WhiskyInTheJar

Correct! To the right of this is another bedroom, which is part original and part extension (it's the most north easterly room on the diagram in my original post). From being in that room, I suspect it's being supported just slightly north of the door by an RSJ or other beam. I basically want to achieve that for the entire wall. I know that a second roof - or roof extension - was added like your diagram suggests, but they've maintained the pitch exactly it seems. This covers the corridor to the north of the building in the first diagram. Thanks to you both for coming back to me on this. I guess my question now is about the feasibility of getting that roof supported by an RSJ and getting the rest of the wall out. Just to be clear, this isn't something I'd tackle myself. I'd be getting a professional in to handle strucutral work. I'll just do the superficial work after the real grown-ups have been in!

Thanks for your replies - and happy new year! Things have moved VERY slowly, but these are a couple of pictures I managed to take yesterday in the loft during a visit. It definitely appears to be supporting the roof structure. I guess, the approach would be to get an RSJ along that length provided we can get padstones on some piers to support it? Anything else I'm missing?

That was my initial thought, but for that to be true, I think it would mean the entire roof must have been replaced at some point since the pitch is regular on both front and back. Which I guess means its truly impossible to say without looking in the loft where the weight is likely to be borne? What do you mean by "really compromised"? Assuming the weight is borne on the red wall, it wouldn't be too costly to address. If it's borne on the yellow, we can either make it good somehow (perhaps), or just take down the red wall and keep the bedroom as it, I think? Or are you seeing something that I'm missing?

Here's one, and I think the most useful part of it is actually the shadow, indicating that the roof is on a regular pitch throughout - but the bit on the north side definitely has a different appearance. Any ideas why? It doesn't look like it's just material to me, but maybe it is?

I would if I could - I think I'll have to arrange another viewing, because with all the best will in the world, I think people's suggestions here can only be best-guess work based on experience. Nothing beats eyes-on, I suppose!

Thanks for the reply. I’d completely agree except for the fact the red wall is where the pitched roof comes down, not the yellow. It’s not a flat roof out to the edge of the red roof (unlike the extension to the left and right which clearly have a flat roof). This is why it’s so confusing. There’s also a slight discolouration of the pitched roof when it reaches the yellow wall and stretches down to the red, so I’m not too sure what’s going on there. I feel fairly confident that we’ll be able to do what we want to do, but think a surveyor will need to take a good look and tell us what the damage will be. We’re complete novices to this though so have no idea what to expect. Any further thoughts are greatly appreciated but thanks again for your response so far.

Hi everyone. I hope this is the right place to post this. I’m wondering if someone can help clear up a bit of confusion. We're considering buying this 1960s bungalow, but it's got a strange quirk going on with internal windows caused by a corridor running along the back of the house (see diagram). I'm trying to work out whether the red or yellow highlighted wall is holding the roof up (or a combination of both?). Our initial intention was to take down the internal wall/windows and extend the walls on either side to meet the outer (red highlighted) wall. That would make a little more bedroom space and lose the strange corridor feature. However, we've got the title plan, and it's got a dotted line where the red highlighted wall on the diagram is now, indicating that this might have only been an overhang/lean-to structure, which calls into question its strength to support the roof - I think? But, I see there's a large wooden fascia above the windows on the rear wall, so could that be covering an RSJ that's providing enough support to hold the roof up without the internal wall doing anything? I think it's worth noting that without the rear corridor, the roof would either end strangely high or be pitched irregularly and very steep at the rear of the house, so surely the outer wall is taking the weight? Can anyone advise based on what I've provided whether or not the outer or internal wall is likely to be load bearing? Grateful for any advice!!! You might be able to tell that I know very little! Thanks in advance!