Loft Advice

[dave12]

Hi,

I have been thinking of doing a little work in my loft. I am planning to make a small office up there.

However although there is plenty of light (through the original Cast Iron Skylights) and I can stand up, there are cross sections which stop me from being able to walk back and forward.

Now I know I can't just go and remove them (This could make the roof sag, I think?) but could I raise them up a bit? Or even better, is there an alternative (cheap) way of getting around my problem.

I appreciate any advice, many thanks

Dave

 

[noseall]

install some deeper joists

 

[Ossy]

You mean truss internal members?

You're right in thinking you can't just get rid of them. You can do something about them, but this will involve a specialist to design an alternative for you. Can you provide a picture or sketch of what is there? Advice could be more specific then, though you'll still have to get a pro in.

 

[dave12]

I have just sketched a drawing of the layout of my loft, using Word Drawing tools. Now I see I can't just paste it in. Any Ideas how I can let you see it?

 

[Deluks]

can you save it as a .jpg? Or press 'print screen' then paste contents of the clipboard into imaging software, even windows paint will work for this.

 

[dave12]

I have my sketch as a .jpg. I can't seem to upload the image. I think I have to email it to admin, then ask them to post it ( I looked at the help section). I will give this a try.

 

[DIYnot]

Here is dave12's sketch:

 

[masona]

Is C (75mmx30mm) on every rafters? Is there any purlins?

 

[simoniris]

Presumably it's tie beam 'B' you want to remove?
What's the age of the property & the construction type?
Is it a cutt roof or engineered trusses? [Trusses will be consistently matched and have galv plates at the joints, cutt roof will have a couple of large purlins running across the slope of the roof taking the weight of the rafters - they're not shown on our sketch so looks like a truss roof, although the implied section of the ridge beam at the top would indicate a cutt roof]
Get a local structural engineer out to have a look but provided the joists are big enough [D] and struts [C] are of a large enough section you may be able to do away with the tie beam altogether without any other works. A key thing to look for is how well the main floor joist D is tied to the walls and the rafters. If it's sitting on the wall and not fixed to the rafters then it's B which is preventing the roof from spreading and you won't be able to take it out without tying the lower ends of the rafters together.

 

[simoniris]

Just spotted the truss centres on the sketch, if that is the spacing of all the sections shown on the sketch then truss roof it is. Get an engineer involved, couple of hundred quid should give you an answer and a report.
If this is a proper loft conversion remember you will need building regs and the killer on these is fire - travel distances particularly - and access. Generally not enough room for a proper stair - could you fit a spiral? - and they will condemn it based on this alone if you can't get the max/min rise & going dimensions.

 

[dave12]

Thanks for al your replies everyone, its uch appreciated!

masona: C is on every Rafter, I'm afraid I amnot sure what you mean by Purlins?

simoniris: It is B that I am wanting to remove. The House was built in the late 1800s so its quite old, the house is built with sandstone blocks.

I think from your descriptions the roof is a cutt roof. There are no galv plates (I know the type you mean, I recently had a garage built that has that type of Truss). The roof appears to be made up of individual pieces of wood and the likes of B & C (on the Drawing) are nailed into A. A seems to sit on top of D. I have alo noticed that there is a length of wood (2"x3") running accross the length of the roof that goes through A at the point where A meets D. I guess this would help to stop the roof sagging?
There is a ridge beam on the top which is where A joins.

As for the "Purlins" Im not really sure what I'm looking for but I don't see anything running accross the slope of the roof (A) other than the boards where the slate are nailed in.

I can't really see where the Floor Joists D are joined. They don't appear to be fixed to the outside wall like I thougt he would be, so they must be fixed elsewhere but I can't really see.

This is not really a loft coversion as such, I'm not doing any major work up there, just wanting to have a space to store books and have a desk. If I was to sell the house, I would not sell the loft space as a room, more of a store (if you know what I mean)

 

[masona]

To get the height you need, you really need as least 2.1m clearance therefore all the collar tie beams (B) need to be taken out and re-design the roof structure, can be done though but you have to know what you're doing