Questions about "mezzanine" floor

[MLF]

Hi everyone. I hope this is in the right area.

I've used search the function, but can't find anything relating to the specific questions I have.

Our house has 11ft ceilings. However, my daughters room, in square feet, is quite small. Roughly 6ft x 10ft. We would like to build a mezzanine (I think? It might be called something else, but that's the closest I can come when thinking of it) which is about 5ft off the floor and covers half the room area.

Sadly, we're having great difficulty finding someone interested in doing the job - or just calling back. We're trying to think of ways to do it ourselves but aren't getting very far. We thought about using mezzanine scaffolding but the smallest kit is way too big for our purposes.

Neither of us even come close to having the skill set to build a mezzanine so that's not really an option.

So, my question is: are there any other avenues to explore? Any "kits" ? Or even any great ideas other people have used in a similar situation?

Many thanks for any advice anyone can give!

 

[ivixor]

A "kit" will be no more than a few timbers, marked up 400% or so.

Who have you been talking to? Try talking to a carpenter.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You could get some basic drawings prepared with a design so someone actually knows what you want to do even do them yourself, with the help of the forum. If you ask any tradesmen who visit you based on the same vague ideas you have provided for us what do you expect? I'd be looking to do it in timber and just spanning from wall to wall as a first avenue, if the walls lend themselves to that approach. It can be done in such a way that its removal had fairly minimal impact should the next owner or you wish to rip it all out again. That keeps the floor beneath clear too. Any joiner will be able to this.

 

[RogerBoyle]

What part of the country are you in ??

 

[MLF]

What part of the country are you in ??

We're in Berkshire.

 

[MLF]

You could get some basic drawings prepared with a design so someone actually knows what you want to do even do them yourself, with the help of the forum. If you ask any tradesmen who visit you based on the same vague ideas you have provided for us what do you expect? I'd be looking to do it in timber and just spanning from wall to wall as a first avenue, if the walls lend themselves to that approach. It can be done in such a way that its removal had fairly minimal impact should the next owner or you wish to rip it all out again. That keeps the floor beneath clear too. Any joiner will be able to this.

So, you're saying the reason none of the carpenters we've contacted have called back is because the idea is too vague? Really? I would have thought that for a fairly simple job such as this a carpenter probably would have wanted to see it first and have a chat about what we are wanting to do.

You may be reading more into my post than what's there. I wasn't moaning about expectations, merely asking a DIY forum what ideas people had to do with this space. Perhaps I've come to the wrong place, though?

 

[MLF]

A "kit" will be no more than a few timbers, marked up 400% or so.

Who have you been talking to? Try talking to a carpenter.

Yeah, that's what we've found - crazy prices. We've made three or four calls to joiners in our area with no luck.

 

[skotl]

Are you considering doing it yourself, then?

How about coming up with a rough drawing (just pencil and paper would suffice) then scan / photograph it.
You could then post that pic here and we can comment / make suggestions based on that.

It also means that, when you call a carpenter, you can say "I can email a picture of a rough drawing over to you, if that helps?".

 

[MLF]

Are you considering doing it yourself, then?

How about coming up with a rough drawing (just pencil and paper would suffice) then scan / photograph it.
You could then post that pic here and we can comment / make suggestions based on that.

It also means that, when you call a carpenter, you can say "I can email a picture of a rough drawing over to you, if that helps?".

Well, that was one of the reasons I posted. To get a feel of the possible options. If there's an option that is fairly simple and easy to do, then yeah, we would probably try it. If not, we would probably leave it to the professionals.

I certainly wouldn't mind making some kind of a drawing, it just seems superfluous for something that, in building terms, is probably quite simple: a mezzanine at approximately 5' off the ground and covers half the floor space.

Let me see what I can come up with.

 

[skotl]

One of the values of a drawing is that you can start with a pic of the finished article and then work backwards to get the design, materials and quantities (and cost!).

I'd expect you'd be building some kind of frame legs down each side, cross members (like joists in your loft), then board over the top. You may want to consider finish, too; leave it as wood, varnished, painted? Plasterboard on the sides?

Technically it won't be too difficult but you'll need to make it pretty substantial and the tolerances will need to be good otherwise it will look a mess. May be a good excuse to invest in a decent chop saw if you don't already have one

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Well either its too vague or maybe you have an odd way of putting things, there are plenty of ways to do this, for some reason the joiners you are contacting don't want to know?

 

[RonnyRaygun]

It sounds pretty straight forward to me. As long as the span isn't too long, attach a ledger board to the wall on each side, attach some joist hangers and span the joists from one side to the other five feet off the ground. Screw some floorboards to the top of the joists and maybe some plasterboard to the underside to create a ceiling.

You'll probably also want a rail or low level stud wall at the edge to prevent any nasty accidents.

I can't see what's so complicated. Any chippy should easily be able to knock that up. Joist sizes would be available in span tables and will overegg the loads so will have plenty of spare capacity.

 

[jay679]

If you don't want to go the whole hog of building a mezzanine (or have trouble finding someone to do it), have you tried looking at a raised bed option?
There are loads of places that sell what is effectively a bunk bed, but with only one bed on top, but the bottom 'bunk' consisting of either wardrobes, drawers or desk. This has the benefit you seem to be looking for of freeing up more floor space.

Benefit is that you are you can easily remove it when you move, either to take it with you, or to leave the room free for the next buyer.

 

[munchingB]

just google " joist hanger" and work out the joists lengths that youre going to need to slot into them.