Loft conversion help needed!

[liamruairi]

(Posted under projects and advised to move)
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.

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? 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

Read more: https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/loft-conversion-help-needed.490594/#ixzz4vr7wOI7t

 

[^woody^]

Why hasn't the person who drew those crap plans detailing the floor construction? Thats the whole point of paying to have plans done

I can't understand why you are referring to putting a steel beam on the front wall plate?

Which way are the joists running and where are the beams going? Don't you have a joist plan?

 

[liamruairi]

Sorry I’ll clarify later on am out at the moment. Thanks

 

[liamruairi]

Ok I've put some coloured detail on one image in the plan attached here with my limited photoshop skills. The red is the beam, in 3 sections spliced together (the spliced join denoted by the dark blue bits. In light blue are the joists with 2 trimmer joists at either side of the house, and the rest of the joists running across the width of the house. I haven't added noggins as it would confuse the image, but you get the idea. Front of house is marked in pink. So you see the beam is a support for the joists in the middle of the span. At the front of the house I'm struggling to work out how to get a padstone for the beam to sit on secured. Any advice is welcome.

 

[^woody^]

Sorry, more questions first.

Lofts are normally straight-forward due to the limited options available, and I am struggling with this one a bit. And that due to the severe lack of detail on the plans.

If that beam is supporting the new floor joists, why does it not go from front to back? If the joists are the same section size, and the ones near the back don’t need a beam, then why do the joists at the centre and front need a beam?

With this type of conversion, what would normally happen is a beam would span from side to side in those front and rear storage areas, and then the new floor joists would be supported off these. This would also allow the floor joist to sit in between the existing ceiling joists and so give greater headroom.

With that design it looks like you are paying a lot of money just for more storage space and a small bit of room space.

But if that beam must sit near the wall plate, then you might need it designing as a cranked beam (ie an angled piece at the end following the roof angle and sitting in part in the bedroom) or have the beam chamfered to cut off the bit that would otherwise stick out through the roof.

Either way, that needs designing by the engineer, but your plan monkey should have thought of this because you need to know exactly the height at which the beam needs to sit before it can be designed as a crank or a chamfer. But either way it’s a bit crap because you end up disturbing the rooms below.

 

[liamruairi]

Thanks woody; so the reason for the beam is that at the back of the house there is a supporting wall for the joists to rest on. At the front the wall is only a stud wall hence the beam above it. We’re not going side to side with the beams because of access. It’s impossible to get a crane here and we don’t want to knock holes in the gable end to slide beams in. There is over 3m head height in the loft space; so although we do lose 250mm in height by the joists going ‘over’ the existing ceiling joists rather than ‘alongside’ them we have the height space to afford it.

 

[liamruairi]

I know what you mean about a chamfered beam now that makes sense. What I was thinking is taking some brickwork out at the front of the house and remaking with the padstone on top. It’s very difficult to see because of all the dust and **** but there is a rough course of stone work in front of the brick in front of the wood wall plate

 

[liamruairi]

Bump!

 

[noseall]

Surely if you are going to splice the beam into three sections, then the spliced connections, bolts etc are going to make it difficult for you to fill the web with timber?

Resin anchors (especially M16) are not that easy to deal with either. Are you just trying to avoid fitting steels onto the party wall?