On 28/01/2013 07:41, harry wrote:
On Jan 27, 9:20 pm, "dennis@home"
wrote:
On 27/01/2013 12:25, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:









In article
,
Owain wrote:
Doesn't look enough snow to be significant there.

Metro says: People living in the street said snow had piled onto a car
port at the side of the house, which gave way and brought the gable
end of the council property down.
http://metro.co.uk/2013/01/26/family...use-caves-in-u...

which sounds more plausible as a cantilevered carport could pull out a
few bricks and the wall above would follow

Difficult to tell by the pic, but is it a timber frame house where the
brickwork ain't load bearing? If so, it wouldn't take much to break it.

Gable ends aren't usually load bearing.
The roof is supported at the ends of the trussed rafters.
Sometimes the floor is supported but not always.

You are a half wit.

Hello pot, meet kettle.

Traditional houses are load bearing by reason of the purlins.

Which bit of the phrase "trussed rafters" above did you not understand?

Also note that traditional purlin layouts leave a diamond section at the
top of a gable unloaded.

Only in houses with trussed roofs are they not. Even then the gable is
supposed to be tied to the roof structure.

It may have a few straps, but it does not add significant structural
strength. The tops of gable walls can be quite weak when subjected to
lateral loads.

--
Cheers,

John.

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