Hi all, first time poster so please go easy! I'm doing a loft conversion on my 3 bed end-terrace. I'm planning on doing most, if not all the work myself. I'm a handyman / joiner, but never undertaken anything this big myself before so am happy taking my time with the complicated aspects. The first and most difficult aspect of the whole conversion will be getting the floor in, which is what I'm having trouble with. I've attached the plans here. Both sides of the house are gable straight-up ( if you know what I mean) so there is a lot of head height. We're planning on getting a landing, bedroom, ensuite and couple of storage areas up there.
I plan to run the joists gable to gable to avoid steels having to be used using a crane and knocking holes in the sides of the house, as access is very difficult. However, after talking to the designer we realised the front wall between the front 2 bedrooms isn't load bearing. It's stud. So I do need 2 steels here, to go from the front of the house to the middle, then the middle across the doorways on the landing below. The steels are marked on the plans on the image in the bottom row in the middle by dashed lines. 1 steel is 2m, (fine,) 1 has to be 4m. Can I use 2x 2m steels bolted together with connecting plates? It will mean everything can be brought up the stairs internally. I don't think we could manage a 4m!!
Next is my biggest issue, in the loft I can see a wall plate (wood) on a course of bricks at the front of the house. There isn't enough room to get a steel on a padstone on this before it hits the tiles. There is a course of what looks like rough stone work in front of the wall plate. Can I assume it's safe to mortar a padstone to this? Or could I cut out the wall plate at that bit just enough to get a padstone in? Also, the double course of bricks in the middle of the house where the other ends of the steel will rest is also loose, crumbly etc. Whats the best course of action; just tidy them, up and remortar?
I've attached images of the inside of the loft for you to see. You can see 2 steel purlins are already in from a previous owner, but not on the other side. I don't see a reason to be concerned about that. I'm not sure what all the wooden struts are for. I'm assuming they were to pull the ceiling below up to the rafters; as they were all sagging really badly in those places when we moved in. When the new floor is in I plan to fix the existing ceiling joists to the new floor joists to prevent sag in those areas and remove those struts. Does this seem like good practise? All rafters will be doubled up with new timbers anyway for added strength.
So my main point at this initial stage, about to break the ice so to speak; is How the hell do I get these padstones on nice and securely, and can I split the 4m beam in 2? Oh by the way I plan on filling the web of the beam with a timber and running joists to it off joist hangers; opposite gable walls where they will hang off joist hangers off a timber trimmer joist.
Many thanks for any advice and pointers!
Liam
I plan to run the joists gable to gable to avoid steels having to be used using a crane and knocking holes in the sides of the house, as access is very difficult. However, after talking to the designer we realised the front wall between the front 2 bedrooms isn't load bearing. It's stud. So I do need 2 steels here, to go from the front of the house to the middle, then the middle across the doorways on the landing below. The steels are marked on the plans on the image in the bottom row in the middle by dashed lines. 1 steel is 2m, (fine,) 1 has to be 4m. Can I use 2x 2m steels bolted together with connecting plates? It will mean everything can be brought up the stairs internally. I don't think we could manage a 4m!!
Next is my biggest issue, in the loft I can see a wall plate (wood) on a course of bricks at the front of the house. There isn't enough room to get a steel on a padstone on this before it hits the tiles. There is a course of what looks like rough stone work in front of the wall plate. Can I assume it's safe to mortar a padstone to this? Or could I cut out the wall plate at that bit just enough to get a padstone in? Also, the double course of bricks in the middle of the house where the other ends of the steel will rest is also loose, crumbly etc. Whats the best course of action; just tidy them, up and remortar?
I've attached images of the inside of the loft for you to see. You can see 2 steel purlins are already in from a previous owner, but not on the other side. I don't see a reason to be concerned about that. I'm not sure what all the wooden struts are for. I'm assuming they were to pull the ceiling below up to the rafters; as they were all sagging really badly in those places when we moved in. When the new floor is in I plan to fix the existing ceiling joists to the new floor joists to prevent sag in those areas and remove those struts. Does this seem like good practise? All rafters will be doubled up with new timbers anyway for added strength.
So my main point at this initial stage, about to break the ice so to speak; is How the hell do I get these padstones on nice and securely, and can I split the 4m beam in 2? Oh by the way I plan on filling the web of the beam with a timber and running joists to it off joist hangers; opposite gable walls where they will hang off joist hangers off a timber trimmer joist.
Many thanks for any advice and pointers!
Liam
