Loft Office Suitability Query?

wolfmansgotnards

EachPenny wrote: »

If you are sensing any hostility it is perhaps because when people have been explaining stuff your response hasn't been "Oh crumbs, I didn't think of that" as an 'average Joe' might, but instead you've responded with your theories of why you believe you are right to think what you think.

For example:-


As Doozergirl said:-
"Loft conversions cost a small fortune. The joists that would form the ceiling would have been designed small, only to hold the ceiling boards beneath. Putting flooring over it doesn't make it safe or suitable to sit up there. They need to be strengthened to support a floor for someone to sit at."

Rather than doing the 'average Joe' thing of saying "Thanks Doozergirl, that didn't occur to me" you've come back with a convoluted defence of your thoughts and wrongly claimed you are "getting conflicting information". Your 'best guess' should have been that there is a 'correct answer' but that you perhaps hadn't understood it correctly.

As for your water tank, if it is something like the typical 50 gallon one then I'd expect it to weigh in the region of 28 to 30 stone when full, so your 3x guess is about right. But your water tank is a static load - it doesn't move, the only thing it does is get slightly heavier and lighter as water is used and replenished. The person who designed your roof will also have followed the guidance and regulations for supporting the load of the tank and distributing it over enough structural members in the roof to make it safe. If the roof is constructed with pre-fabricated trusses then those ones supporting the tank would have been specified as 'Tank' rather than 'No tank' so if necessary they would be stronger to support the additional weight.

You and your equipment on the other hand would be defined as 'dynamic loads'. You move around and as a result impose greater loading on structures than your equivalent weight as a static load. This is something that ought to be understandable to a non-structural engineer, but can be demonstrated (though not advised) by first gently placing a hammer on top of your thumb, and then allowing the same hammer to fall about 6" onto your thumb. In the latter case your howls of pain and tears will be a good indication of the effect of 'dynamic loading' in comparison to 'static loading'.

Hence it is entirely possible for your 3x heavier water tank to sit safely supported by three or perhaps four trusses, whereas your 1x weight effectively supported by only one or two trusses would be unsafe.

At this point an 'average Joe' would say "Thanks for explaining that, I had absolutely no idea of the difference between dynamic and static loading. I'll call in a structural engineer to advise me."

I think you're reading me the wrong way. Clearly text is not a great way of communicating or showing emotion sadly. So if my comments seemed like I didn't accept any professional advice, I apologise.

I 100% accept help over my own advice as I know nothing about this sort of thing.

What you said about the static load over several more beams makes sense as to how it could withstand the weight over such a long period of time.

So my next guess is, if I want an inhabitable (not habitable?) room to do some work, I need a structural engineer out to strengthen the beams first?

sevenhills

wolfmansgotnards wrote: »

So my next guess is, if I want an inhabitable (not habitable?) room to do some work, I need a structural engineer out to strengthen the beams first?

To make it legal, as more than just a light storage area, there are many things you would need to do.


A fixed staircase being just one, the cost would likely be over £10,000 for a company to do the work.
I was quoted £1,000 for a new loft hatch and boarding out for storage, £25,000 for habitable.
Like you were saying in a previous post, anything inbetween, and you will get conflicting advice.

Doozergirl

sevenhills wrote: »

Like you were saying in a previous post, anything inbetween, and you will get conflicting advice.

There was no conflicting advice.

This entire conversation is virtually a carbon copy of the few conversations we had with you some months ago, and your loft is essentially incapable of being a habitable room because it is too small. If you received conflicting advice it was because you consulted a rather unscrupulous firm (IMO) who were more interested in your money than meeting building regulations or whether you'd see even half the money back on the value of the house.

Some of us have different agendas and it isn't to make people feel stupid, but to urge them to make sensible decisions and choices. No one here is trying to sell anything.

Fire_Fox

wolfmansgotnards wrote: »

I 100% accept help over my own advice as I know nothing about this sort of thing.

What you said about the static load over several more beams makes sense as to how it could withstand the weight over such a long period of time.

So my next guess is, if I want an inhabitable (not habitable?) room to do some work, I need a structural engineer out to strengthen the beams first?

Perhaps we could all start over tomorrow? :undecided

I think it would be well worth you rereading the entire thread with fresh eyes.

sevenhills

Doozergirl wrote: »

Some of us have different agendas and it isn't to make people feel stupid, but to urge them to make sensible decisions and choices. No one here is trying to sell anything.

Some are just giving advice relating to following building regulation, the OP has never said this is what he wants to do.
Boarding out a loft is more commonly done without regulations, as no one can limit the weight of what goes up their.
The OP is being given advice about a person moving around in the loft space causing extra stress on the joists!
What advice would you give someone that wants to board out their loft?

wolfmansgotnards

Unfortunately, as I am a new user to this site, it won't allow me to share any links to images. Once I am able to do so, I will post shots of the size of the loft and the beams etc.

The floored area of my loft that I can walk about is around 22.11m2 if this helps in anyway.

EachPenny

sevenhills wrote: »

What advice would you give someone that wants to board out their loft?

Seek professional advice - which means a qualified person taking a look inside the loft and making an assessment of the load bearing capacity of the roof structure, general condition, and commenting on issues such as insulation and condensation prevention.

dunroving

wolfmansgotnards wrote: »

Unfortunately, as I am a new user to this site, it won't allow me to share any links to images. Once I am able to do so, I will post shots of the size of the loft and the beams etc.

The floored area of my loft that I can walk about is around 22.11m2 if this helps in anyway.

So, you are probably looking at about 260 kg of boarding before you put anything on top of it, just FYI.

sevenhills

dunroving wrote: »

So, you are probably looking at about 260 kg of boarding before you put anything on top of it, just FYI.

There is a thread about putting a combi boiler in a loft, similar issues as the OP here, some saying it must be boarded with a handrail etc.


No one has said anything about complying with building regulations or contacting a structural engineer; how far should people go?

Fire_Fox

sevenhills wrote: »

Some are just giving advice relating to following building regulation, the OP has never said this is what he wants to do.
Boarding out a loft is more commonly done without regulations, as no one can limit the weight of what goes up their.
The OP is being given advice about a person moving around in the loft space causing extra stress on the joists!

sevenhills wrote: »

To make it legal, as more than just a light storage area, there are many things you would need to do.

A fixed staircase being just one, the cost would likely be over £10,000 for a company to do the work.
I was quoted £1,000 for a new loft hatch and boarding out for storage, £25,000 for habitable.

I feel like I am in the twilight zone. After rereading the thread several times I finally realise people actually are contradicting themselves all over the shop.