Joe87

The furring strips are going to be used to create the fall on the flat roof. I just wasnt sure if they had to be the full 6 meters on top of the joists or not. Yes, the calcs is for the slope that I would need for run off.

Hi all, just a quick question. I have 6 meter length roof joists for a warm flat roof. Do I need furring strips that run the entire length of these 6 meter joists? Or can I use an easier to get 4 meter strip? Or, is there an easier way to do the whole thing? Also while I'm here, does anyone know the calcs to find the drop I need for the flat roof? Cheers

Thanks mate! It's more going to be a garden room, I'll be putting a warm roof on top. I just couldn't figure out the corner over the window but you guys have really cleared it all up in my head. Thanks for all your help! I feel confident now I know what I'll be doing. Much appreciated.

Thanks again. I do have just a few more questions. Sorry to keep on! Just so I'm totally clear on what you're both saying. 1. Using the screws you've suggested Mr punter, do I screw from the outside of the rim board through into the end of the joist. If so how many screws? Or should I skew nail the joist into the rim board inside, like you would a wall plate? 2. How would I level the rim board, would this be done with mortar the same as a wall plate would to get the level? 3. If I did decide to still use wall straps to anchor the roof down, how would I get them to run down the inside wall with the rim board on the outside edge of the block work? Could they be bent into position or is there something else on the market for this type of thing? I'm unsure otherwise how the whole thing would be secured to the actual building structure. Just one more I promise, haha. 4. To get an overhang of 30cm or so around the front and side that is showing, can I screw some noggins on to the rim board outside face? So I have a place for downlights etc and is it OK to use cut offs from the 9x2 joists for this purpose. Thanks guys. I do really appreciate your help. Sorry for the questions but this is not originally how I was going to do the roof so I just want to make sure I have my head around it properly. Thanks again.

Thanks for the info. So a 6 meter beam should be just on the dot then for a 1/3 overhang. Maybe a stupid question but if I used a ledger board, does it go along the top of the wall and attach to the masonry with bolts? Then I would use hangers on the ledger board for the joists? Then obviously this ledger board would span the corner gap, is that correct?

Brilliant OK, this may actually make life easier for me as a whole because I have a steel beam to contend with aswell so I can use this through that aswell on the inside. Thanks, much appreciated. I probably won't need the corner post either which would be amazing.

Hi Mark, Is the image I found online sort of what you're suggesting? So I would have the 9x2 along the whole of the front and back wall and hang my joists from that or just for the corner? Sorry to be a pain

Thanks for the info, a little more information that I should of added before. The gap in the corner is about 1 meter 30 on the front and 2 meters on the side, to the corner post. The joists will be going from the back of the building to the front, so the joist ends will rest on the 1.3 meter section. The joists are quite a slab. I'll be using 9x2 at 6 meter lengths to span the gap. Not to sure if that all makes a difference on what I should use. Cheers.

Hi all, Im almost done on the construction of a garden room, im close to getting to the roof part of the build. Ill be having a corner window, but am unsure what to use to span the gap at the top? I was thinking of having a load bearing corner post, which a window friend has said he can get hold off, and spanning the wall plate across to the corner post and then to the other wall. Will this be enough for part of the warm roof to go on top? I was thinking a 100 x 50 wall plate, but should i double this up above the corner window for more strength for the roof beams to go onto? Thanks for any advice. Cheers Joe

Ive just finished building two piers 4 meters apart for a bi-fold door, out of dense concrete blocks. Ill be putting a steel beam across the opening. I need the height of the piers to be 2.1 meters as that is the height of the bi folds that i have. At the moment the piers are at a height of 1.95 meters each What should i use to make up the extra 150mm? Ive found a padstone on travis perkins which is D x 140mm H x 440mm L x 215mm. Laid face down would this be ok to use to make up the 150 or is there something else that exists that iv not seen or heard of? Sorry if this is a stupid question. Thanks for any help.

Thanks nod. So what I'm looking for is a steel (by this do you mean a universal beam?) with a hit and miss plate. I'm glad to hear you have done so many.

The roof joists would be running away from the lintel not across it. So if the lintel is left to right then the joists would run backwards from it. I did forget to say aswell that the opening has an end pier on each side of it. So two dense concrete blocks laying face down and then two side by side to make the end pier. So the area the lintel would rest on would be about 215mm rather then the 100mm of the block edge. I hope that makes sence, my explaining of these things is not great. How big was this opening Nod in the image? It looks good. Do you have an example of what you would use over a 4 meter span, like a website link or something? Sorry to be a pain. Thanks! I appreciate the help

I planned on a timber frame inside with insulation board and plastering to finish it all off. I was told the same thing by someone else that I could use a UB but just wanted to be sure here before I went ahead and made a mistake. The opening is about 4 meters and it won't really be holding much weight above. Just a flat roof. So nothing extreme like a second floor or anything.

What type of lintel would you think best? Something like an I beam or is there another type better suited do you know? Also if I did use an I beam, do I simply put a bed of mortar directly on top of the steel and then put another course of bricks to finish of the wall? Thanks for the reply.

