Floor joists

[Hellcat]

Get reclaimed timber beams, stick it all together with hardwood pins and lime mortar. Board it out in reclaimed floorboards and claim it was always there

building regs? What building regs?

 

[the mk1 kid]

Get reclaimed timber beams, stick it all together with hardwood pins and lime mortar. Board it out in reclaimed floorboards and claim it was always there

building regs? What building regs?

 

[sludgeguts]

Get reclaimed timber beams, stick it all together with hardwood pins and lime mortar. Board it out in reclaimed floorboards and claim it was always there

building regs? What building regs?

And don't forget to chuck in handfulls of horsehair for that genuine effect.

 

[Hellcat]

Stick some old newspaper in the cracks too.. I've got some 1920's bits if you're out of pre-war paper

 

[arseofbox]

I dunno what the BRs say on joist sizing, maximum deflection and that, but I suggest something suitably....

BIG and HEAVY

Agricultural style engineering really wont hurt, its not cheap mind.

Id go for 8x2 or 9x2, but Id check the calculations first

 

[arseofbox]

8x2 ftw. But if there was anything wrong with the timber size building reg's wouldn't let you go ahead with the build.....

In theory thats correct.

But Building Control dont go looking for work - the onus is on you to tell them. They will begrudgingly inspect work thats going ahead and completed work, but prefer to be engaged at a design stage. If you don't tell them that you're doing it, they wont stop you, however if you ask them to approve it afterwards, they may well ask you to rework it.

 

[sludgeguts]

One major thing I forgot to mention.

I, personally wouldn't do anything at all until I had sought approval. What you plan will probably need planning permission - you are supposed to add fire doors and other such safeguards to loft extensions.
With old improvements though, someone, at some time will have sought permission to do the work, and this will be on file for the house.
When you eventually come to sell the house, a search by the buyer's legal team will show that these improvements were never given approval - making it impossible to sell - or it may sell at a grossly lower price than you hope.

 

[the mk1 kid]

Sorry for delay, not net at the weekends..

Good advise chaps - thank you.

Remember at this stage we're just looking to strengthen the ceiling/floor to avoid if possible, bringing the lot down if and when we carry out a loft conversion in a couple of years.

Now her in doors wishes to make other costly changes (think 'open plan')before we plasterboard (etc) i think we're going to march on with what we have for now - its a 3 bed, and there's only the two of us afterall.

Cheers

Tom

 

[Hellcat]

One major thing I forgot to mention.

I, personally wouldn't do anything at all until I had sought approval. What you plan will probably need planning permission - you are supposed to add fire doors and other such safeguards to loft extensions.
With old improvements though, someone, at some time will have sought permission to do the work, and this will be on file for the house.
When you eventually come to sell the house, a search by the buyer's legal team will show that these improvements were never given approval - making it impossible to sell - or it may sell at a grossly lower price than you hope.

When your house is aproaching 200 year old, even having records of who owns the land it stands on can be difficult to find

Modern building regs are stupid when retrospectivly applied to old properties. Old buildings have already proven themselves - how many modern built breezeblock and plasterboard houses will still be around in 200 years?

 

[sludgeguts]

When your house is aproaching 200 year old, even having records of who owns the land it stands on can be difficult to find

Modern building regs are stupid when retrospectivly applied to old properties. Old buildings have already proven themselves - how many modern built breezeblock and plasterboard houses will still be around in 200 years?

I agree, A few year back I did some renovation work to an old house - no footings, no DPC, no DPM. The only thing holding the roof up was the fact that all the tiles were interlocking (the rafters were riddled with woodworm). I even flooded the upstairs lath & plaster ceiling to cut down the dust but it still didn't drop.

My point regarding records, though, will be that in recent times, records will have been made based on inspections or estate agent's descriptions and differences will be noted (councils keep records for every house showing what major works have been done, these records go back quite a way)