Hello,
I've seen that there are a lot of threads regarding floor joists for a loft conversion. But I couldn't find one that discussed the issue I am concerned about.
I'm going through the process of designing a loft conversion which will have two very large rooms.
One of the rooms will require floor joist to span a distance of 5.4m with both ends resting on load bearing walls. The other room is close to 5m.
The architect originally specified doubled up 75x200mm joists making 150x200 joists. But I'm worried that the joists will be working at their practical limits and the last thing I want is for the loft to be built with floors like spring boards by which time the architect and builder will have had their money.
I've asked the architect to look into it for me but he seems to have lost interest.
So I have been trying to find cost effective solutions for ensuring the floor will be solid.
I've been in touch with Telebeam who estimated their aluminium floor joists would cost £11k plus VAT although it wasn't clear whether this was for one or both rooms. I don't need the telescopic property of their joists so this was for just the middle sections. This strikes me as being quite expensive but I haven't been able to find alternative suppliers for aluminium joists.
I'm not after specific measurements at this stage. I just want to know what alternatives there are to using just wooden joists.
Easi-joists are no good for me because the max depth I can use is 200mm and they would need to be deeper than that.
I thought there must be a solution that can use steel box sections with wooden battens on top but apparently this is too radical an idea.
The only other thing I can think of is to use flitch beams instead of simply doubling up the joists.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
I've seen that there are a lot of threads regarding floor joists for a loft conversion. But I couldn't find one that discussed the issue I am concerned about.
I'm going through the process of designing a loft conversion which will have two very large rooms.
One of the rooms will require floor joist to span a distance of 5.4m with both ends resting on load bearing walls. The other room is close to 5m.
The architect originally specified doubled up 75x200mm joists making 150x200 joists. But I'm worried that the joists will be working at their practical limits and the last thing I want is for the loft to be built with floors like spring boards by which time the architect and builder will have had their money.
I've asked the architect to look into it for me but he seems to have lost interest.
So I have been trying to find cost effective solutions for ensuring the floor will be solid.
I've been in touch with Telebeam who estimated their aluminium floor joists would cost £11k plus VAT although it wasn't clear whether this was for one or both rooms. I don't need the telescopic property of their joists so this was for just the middle sections. This strikes me as being quite expensive but I haven't been able to find alternative suppliers for aluminium joists.
I'm not after specific measurements at this stage. I just want to know what alternatives there are to using just wooden joists.
Easi-joists are no good for me because the max depth I can use is 200mm and they would need to be deeper than that.
I thought there must be a solution that can use steel box sections with wooden battens on top but apparently this is too radical an idea.
The only other thing I can think of is to use flitch beams instead of simply doubling up the joists.
Does anyone have any suggestions?