Hip to gable extension

[7doughnuts]

Hi All,

Great forum I can see myself living here for the next year or so draining you all of advice! I do have some skills so will hopefully be able to contribute too!

i'm embarking on a single story extension and loft conversion project and hope to do a fair bit of the work myself. I have successfully renovated my last house but nothing of this scale. I am awaiting planning permission but am expecting a positive outcome, so I'm trying to plan as much as possible so I can be quick out of the blocks when I get the green light. Enough of the waffle and on with a specific question....

I am doing a hip to gable loft conversion so I need to build up the gable end wall. I am going to be getting tradesmen in to perform most of the structural work and certainly the brick work but I want the process clear in my mind before getting quotes for specific parts of the job. What would be the standard/preferred sequence of work? As far as I see it can be broken down in to a number of tasks:

1) Strengthening the floor.
2) Building gable end wall.
3) Changing the roof shape and adding dormer to rear.
4) Finishing off inside.

I appreciate there's a lot more to it than that but am unclear as to how long I'm without a roof and what needs to be done to enable the gable wall to be built.

Is the list in the right order? Should the floor be done first...while the roof is off...does not matter?

My real confusion is surrounding the gable end wall. Can someone describe what needs to be done to get this built? i.e. strip back tiles to expose rafters then temporarily support existing roof....that's the part I don't get!

Thanks for reading.

7d

 

[mikric]

May be a pic or to might help with a reply.
By the sounds of it you have set yourself quite a task if you want to diy this project.
I would suggest you get a couple of chippies to sort your roof structure for you, they will probably have the structure up and done by the time you have worked out your angles/birdsmouths/soffits etc, you want to get the roof done and weather tight asap.
A rough guess of order of works would be check weather forecast then
1. Scaffolding up and old roof stripped
2. New roof structure and floor joists in place
3. Felt in to make watertight
4. Build gable wall
5. Tile roof
6. Internal finishing off

 

[r896neo]

The easiest way is to strip the roof right back to the first rafter inside the start of the hipped section. Then you can make a copy of this rafter to act as a guide rafter to allow you to build the gable to the correct height. Then depending on the size prop the guide and bridge the section to the existing roof to enable you to cover it all in felt/ tarpaulin etc.

But I whole heartedly agree with Mikric about getting some joiners to at the very least do the rafters for you as if its not too big they could realistically get them run right through and have the barge ladder done in a day and or two and then you can batten and felt it to make it mostly weatherproof.

Leave the barge off until you build the peak and then fit it and finish the felting.

 

[7doughnuts]

Thanks for the replies, I think I've got it! I am definately getting some chippies to build the roof, should have been clearer. The DIY stage will be after it's all watertight just finishing off inside etc.

Fo some reason I thought the gable end wall would nave to be up before the roof structure. It does seem that timing will be required though with the great Brittish weather! PP should come through by early August so I'll get people lined up ready to start ASAP so it's done then. Presumably a nice big tarpaulin will be a good idea just in case?

I need to strip back the whole roof as it's not currently felted at all. How would you make the exposed side watertight before/while the gable end wall is being built after the roof is constructed? Nice big tarp?

Untitled

• 7doughnuts
• 4 Jul 2010
• 1

This shows what the neighbours have already done, dormer on rear.

Thanks again,
7d

 

[noseall]

How would you make the exposed side watertight before/while the gable end wall is being built after the roof is constructed? Nice big tarp?

Canopy scaffold

 

[mikric]

How would you make the exposed side watertight before/while the gable end wall is being built after the roof is constructed? Nice big tarp?

Canopy scaffold

Am seeing these more and more in use and they work well, think they are big ££££s though but worth getting a price for it to find out.

 

[noseall]

Canopy scaffolds are ok value if a roof is to be uncovered for a lengthy period and/or the client can not be bothered with tarp's etc.

If i was tackling it i would strip the roof covering (lathes, tiles etc) fit the new ceiling joists and build the new roof carcass.

This will then provide you with a framework to deal with the tarp's and allow you to make the roof weather-tight for short periods.

Next i would deal with all the incidental stuff like fascia, soffit, bent straps (both lateral and holding down), purlins, collars, dormer etc.

Then i would build the gable.

 

[7doughnuts]

Thanks for all of your replies.

I had a guy over to quote for the roof work and he seemed to be of the opinion that I shouldn't felt the roof and that using the trilayer foil insulation would be the best and cheapest option. I've already got a sample of some Airflex Superpose and he said that would do if it was attached under the rafters.

What confused me slghtly is that he thought it would be cheaper because the roof wouldn't need to be stripped and scaffold wouldn't be required (he knew it was a hip to gable conversion).

Could the roof be converted from the inside without stripping it all back?

Should I consider the trilayer foil without felt?

Thanks again,
7d

 

[noseall]

I had a guy over to quote for the roof work and he seemed to be of the opinion that I shouldn't felt the roof and that using the trilayer foil insulation would be the best and cheapest option.
What confused me slghtly is that he thought it would be cheaper because the roof wouldn't need to be stripped and scaffold wouldn't be required (he knew it was a hip to gable conversion).

Could the roof be converted from the inside without stripping it all back?

Should I consider the trilayer foil without felt?

Thanks again,
7d

I would avoid this man like the plague. He is a joker.

Also, tri-iso and other multi-foil insulation products are not up to the task or at least the B.B.A. do not recognise their lofty claims and will not licence the products for use on their own.

 

[Deluks]

<<< What he said.
Don't entrust the work to someone who learnt his trade by reading Professional Builder magazine.

 

[7doughnuts]

Yeah, sorry, should have been clearer....I had already decided not to use him because of a number of things he said "I've no idea how much stairs cost"....and...."what do you want a steel there for"!

I really wanted clarification regarding the felt issue. Is the right thing to do to strip back the tiles and felt the roof? That's what I had planned to do and it's what the architect suggested.

 

[Deluks]

Yes, it's the right thing to do. You could just not bother or do it at a later date, but makes sense to do it while the scaffolding's up.