Loft Conversions when you have a cellar

SquirrelJ

I am trying to convert my loft but keep running into problems that I never dreamed off, I have a council guy coming round in 2 days but was after a little bit of advice to hopefully ease my worries.
I have a clear that runs the length of the downstairs then a first floor then a second floor and then a third floor which will be the loft.

Does this make my chances of getting a loft conversion passed by building regs harder???

What difference does the cellar make???

Cheers

fragola

I haven't heard of any problems - my next door neighbour got planning permission for a loft conversion last year, and they have a big cellar running under most of the house.

adaze

Can't see how having a cellar/ not having a cellar would affect the building regs for a loft. It usually comes down to if the joists are sufficent to hold a new floor, and could need to be strengthened.

liitleblackcat

You will have to get structural calcs done anyway and the engineer will let you know if there is a issue with the cellar. As long as the external walls haven't got any problems the cellar won't be an issue.

As adaze says, you will almost certainly need to put bigger joists in as floor joists are generally 175x50 or 200x50 whereas the joists in your loft are probably only 100x50 because they're only there to hold up the bedroom ceilings.