I have a living room that I'd like to vault the ceiling on. I've had a contractor come out and tell me that my ceiling joists are not supporting the roof in anyway, they are just tying the walls together.
The room has 3 exterior walls and is 14'x20' with the ceiling joists running the 14' direction currently spaced 16" o.c. (built in the early 50s). The 20' walls are both exterior. I'm in an area with little to no snow, wind, and seismic activity (Raleigh, NC). The roof pitch is pretty low.
Ideally I'd like to remove the ceiling joists at the top plate and move them up to the 1/3rd mark so they are a bit higher and also reduce as much as possible the number of ties needed.
I'm thinking two or three 2x6's spaced fairly evenly across the room should do it, but I'm just guessing.