Hi All,
I want to relocate an external door in a typical Canberra 'ex-Govie' (early '70s Brick-veneer with frames and trusses where none of the internal walls are 'supposedly' load-bearing). The paper house plans I have show un-labelled thin diagonal lines (top to bottom) on all external walls. One of those is in the path of the proposed relocated door. My German in-law, a structural engineer, offered that these are likely metal stiffening straps that prevent the frame / external walls from basically warping. But than again my German is pretty bad . I guess I wouldn't know if those straps actually exist until I remove some internal sheets (likely asbestos, due to be removed anyway for bathroom reno).
A few questions:

  1. Has anyone come across this previously? Knows it's structural significance?
  2. Can anyone suggest a solution (cost effective of course) for door relocation that replaces the structural significance in the current location? has anyone done this? has pictures?
  3. Knows a good structural engineer in Canberra?



Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
P


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