Joist Choices

Hello folks,

Firstly let me say thank you for the many posts on DIYnot which have been enormously helpful during my project. Whilst I've been doing fairly chunky DIY projects for years, this is my first proper bit of building and I think it's gone pretty well so far. Long story short; the original decking which came with the house unexpectedly collapsed with the window cleaner on it, I promptly demolished it, dug it out, hardcore/sand/dpc, 250mm slab with 3 sheets of mesh, then slowly built it up in brick over the last few months. It's not perfect, but it's a lot more perfect than some of the house (Britannia)!!

There's a little door which will provide access for garden tool storage etc, the top will be edge-to-edge slate tiles (continued from the kitchen), and eventually it will have a glass room on top of it.

The question I'm currently mulling over however is how best to do the joists. I've looked at a few options and was favouring 3x block columns along the inside of the long walls, RSJs end-to-end supported by the blocks, then joists front-to-back, 2x18mm marine ply, seal and tile, then seal again.

However, given the small-ish span, the low expected load/traffic etc, is this overkill? The other option is putting in standard hangers with M12 rawl bolts, but I seem to remember reading an article which frowned upon mounting hangers in that manner right at the top of the wall.

Any thoughts or ideas on the best way to proceed? Cheers.

Vertical DPC, then a tanalised timber fitted with gu10 expansive bolts, timber hangers, joists.

Helmet, good evening.

One other consideration??

There appears to be an air brick to the left and just below the patio door?? there are air bricks in your new wall.

Have you considered air flow into the new area and then into the existing underfloor area??

Ken.

How is the cat [or small dog] getting on with the access plank???

Thanks for the comments folks. I'm planning to move the air bricks so they're not obstructed, that's still on the to-do list and why I put 4 in the new structure to make sure there's plenty of air circulating around. That's the theory at least.

It's all business as usual for the cat, she's not at all phased by it. I think that's version 6 of the cat ramp and probably the most sensible iteration!

It looks like you are a couple of coarse's of bricks too high to rest your joists on? neat brickwork