof I have is a truss roof.. can anyone help explain why this is a problem? Any ideas if I can still do it?

Thanks

Willie T

Yes. A truss is an engineered piece of structure that has very little allowance for any modifications to ANY of the pieces of wood that make up the whole.

So, you cannot move nor cut any lumber on a truss without destroying the integrity of the whole truss. The bottom holds up the top... the top supports the bottom... all the pieces in between keep it from collapsing.

__________________
"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and only that which is."
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Willie T

tintagel11

Thanks for your answer Willie.. any ideas how I can get around this then? The hatch I have / want to put in is in total (including the frame) 700mm, but the trusses are 600mm apart...

Willie T

Since you're only talking about 100mm (4" to us Yanks), is there any way you could build the frame down, mounting it on the ceiling beneath the bottom chords of the trusses rather than in between them?

__________________
"True eloquence consists in saying all that is necessary, and only that which is."
François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
Willie T