Sun tunnel fitted, I did finish the one in the bath room but not taken pictures yet. All ish the floor joists in, rock wool down, Stud wall frame -crazy angles. Insulation ordered. Screwfix order arriving tommorow so crack on with first fix electrics.
Which reminds me, I rewired all the upstairs lights so the cables aren't going under the new floor.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
The start of some serious household disruption
The Loft conversion makes it's grand entrance in to the rest of the house.
Breaking through, Now everyone can see what I'm upto 
Top of the old airing cupboard
Trimmed ceiling joists and wall hanger
The timber work for the staircase opening is simple, two 200 x 50 screwed together one end resting on the inner wall the other on the a joist hanger on the steel beam. The other side of the opening rests on a masonry joist hanger in to the party wall. A 9" angle grinder with diamond blade cut just deep enough to get this in without having to take a brick out. This also trims the ceiling joist, screwed timber to timber reiforced with angle brackets.
Then came the fun part, knocking the rest of the ceiling down. It only took about 20mins but the clearing up after took 3 hours and I should have given Wendy some advanced warning. I've also noticed it's getting colder of an evening now and there's no insulation.
Welding Loft Joist Hangers to the beams
This is a loft conversion question that seems to asked alot. How to hang the joists off Steels, (rsj's). Well this way is probably unique.
The normal way is to fix timber to beams first. But I've got a welder!
Joist hangers Welded on beamThis was a job I wanted to make sure the building inspector wasn't going to grumble about. I had spec these to welded on the draws that were passed but I'd changed the design from the original being on a standard UB.
So make them twice as strong. I first welded two hangers together, plug welding through all the nail holes. Then drilled 3 12mm holes in each leg. Then the tricky task of getting the levels right, the lazer level came in handy with a slight adjustment for the slope of the not so acurate Victorian ceiling heights. I had to get the new floor joist as close to the old ceiling as I could allowing about 5mm minimum for deflection. With that sorted the it went well after intially trying stick welding for the extra power and giving up because the power blew away the hangers. The MIG did the job nicely, plug welding through the big holes with good penertration into the beam .
So Hangers On time for some more timber.
Sun tunnel hole -velux
Sun tunnel hole looking down
sun tunnel hole looking upWith the rest of the loft conversion moving along slowly but steadily, I want a job I could quickly see the results. I also wanted to finish the floor in the storage area so the first sun tunnel had to fitted. First I reinforced the ceiling, it being old plaster it would have crumbled away when I touched it with the jigsaw. Half an inch of plaster with the wire mesh in the middle did the trick. I couldn't avoid having to trim the ceiling joist as the tube would not fit inbetween and I wanted to position it exactly over the sink.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Tradesmen, to gripe or not?
I don't know if I've got a good deal from the roofers.
They finish the roof barring pointing up to the slates on one of the gables, they where going to quote for the pointing both gable ends. However they left site leaving some scafolding in the front garden.
The breather mebrane is holed in some places and badly fixed also full of slate chippings in parts.
The woodwork around veluxs is shody (certainly not up to my standard and not like the pictures in the fitting instructions)
The wooden gutting at the front of the house and now fallen off, and plastic guttering round the back has a chunck out.
On the plus side, I've not had any leaks and I've still got a £1000 retainer. I think I'll just wait to see if they want there scaffold tower and money before I make my mind up to gripe.
They finish the roof barring pointing up to the slates on one of the gables, they where going to quote for the pointing both gable ends. However they left site leaving some scafolding in the front garden.
The breather mebrane is holed in some places and badly fixed also full of slate chippings in parts.
The woodwork around veluxs is shody (certainly not up to my standard and not like the pictures in the fitting instructions)
The wooden gutting at the front of the house and now fallen off, and plastic guttering round the back has a chunck out.
On the plus side, I've not had any leaks and I've still got a £1000 retainer. I think I'll just wait to see if they want there scaffold tower and money before I make my mind up to gripe.
Back to it
After a short period with no progress I'm back on the job. But first to update on my reminders.
The bike sailed through its MOT after replacing the rear wheel bearings.
I manged to fix Emma's laptop it was blown power board, I couldn't belive how many screws held it together so I didn't but them all back in.
We sorted the new property out in time for the tenants moving in. It was hard work for a few weeks but well worth it as the tenants could be stopping there for a many years.
We completed on another whilst we were on holiday, this needs little more than a clean and tidy up. The first prospective tenant to see it has snapped it up so no worries on that score.
Tax return sorted and sent, outside toilet fixed, our shared trailer rebuilt (another action packed party excuse, need to set a date for the painting party) and the end of the school holidays.
Which now brings me back to the loft conversion.
The bike sailed through its MOT after replacing the rear wheel bearings.
I manged to fix Emma's laptop it was blown power board, I couldn't belive how many screws held it together so I didn't but them all back in.
We sorted the new property out in time for the tenants moving in. It was hard work for a few weeks but well worth it as the tenants could be stopping there for a many years.
We completed on another whilst we were on holiday, this needs little more than a clean and tidy up. The first prospective tenant to see it has snapped it up so no worries on that score.
Tax return sorted and sent, outside toilet fixed, our shared trailer rebuilt (another action packed party excuse, need to set a date for the painting party) and the end of the school holidays.
Which now brings me back to the loft conversion.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Roof on in time for the floods
Luckily the roofers manged to finish and get everything water tight before the sky fell in.
The last part was to fit the ridges. To comply with the Regs we needed a continuous vented ridge. This is to allow vapour that can form between the slates and insulation to escape without rooting the slats and rafters. I had originally thought we end up with a modern ridge but after seeing how the system works I realised we could recycle the old ridge.
The system comprises of corogated strip that sits under the ridges and on the slates, lifting them up a little and allowing the ventilation. The ridges are screwed down on to the ridge board using clamps and a strip between them to stop water coming in. A simple system that works well with modern ridges. The ridges we have are 'roll top' which is like a tube along the top. The clamps had too be modified to fit in to the tube and longer stainless steel screws sourced. The ridge board had to packed up with slats giving enough wood for the screws. These were too high on the first ridge and so had to re-done.
The result is a ridge that look right, apart from the gap slight gap between them. Some morta or a thick bead of silicon could sort this.
A slight set back to this job was when the roofers foot came through on the neighbours side of the ridge. He survived the the accident but not the embarassment, the others made sure of that. It was quickly fixed, so no harm done.
The last part was to fit the ridges. To comply with the Regs we needed a continuous vented ridge. This is to allow vapour that can form between the slates and insulation to escape without rooting the slats and rafters. I had originally thought we end up with a modern ridge but after seeing how the system works I realised we could recycle the old ridge.
The system comprises of corogated strip that sits under the ridges and on the slates, lifting them up a little and allowing the ventilation. The ridges are screwed down on to the ridge board using clamps and a strip between them to stop water coming in. A simple system that works well with modern ridges. The ridges we have are 'roll top' which is like a tube along the top. The clamps had too be modified to fit in to the tube and longer stainless steel screws sourced. The ridge board had to packed up with slats giving enough wood for the screws. These were too high on the first ridge and so had to re-done.
The result is a ridge that look right, apart from the gap slight gap between them. Some morta or a thick bead of silicon could sort this.
A slight set back to this job was when the roofers foot came through on the neighbours side of the ridge. He survived the the accident but not the embarassment, the others made sure of that. It was quickly fixed, so no harm done.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
