Recent content by Mike400

sorry still no pics yet!!! I had heard you can double up on the existing joists using beams which arent any higher but are wider, thus giving the same strength as a taller joist? The finished room would be used as a study and so wouldnt be used as heavily as say a bedroom would.

AFAIK thats as far as they go. Ill get a chance later or tomorrow to get up and take some pics, that would probably tell more than my crappy drawing lol They dont seem all that substantial, which is why I thought a bit of bracing from the joists to the rafters would more than compensate for...

Ok not a picture but should give some idea: The red bits are the summil beams, the green the purlin props. There are only two sets of props

Cheers guys. What I thought I could do was double up on the joists, then double up on the purlins as well as "boxing in" the space im going to use with beams going vertically from the joists to the purlins. Once thats done I thought I could safely remove the purlin props and the summil...

I think the house was built in the 1950's, at least thats what the next door neighbours say and they moved in to theirs when it was built! Its a semi, of concrete block construction (brick facing to front elevation). As well as these beams there are also two inverted 'V' shapes in the...

Not sure to be honest, ill measure them when I get the chance to take some pics. These summil beams look to be the same size as the joists.

I dont have any pictures at the minute so bear with me! The joists that make up my attic floor run from the front of the house to the rear. There are three beams on top which run at right angles to the joists, from the gable wall to the party wall. They dont quite touch the two walls and...

well it stops my house feeling like the inside of an iceberg so alls good.... I will get it serviced at the end of the month just to be sensible :lol:

Looks like moving the gas meter is the new owners problem then?

A tad harsh, and whilst im not qualified, and therefore not competent, I maybe should have explained myself better. I was of the opinion that I WOULD have to install an insulated steel liner - I know that a stove doesnt heat a chimney to its operating temp and therefore you get soot deposits...

:evil: Right im off home to start building a moat or something round my tank lol....... Oh and doitall the oil was delivered yesterday morning, I didnt end up running the heat till 8 or 9 yesterday evening, so it should have settled by then?

Me again I'm ready to be shot down for this lol but here goes: The fire in our living room has been taken out. Hard to explain so Ill post a picture, but a raised marble hearth has been installed, and the opening is still there in the chimney breast. The chimney has just been blocked up...

Yikes a lot has happened here since yesterday! I opened the bleed valve and tried running the boiler and no oil was coming out so I assume its not getting as far as the boiler. I done some checks last night and determined: The oil in the tank is below the level of the pickup point...

Thanks for all the replies, as you can tell im not exactly a CH expert..... Will check the pipe again for leaks tonight, fit a padlock to the tank, check the filter and that should all give me a clean sheet for when the oil is delivered tomorrow. Oh and yes it is a plastic tank, standard...

I would say the tank is more or less level with the boiler, maybe a bit higher, few inches at most. Tank has never been cleaned out in all the time we have lived in the house (just over three years) and I get the impression the previous owners wouldnt have bothered. Boiler has never been...