[G-Sun]

Originally Posted by Wolffman

What are you guys using to draw these shetches in ?

Me: SketchUp and OpenOffice Draw
And you? You had a very pro 2d drawing

Sorry, i wasn't aware you wanted a completely decoupled inner structure, if this is the case are you decoupling the floor as well?

With the concept i suggested the ridge beam and floor would be the only connecting members to the external structure.



No, the inner wall framing is completely seperate, in my drawing i allowed a 50mm gap between inner and outter walls, including the high raked gable end walls that carry the ridge beam.

Its still possible to use this concept and achieve full decoupling ( apart from the floor ).

In your last drawing you show a double Ceiling joist at about the 4020mm mark along the length of the building, i believe there is a 100x100 rafter between these joists, right ?

If so, build a grouping of studs to carry a ridge beam inbetween the double joists directly under the rafters, do the same at the gable end of the building, i think there is a small window there ? in that case, build a wider section of framework to include the window with a good size lintel over the window as the load from the ridge beam would be over the window.
It might be a good idea to build a 1200mm wide frame each side into the existing external wall and ply brace these two panels

The new ridge beam would have to be incorporated into this building stage.

Now the ridge beam is in place frame out the areas either side of the group studs supporting the ridge inside the building ( between the ceiling joists ) and securely fix the framework to the external wall at the gable end.

Fix the 100x100mm rafters to the new ridge beam with metal connectors of some kind, if you have a roof truss manufacturer close by they will have what you need, other wise good building supply stores should also carry fasteners that will work fine.

Now that the rafters are tied to the rigde beam they will no longer apply any ( very minimal anyway ) lateral load to the external supporting walls and it will be safe to remove the ceiling and joists from the new studio area.

You could then build the inner walls as per my drawings including a 2nd ridge beam/board and this new inner structure would not be connected to the outer anywhere except the floor.


Hope this makes sense

Cheers

Thanks a lot for explaining!