hiya, just recently bought a 1960's bungalow and i wanna convert the loft to a loft room for playstation, big telly etc for the lads and myself. basically i want to no were the land lies with reference to the ceiling joists, they are currently 4X2's, i realise this is not strong enough so how do i overcome this without a huge expence, i have two very large joists running threw my loft, opposite direction to my ceiling joists, can i use hangers and support new joists from one large beam to the other beam, i would use 7x2's probaly or do i need to do it some other way?
loft room, help required
- Thread starter benackrell
- Start date
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oh right ok, will he not charge me the earth for it? like i say, it wont be habitable or have a fixed ladder, just purely a room, i heard about sistering the joists? is this any good or how is it done, i dont have a great deal of money so i wanna overcome the problem as cheap as possible
If you don't have a fixed access to the loft then, technically, it doesn't have to comply with BRegs - although bcsurveyor will suggest otherwise and you may have similar zealots down thurr in you LABC department.
As an SE, I can't recommend that you do it other than properly. If you don't then, even though you might not think it's a habitable room, if you mess around with the structure, come the time you want to sell, you might have problems.
A local SE will probably charge you around £200 to come and have a look and tell you what needs doing; you might even get some calculations thrown in for that, if he's looking for work. If not, expect another £300 or so for calcs and a basic drawing.
As an SE, I can't recommend that you do it other than properly. If you don't then, even though you might not think it's a habitable room, if you mess around with the structure, come the time you want to sell, you might have problems.
A local SE will probably charge you around £200 to come and have a look and tell you what needs doing; you might even get some calculations thrown in for that, if he's looking for work. If not, expect another £300 or so for calcs and a basic drawing.
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ok mate thanks for ya advice, i will look into that. A mate in work today told me that he made a room in his loft and he purely made his 4x2's up to 8x2's by gluing and screwing more wood ontop of them to make them up to 8" joists, and used the galvanised joint plates for extra support, surely this cant be right
Cant blame him for being creative though, in the same way you can't blame an infant for filling his bags and then playing with it. 
well he is the same situationa s me really, its purely a room and not being lived in at all, he has just got a t.v, and a pool table up there. In my loft i have two very large beams going from one wall to the other, they run opposite to my ceiling joists, what are these for as nothing is attached to them. they sit very close to the ceiling joists, i think that they are 6"x3". can they be used at all to save me having to put in steels? what is sistering of joists, if anyone knows i appreciate all ya help
They are binders to support the ceiling joists. They won't work with any increased loading to them to current standards, which is what you would need to comply with if you convert it.
Sistering is putting another joist alongside the existing. All well and good, but they have to span somewhere - which, if it's the binder, ain't gonna work according to the calculation pad.
Like I said, in reality what you do will possibly work quite happily, but it's a matter of proving it by calculation if anyone ever queries it. And therein lies the rub.... it will be impossible and then, if anyone does pick you up on it, you have the choice of either stripping everything out and putting it back to how it was, or opting for BRegs regularisation, the fee for which will sting you and mucho SE fees as well.
If you have uber-zealot Building Inspectors, like a certain numpty who posts on here, you could have a real problem. The same applies to your mate.
Sistering is putting another joist alongside the existing. All well and good, but they have to span somewhere - which, if it's the binder, ain't gonna work according to the calculation pad.
Like I said, in reality what you do will possibly work quite happily, but it's a matter of proving it by calculation if anyone ever queries it. And therein lies the rub.... it will be impossible and then, if anyone does pick you up on it, you have the choice of either stripping everything out and putting it back to how it was, or opting for BRegs regularisation, the fee for which will sting you and mucho SE fees as well.
If you have uber-zealot Building Inspectors, like a certain numpty who posts on here, you could have a real problem. The same applies to your mate.
why would the inspector get involved? i wont be calling him , thats for dure. thought you only needed it checked if it was a full blown habitable room
I realise that you won't be volunteering the information to a BCO. But, if/when you come to sell and a surveyor picks it up, you might have a problem when they do the searches. Even if you don't have fixed access, the surveyor could be concerned over the structural alterations and want these verified by an SE before giving it the ok. And Building Control, if you're unlucky enough to have someone like numpty in the department, may want other things, if they then choose to get involved.
The issue of whether it's a full-blown conversion is a moot one: the general concensus between those of us of a more pragmatic disposition is that, without a fixed stairs, providing that you haven't affected the structure, then it shouldn't be a problem; the LA can, however, take a far more dogmatic stance, as exemplified by a recent thread over in the building forum.
The issue of whether it's a full-blown conversion is a moot one: the general concensus between those of us of a more pragmatic disposition is that, without a fixed stairs, providing that you haven't affected the structure, then it shouldn't be a problem; the LA can, however, take a far more dogmatic stance, as exemplified by a recent thread over in the building forum.
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