Raised Roof Loft Conversion

[Adrian80]

Hi,

Im thinking about converting my loft in the future. Its a 1960 Semi, in a mixed development so planning might be an issue.

The pitch is fairly shallow, about 6ft of standing room as is, it basically could do with a 4 block increase all the way round. Gables are on the left and right, with no easy access to the base of the gable due to the extension i built.

Ceilling has a couple of long timbers going left to right and the ceiling is suspended, cross nailed onto them.

Stripping the roof and building up the gable each end shouldnt be problematic. However, im wondering about the wall plate and the rafters. Can they be left in place, and bricked directly on then a new wall plate added?

i was thinking of telebeams from front to back, then a hefty ridge 3x12 with a couple of equally large purlins.

Mrs isnt overly keen on the idea, if i suggested removing the ceiling she might be very displeased.

I know this can be costly, but i will end up doing a lot of it myself.

Does this sound reasonable? Has anyone done this and have some advice?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Planning aside why would you want to leave the existing rafters in place? And how can you leave the wall plate insitu when you’ll be adding masonry to the wall?

Are you thinking of retaining the existing roof covering and keeping the house dry(ish) whilst you DIY another roof on top?

 

[Adrian80]

The whole roof, rafters, ridges and purlins will be going eventually. Its the ceiling joists which are sitting on top of the wall plate which are my main concern.

I agree bricking directly on top of a wall plate then adding another wall plate is less than ideal. i was just wondering if this was permissible. Otherwise it would mean slicing up the wall plate, packing each ceiling joist and then bricking between, and then adding a new wall plate.

Diying the roof whilst leaving the existing one in place sounds like an excellent idea. The up and over scaffolds seem prohibitively expensive.

cheers