New home, loft questions

[jay2jay99]

Hi all, first post..... of many no doubt!! as I've just purchased my first house! It's come with a loft coversion that was done by the prevous owner as he was a builder but unfortunatly as it was a repossession I have been unable to verify how it was built as I have been unable to speak to him. We know from a previous search that it cannot be declared as a bedroom as it didn't meet regulations due to not having a fire door and not having an emergency exit window to the front.

I am still waiting to pick up the keys but popped in to take a few pictures of the loft, I know you can't say for definate how it is built as we do not know what is behind the plaster board and flooring but I was just looking for a general "that looks like it is probably ok" or "that looks like a complete cowboy bodge-job".


Stairs going into the loft

And the door to the stairs going back down.

Floorplan

 

[Deluks]

Well stairs are better than no stairs
Some of the roof beams appear to have been kept, which is a good sign, although can't tell how the purlins are supported (if these are steel then all good) although if they are steel then that cross tie that flies through the air is probably unnecessary.
Ultimately you need to get in the cupboards and have a look behind the walls to see what's going on, you may have to lift floor and remove plasterboard in areas to see what the structure is made up of and check padstones and supports, also the floor should have a degree of fire protection, the escape window may no longer be a problem as rules regarding these have altered in recent years but you might need to compensate in other areas such as installing mains fire alarms etc.

Get a structural engineer in to do a report if all else fails, you'll certainly need one if you want it to be above board.

If it does turn out to be a pig at least you've gained a couple of velux windows and a bidet

 

[jay2jay99]

Thanks for your reply. I have looked in the cupboards but can just see boarding on the floor so will have to pull them up and look underneath. If there are steel supports under the purlins, with the roof beams that are visible, do you think this would be structually sound?

Does there not have to be a supporting beam (RSJ etc) running along the roof peak? I heard that this is needed to stop the roof from 'sliding'?

I believe this has mains fed smoke alarms throughout, so would probably just need fire doors etc.....

The bidet will be going straight away! lol

 

[RonnyRaygun]

Does there not have to be a supporting beam (RSJ etc) running along the roof peak? I heard that this is needed to stop the roof from 'sliding'?

Well...the roof doesn't look like it's been altered - other than the addition of plasterboard, and possibly or possibly not insulation. So if there aren't any dormers and the rafters are still tied by the original ceiling joists then there shouldn't be any need for steels in the roof.

The floor is another matter. What you need to find out is whether or not steels have been added in the floor, or at least deeper, stronger joists, as the ceiling joists wouldn't be anywhere near strong enough to support the design loads of a domestic floor.
Although, if your search came back with evidence that the only regulations it fails to comply with are fire doors and emergency exits, then maybe that's all you need to address.

The first thing I would do is speak to building Control and ask what they need in order for it to be signed off.

 

[HammieUK]

Thought I was reading my own post for a minute, I bought a house in exactly the same situation last year! No building regs approval suggests that not much of it will be up to scratch unfortunately, if it was just fire regs they needed to get approval then they would probably have done it already. Might be a good idea to be pessemistic about it then be pleasantly suprised.

There's a few big building regulation rules you need to meet:

- Floor - Needs to be reinforced, usually with steels and much bigger joists (probably around 47 x 195)
- Ceiling - Needs to be properly supported if removing struts, your roof may have previously had struts running perpendicular to the roof and resting on a spine wall which may mean additional supports would have to be added. You could ask a neighbour if you can peek at their loft, get an idea if anything's been removed.
- Fire - Depending on your building, you may need either an escape window, a fire protected staircase, or both, the floor must be fire protected too
- Insulation - Need lots of it, between 100-200mm in the ceiling, and possibly some on the walls if you don't have cavity walls.
- Stairs - Need to be less than 42 degrees steep, and have 220mm depth (min) and 220mm height (max).

I can't actually see any reason from the photos that the room can't be brought up to scratch with a bit of money, with exception of possibly an escape window (needs to be within 1.4m of a roof edge with ladder access from the ground, which can be a problem).

Hopefully that gives you an idea what might be required, speak to building control though if you want a definitive answer. Good luck!

 

[big-all]

in other words you should assume that its 95 to 97% unlikly to comply with building regs otherwise they would have sought the relivent paperwork