Loft conversion without using Party walls ?

[matt1234567]

Hi,

We want to do a loft conversion of our terraced house without using the party walls. My understanding is that the roof joists run across the roof from one neighbours wall to the other neighbours wall.
Is it possible to run the steel supports that you need for a loft conversion from the wall at the front of the house to the wall at the back of the house ?
Can you, for example, just through the joists at the points the steel supports need to go ?
If it is possible, what needs to be done and does it have any implications for the useable space that you have in the loft ?

Many thanks indeed

Matt

 

[matt1234567]

I forgot to ask, I have heard that Telebeam might be a possible solution. Does anyone have any opinion on this ?

 

[Leofric]

Which way is the roof pitched ? Rafters and ceiling joists would normally run front to back in a terraced house with a dual pitch roof

 

[tony1851]

The usual solution is to span steel beams party wall - to- party wall and span the joists between them.
It can be done spanning the steel beams front-to-back, assuming you have a load-bearing wall somewhere near the middle.
You may need to chamfer the top of the beams where they sit on the external walls, to clear the roof finish.
Telebeams are ££££££££'s.

 

[JP_]

Yep, steel across that becomes the support. A friend did this to avoid building on the party wall after the neighbour objected - she was a bit annoyed that he went ahead without her approval and didn't believe he built it without touching the wall.

 

[geraldthehamster]

The neighbour can't actually stop you putting the steels into the party wall. They can, however, make it expensive, if they insist on you paying for their own surveyor as well as your own, when you give notice under the Party Wall Act.

 

[Leofric]

My understanding is that the roof joists run across the roof from one neighbours wall to the other neighbours wall.

Do you mean the proposed loft floor joists or the existing ceiling joists

Rafters and ceiling joists would normally run front to back in a terraced house with a dual pitch roof

Don't see how anybody can comment without knowing your existing roof construction

 

[paulrockliffe]

You can run the new floor either way, front to back or side to side, whichever is best will depend on the dimensions and whether you have suitable intermidary support at a spine wall. It's unlikely that the deciding factor will be the cost of a Party Wall Surveyor, so I wouldnt set out trying to avoid touching party walls. Particularly as it'll make it very difficult to fit stairs against any wall.

It's more likely that you'll end up with massive steels that need craning in or just don't fit in very easily, so end up expensive to fit. But either way you need to start by speaking to am engineer to work out the most appropriate design approach.