Floor bowed after eaves door

[dormermike]

Hi

Had a loft conversion company in to modify an existing conversion in a dormer bungalow. All gone well apart from where a new door was cut in to provide eaves access as the original opening had been closed off.

Since the new opening was made, the floor in front of the opening has bowed up. The cupboard door to the right no longer has clearance to the floor to open, so at a guess we are talking a small amount perhaps 5-10mm.

Loft company says nothing to worry about as there changes were not structural. I beg to differ because the headers supporting the roof (horizontal at header and footer of door) were cut. The floor bowing also says otherwise.

Should I be concerned?

Thanks
Mike

20170113_081116

• dormermike
• 13 Jan 2017

 

[bernardgreen]

I beg to differ because the headers supporting the roof (horizontal at header and footer of door) were cut.

the floor in front of the opening has bowed up

Or possible the floor at the sides has bowed downwards under the weight of the roof no longer supported by the post that you say was removed..

 

[dormermike]

Yes that would make sense... there is indeed a supporting wall beneath..

 

[tony1851]

Have they cut the depth of the purlin above the openng? The distance between the underside of the architrave and the crease in the roof looks suspiciously small.

 

[bernardgreen]

Looks like the loft company got it wrong. Get them back to add additional supports to the roof. The black bits in this may be sufficient. It means the door height is reduced but better that that the ceilings in the rooms below being put at risk.

 

[dormermike]

Have they cut the depth of the purlin above the openng? The distance between the underside of the architrave and the crease in the roof looks suspiciously small.

It's how the other eaves access is done too. The horizontal support is x2 2x4's which run the entire length of the upstairs . I think what doesn't help is that they terminate above the door. See photo of back of door from eaves side.

 

[dormermike]

Looks like the loft company got it wrong. Get them back to add additional supports to the roof. The black bits in this may be sufficient. It means the door height is reduced but better that that the ceilings in the rooms below being put at risk.

View attachment 112111

Thanks. They have got the two vertical black bits but the horizontal one beneath the door is just chipboard to cover the hole as far as I can tell. It has been glued in so I can't easily remove it. Loft company are coming back to look so these replies are very helpful so that I can understand the issue better.

Thanks

EDIT the two vertical supports are sat on the chip board on not connected to the original horizontal floor level support which sits on top of the joists which make up the 1st floor. as such they are doing nothing, they even move slightly which to me suggests they are not loaded.

Interestingly the line of the supporting wall is exactly where the original roof support was, so Bernard is spot on in his drawing.

 

[dormermike]

Despite assurances from the loft company that this could "not possibly be structural" I eventually got them to send their SE to take a look. He agrees that it IS structurally impaired and that there has been movement, and whilst there is unlikely to be further movement it will need a full 12 months before we really know. He also said that the roof was not going to fall down, but a heavy snow fall could lead to further flexing.

Loft company are supposed to be fixing it. Considering the main body of work completed Dec 10th, they are way over due with snagging so I am going to ask them for a schedule to complete this and other works.

We went with a loft company specifically because of the roof changes, and when we spoke to them before going ahead made it clear that an SE was to be involved from the start. They have since admitted that no SE has been involved at all, apart from to look at the door!

Considering they made 5 other openings with the conversion of a big room into 2 smaller rooms, that they screwed up a simple hatch way has me wondering what else they have not done correctly.

I am going to request that their SE examine the rest of the work and produce a report. Is that reasonable? Anything else I should be doing? I have let BC know, for no other reason than they were decidedly absent for the entire process so i thought i'd make them try and be of some use. Not sure what yet though!