Hello
I have a question regarding how roofs, or suspended ceilings, are constructed.
I have examined my loft space, built in the 1980s.
The wall is a cavity wall, with an outer leaf made of bricks. There is a 10cm gap and there is an inner leaf of concrete blocks (20-25kg each).
At the very top, there are metal square brackets that are exactly the size of the beams which form the ceiling/roof support. The wooden joists fit in those brackets and the brackets are built into the concrete blocks. The wooden joists are some distance from the concrete blocks, they do not touch.
Inspecting along the joists that run parallel to the concrete wall there are very long metal brackets with one end also built into the concrete wall and placed perpendicularly over 3 joists. This metal bracket has a lot of holes drilled into it and there are nails on the first 3 joists to hold them in place.
Further in there are wooden blocks placed in between the joists and supported with metal plates full of "thorns" and nails.
I believe the triangular wood constructions are called "A frames" (not sure though). They are put together with metal plates and look really well done.
On top of these frames sits a black tar like material/sheet, probably 3-5mm thick. When it rains the water comes in through the roof tiles and slides onto that material and you can clearly hear it when you are up there.
I also inspected the flat roof in my garage and it looks similarly made, in that the wooden joists are supported with metal brackets built into the bricks but the wooden joists do not touch the bricks.
However, over the years, I have seen a few extensions/repairs being built and they follow a different construction.
The inner wall leaf is made out of building blocks, the light ones you can cut with a hand saw. On the very top of the inner wall there is a single row of bricks. Over those bricks sits a long block of timber placed over the bricks and mortar, it is about 5cm in thickness (but I may be wrong). The wooden joists forming the ceiling or the roof, rest on top of this timber and in such a way that they overlap only 50% of the timber's width (like sitting on the edge so to speak). In addition there are those very long metal brackets but now these are placed vertically on the inner wall, screwed or nailed into the building blocks and they have an L shape at the top where they are nailed into the horizontal timber that sits on the bricks. It looks as if they are trying to hold this timber down (maybe the wind making the roof fly off???).
I would like to ask the experts, do they recognise my description? I have tried my best to describe it as I have seen it over the years.
I am about to have some building work done and would like to know if I should be asking for one way or the other.
Many thanks
I have a question regarding how roofs, or suspended ceilings, are constructed.
I have examined my loft space, built in the 1980s.
The wall is a cavity wall, with an outer leaf made of bricks. There is a 10cm gap and there is an inner leaf of concrete blocks (20-25kg each).
At the very top, there are metal square brackets that are exactly the size of the beams which form the ceiling/roof support. The wooden joists fit in those brackets and the brackets are built into the concrete blocks. The wooden joists are some distance from the concrete blocks, they do not touch.
Inspecting along the joists that run parallel to the concrete wall there are very long metal brackets with one end also built into the concrete wall and placed perpendicularly over 3 joists. This metal bracket has a lot of holes drilled into it and there are nails on the first 3 joists to hold them in place.
Further in there are wooden blocks placed in between the joists and supported with metal plates full of "thorns" and nails.
I believe the triangular wood constructions are called "A frames" (not sure though). They are put together with metal plates and look really well done.
On top of these frames sits a black tar like material/sheet, probably 3-5mm thick. When it rains the water comes in through the roof tiles and slides onto that material and you can clearly hear it when you are up there.
I also inspected the flat roof in my garage and it looks similarly made, in that the wooden joists are supported with metal brackets built into the bricks but the wooden joists do not touch the bricks.
However, over the years, I have seen a few extensions/repairs being built and they follow a different construction.
The inner wall leaf is made out of building blocks, the light ones you can cut with a hand saw. On the very top of the inner wall there is a single row of bricks. Over those bricks sits a long block of timber placed over the bricks and mortar, it is about 5cm in thickness (but I may be wrong). The wooden joists forming the ceiling or the roof, rest on top of this timber and in such a way that they overlap only 50% of the timber's width (like sitting on the edge so to speak). In addition there are those very long metal brackets but now these are placed vertically on the inner wall, screwed or nailed into the building blocks and they have an L shape at the top where they are nailed into the horizontal timber that sits on the bricks. It looks as if they are trying to hold this timber down (maybe the wind making the roof fly off???).
I would like to ask the experts, do they recognise my description? I have tried my best to describe it as I have seen it over the years.
I am about to have some building work done and would like to know if I should be asking for one way or the other.
Many thanks