Hi all, I have a 4 meter opening in a garden room I've built for some bifolds but need a lintel above to stop deflection of the doors. Which lintel would be best for a single skin dense concrete block wall though? Above the door maybe a course of dense concrete blocks and then a warm flat roof over the whole thing. Building the walls was fairly straight forward but lintels seem to be a minefield. There seems to be so many types. Thanks for any help Joe

Ive had a bit more of a research and i think it might be a magnasite floor? It may not be the red ash as first thought? Still looking into it but it may be only a case of about 1-2 cm that will need to come out. Like i said i need to look into it a bit more. No job ever seems to be easy in this house. No matter what we get done something is there to cost more money and time!

I plan to drill some holes to see how deep this stuff goes, but if I did go about digging it out what would I need to do. Obviously get all the red concrete out but then do I lay the vapour barrier and have concrete poured over the top again to give a level surface? Thanks everyone for the help so far. I am wondering if it would be best in the long term to dig it out.

I'll be really happy if it's as simple as that! I really don't want to be digging out the floor. You may have made my day. I'll look more into what you've suggested. Thanks for the information. I found it really hard to find anything about it online. I knew someone here would know something about it :D. Thanks

Hi all, We are looking at getting hard floors put down in our front room/dining area. We've had someone over to get floor samples/ideas, when i told him about the red floor under the carpet that we have. He said that after ww2 they were running low on concrete and so started using a different type of material which is hell for hard floors because of vapour being released. A carpet allows the moisture through, but hard floors could potentially eventually get damp and pop up because the moisture can not pass through it. He told me all this before i told him the house was built in 1947 which falls in line with what he had to say. Im not questioning him at all and i trust what hes saying. Hes gone through alot of effort to find out as much as he can about the floor for us. Hes basically said we could have the hard floors but there is a chance that in the future suddenly we have floor boards springing up from damp, so he wanted us to have all the information so we could make an informed decision. I wanted to see if anyone on here had any experience with this stuff (composite floor i think he said??) and if so what did you do about it or what do you know about it? Im tempted to drill a few holes to see how deep it is (From parts of it cracked on the edge i think about a cm deep...atleast on the edges) and if it would be possible to dig it out and have concrete filled in with new vapour barrier etc. Obviously all this is added cost to a job which is already pricey. Anyone have any ideas or experience with this stuff? It only seems to be in the dining room although under the front room area there are tiles so i couldnt say what is under them until i get them up. Although it does look like the red concrete or whatever it is is slightly higher then the tiles as youll see from the images. So maybe it was poured after the front room was done?! Thanks for any help Joe

Thanks guys for the info. Ive seen two ways of doing the piers, one where a course is just put against the wall one block on top of the others edge and the second where two blocks are laid on their face on top of each other and two on top of them edge ways side by side....(i hope that make sense). Is one way better then the other? Also another random question. For the corners i notice a lot of people cut 100mm block to create a stretcher bond corner. What is the purpose of this? Is it structural or is it just for looks. I plan on having the outside rendered so the blockwork wont be seen so if i don't need to do a stretcher bond corner i wont bother. Finally when you say medium do you mean medium blocks? Cheers for any help again.

Hi all, I'm building a workshop at the end of the garden. I was planning to build it with single skin dense concrete blocks with a timber frame inside for a small amount of insulation etc. Which type of block would be better though, the dense concrete block or dense hollow breeze blocks? My second question is, the back wall will be about 9 meters long. Do I need to set columns into the wall for strength and if so what is the distance I would need between them? Thanks for any help. Joe

I'm glad you've said this Peter because this did worry me aswell. I was just asking him in passing when he was here to fit some windows in our house. I did wonder if the corner post would even be wide enough to support a lintel let alone take the weight. I think I will definitely change the design to pull back both the windows. It'll make life easier for us aswell I think. Thanks

Originally it wasn't going to be this big but the concrete pad that it will sit on is a large area so I decided to fill it rather then let it going to waste. I was planning to timber frame the inside walls, add some insulation plaster board etc. Aswell as insulate the floor and have a warm roof. It will be a games room/ bar area but also a place to store garden furniture during the winter. Currently we hang out in the garage to play pool etc, which is also a single skin with no insulation at all. I haven't looked at the windows yet but the bi fold I can get for about £2500. This is not an all in one build. This is very much going to be a thing done over time but I really wanted to get my head round everything. The walls, floor, warm roof are all straight forward but I had no real idea of how the joists would attach above the bi-fold and corner window. I have been told by a window fitter that a 90* square corner post can be used which the will have the corner windows attach to and they can be load bearing. Thanks.

I've attached a really basic drawing with some of the sizes. Is this what you meant? Cheers

Thanks Peter for the reply. This sounds like an easy option. Maybe a dumb question but would I attach the roof joists to the steel beam or would I need to put a course of bricks along first? Also is it possible to attach the windows to the corner post do you know? No problem if you're unsure you have given me something to work with. Thanks.