Hi,
Having started to renovate our house we have removed the lathe&plaster from 1st floor (bedrooms and bathroom) walls and cielings. This has exposed 3 RSJ's.
The first RSJ is supporting a chimney stack as the breast was removed from ground and 1st floors. We know this was done approx. 1985 when a ground floor extension was added. We have all the drawings, PP & BC notices on the extension, however no mention of the removal of the chimney breast. To this;
a) internal walls on the 1st floor (bedrooms etc) are stud/beams basically to support the ceiling joists. One end of the RSJ is supported on one of these walls. Is this OK or would it have been at the time?
b) the RSJ is fully exposed and not clad in any fire-retardant material - is this OK for an RSJ supporting a stack and/or would it have been acceptable back then)
The second and third RSJ's where installed 2005 for attic conversion - to support the new attic floor. Again, having taken the bedroom ceilings down we can see they are fully exposed - should they be clad in fire-retardant material or is this just for supporting walls?
We think we have all the paperwork on the attic conversion so can't see how it was signed off if needed cladding. What we don't want to happen, if we go for retrospective approval on the chimney RSJ one, is get the BC officer in and for them to go all ape on the attic RSJ ones - though depending on advice we will clad the attic RSJ but will not be done in time for the BC officer.
Having started to renovate our house we have removed the lathe&plaster from 1st floor (bedrooms and bathroom) walls and cielings. This has exposed 3 RSJ's.
The first RSJ is supporting a chimney stack as the breast was removed from ground and 1st floors. We know this was done approx. 1985 when a ground floor extension was added. We have all the drawings, PP & BC notices on the extension, however no mention of the removal of the chimney breast. To this;
a) internal walls on the 1st floor (bedrooms etc) are stud/beams basically to support the ceiling joists. One end of the RSJ is supported on one of these walls. Is this OK or would it have been at the time?
b) the RSJ is fully exposed and not clad in any fire-retardant material - is this OK for an RSJ supporting a stack and/or would it have been acceptable back then)
The second and third RSJ's where installed 2005 for attic conversion - to support the new attic floor. Again, having taken the bedroom ceilings down we can see they are fully exposed - should they be clad in fire-retardant material or is this just for supporting walls?
We think we have all the paperwork on the attic conversion so can't see how it was signed off if needed cladding. What we don't want to happen, if we go for retrospective approval on the chimney RSJ one, is get the BC officer in and for them to go all ape on the attic RSJ ones - though depending on advice we will clad the attic RSJ but will not be done in time for the BC officer.
