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L d'Bonnie

wrote:
Hi All,

I want to remove a load-bearing wall that separates my living room
from my kitchen. The attic is constructed of regular roof rafters and
the span is roughly 25 feet. I'm exploring different methods of
accomplishing this. The obvious method is to install a beam, but I
also want to look into the prospect of converting the existing roof
rafters into trusses. I've been unable to find much useful
information online so far.

Can anybody recommend any resources (preferably online) that detail
the pros, cons, risks, and methods for a do-it-yourselfer to do such a
conversion? I don't know if I will do it this way or not, but I would
like some reputable websites that would at least tell me whether or
not I can.

Thanks to everyone for any information you can provide!

Ken

Trusses were built with plywood gussets before the metal plate
method of construction was developed. Room permitting you could
probably build trusses in place the old way with plywood.

Needless to say, getting drawings approved by an engineer and your
local authorities will not be easy or cheap. Getting your butt into
the available space to do the construction won't be much easier.

I helped a friend make his own trusses for a shed years ago. I later
built a shed myself with trusses the same size. I bought my trusses.
It just wasn't worth the time to build when I could buy them for
almost the same cost as the material. The homemade trusses we made
were in my opinion just as good as the ones I bought.

In reality you are still going to have a kitchen and a living
room. A beam across the ceiling between the two rooms will not
look out of place. With a beam between the two areas you won't
have a battle trying to match the existing ceilings.

Keep it simple. The more you think about unconventional construction
the more likely you are to outsmart yourself.

LdB