What is this bit of my loft called and can I cut into it without my house falling down :D

[Lurker5501]

Hi all

We need to get into corner of our loft for maintenance. At the moment we have to crawl through this hole in the wood and it's very tight and unpleasant!

There is another hole in the wood at the other end of the loft.

Can anyone please advise if this hole has a name and also
Could we cut more sections out of the wood to allow for easier access, nearer to the wall area, or would this cause structural issues?
If so, even if we only cut out a tiny bit to allow for eg a hand to poke through?

Many thanks for any advice :)

[dewaltdisney]

I am not an expert on this but I would say that the ply infill panel is not giving support as such as the roof is tied by the collar beam (the A piece) the roof rafters are resting on the purlin the longtitudal beam and this has struts or hangers to provide ceiling joist support. Now the ply may reinforce these hangers somewhat by tying thisunder purlin frame but there are plenty of roofs without this. I would say that you could cut similar size openings and perhaps screw a cover piece of ply over when not in use to give you peace of mind.

DWD

[big-all]

my thoughts
the ply is simply to give a closed clean side no other purpose and the holes have been jig sawed out for additional insulation to be added many years later the other timber i would avoid removing untill your sure it is not give support to the ceiling you stand on up there