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Loft Conversion

Too late to strengthen floor in loft?

Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 3.33 PM

Hi and thanks in advance for any advice offered. I bought my house 4 years ago, and one of the immediate issues to deal with was a bowing roof. I had someone come in to sort it out, and while they were at it, i had 3 windows put in and changed the A-frames so the loft could be used for storage and general 'space' - it's quite big. It's also been tarted up with plastered walls and boards on the floor. I didn't have the money at the time to do a full loft conversion (and prob don't need to now) but i'd like to know how much damage would be caused to the space if i put steel beams / something to strengthen the floor that would allow for building regs sign off? (All the roof beams are still visible and painted.) Has that ship sailed and strengthening the floor means roof removal and breaking through the plastered walls, or is there a way to do something with minimal disruption? Many thanks, L

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1 Answer

Anonymous user

It would be most likely to have to remove the floorboards and then add new beams that give sufficient strength between the existing ones. Unless there is something dangerous with what is there then there should not be any need to do anything more drastic. If you are in any doubt get in touch with an engineer who can come and look at the situation and give you advice. Your local council will have some on their books as part of their planning department. So remove a few boards, as in lift them and move them out the way, and then get the engineer to come and look. It should not be scarey money and you will get accurate answers. Fitting them might be possible by having lengths which span weight bearing walls rather than from one side to another in one go which will mean a lot of work making holes in the walls to put the beams in through. This way you might have to have a ceiling opened up or removed to get the steelwork up there but it is much easier than having holes in your walls every 18" or so.

Answered9 December 2017