Help with dog house dormer remodel
#1
04-04-12, 10:29 PM
Help with dog house dormer remodel
Hi all,
New to the forum because I've ran into a problem I can't answer on my own, and I'm hoping you wonderful people can help me out.
First off I have a 1920's bungalow with a finished 1/2 story master bedroom with bath.
My wife needs more closet space and we have a dormer that has been up to this point unused wasted space.
Picture of area(sorry for the plastic covering)
So the plan was to remove the small walls that enclosed the area and create a new wall about 7" farther out that would run flush with the existing hallway wall, thus creating a bathroom/closet area.
So started tearing drywall off and ran into a structural conundrum.
(North side)
(South side)
(Small south dormer wall)
(doorway header)
As you can see most, if not all of the supporting structure is 2x4, the dormer itself is about 8 ft long and the window wall is actually on an exterior wall (covered porch continues to the very front of the house) I was expecting to see a doubled up rafter on each side but as you can see there is an old rafter set back about a 2x4 width, and a newer board on the outer edge(not connected to the original rafter and really not connected anywhere else on the top side besides the roof underlayment), the short walls that I want to remove also are newer wood and were added after the outer wall drywall. It looks to have a 2x4 double header above the entry way but as you can see from the first picture I haven't opened up the angled portion above it yet to have a look on how that is connected to the rest of the roof.
After looking at things a bit closer I also noticed that the short wall studs do not line up with the floor joists, the south wall runs opposite of the joists but the two outer most studs on that wall are actually sitting midway between floor joists. The north short wall runs parallel with the joists and also sits between them.
So my questions are, based on the pictures I have so far did they add these short walls to be extra support? And the bigger question can I safely remove themwithout harming the overall integrity of the roof?
Th
New to the forum because I've ran into a problem I can't answer on my own, and I'm hoping you wonderful people can help me out.
First off I have a 1920's bungalow with a finished 1/2 story master bedroom with bath.
My wife needs more closet space and we have a dormer that has been up to this point unused wasted space.
Picture of area(sorry for the plastic covering)
So the plan was to remove the small walls that enclosed the area and create a new wall about 7" farther out that would run flush with the existing hallway wall, thus creating a bathroom/closet area.
So started tearing drywall off and ran into a structural conundrum.
(North side)
(South side)
(Small south dormer wall)
(doorway header)
As you can see most, if not all of the supporting structure is 2x4, the dormer itself is about 8 ft long and the window wall is actually on an exterior wall (covered porch continues to the very front of the house) I was expecting to see a doubled up rafter on each side but as you can see there is an old rafter set back about a 2x4 width, and a newer board on the outer edge(not connected to the original rafter and really not connected anywhere else on the top side besides the roof underlayment), the short walls that I want to remove also are newer wood and were added after the outer wall drywall. It looks to have a 2x4 double header above the entry way but as you can see from the first picture I haven't opened up the angled portion above it yet to have a look on how that is connected to the rest of the roof.
After looking at things a bit closer I also noticed that the short wall studs do not line up with the floor joists, the south wall runs opposite of the joists but the two outer most studs on that wall are actually sitting midway between floor joists. The north short wall runs parallel with the joists and also sits between them.
So my questions are, based on the pictures I have so far did they add these short walls to be extra support? And the bigger question can I safely remove themwithout harming the overall integrity of the roof?
Th
