Biting off more than I can chew?

[GH69]

Hi all.

 

Found this place when researching my up and coming project.

Will be adding two largish dormers/first floor extensions to the front of my 1850 cottage.

Got PP back end of 2019, and have since then failed to secure a builder. Out of many I contacted they either, did not reply, replied to say they were too busy, or in one case came to have a look, then when chased said they were too busy. So I don't even have an idea of how much it might cost or how much I might save DIYing it...

So I've decided to give it a go myself anyway. I'm not a total stranger to DIY/Building work as I have installed Veluxes, and removed a couple of walls in the past. The most recent project I cut and jointed some green oak to replace a wall.

I found this place via this thread Doubling up rafters - Page 3 - Lofts, Dormers & Loft Conversions - BuildHub.org.uk which is the only example of a dormer conversion which is similar to my own. In that there are existing walls front and rear. I'm effectively building a room over an existing single story, lean-to roofed part of the house.

It's a shame that thread just came to an end, would have loved to have seen more.

 

Currently I'm trying to get my head around the details of the build. It is being done on a building notice (oak beams were part of this and inspector is on board) so no complete plans exist. The PP plans were done by a chap who also did the structural calcs for building regs, but I'm not 100% confident in his abilities now I have been forced to inspect the plans more closely. So far he has been proven to have over specced timber sizes twice. Better safe than sorry I guess. But he seems also to have treated it like a standard dormer when it clearly is not.

 

So I'm trying to work out the details before I cut holes in the roof, but I keep getting told to speak to a structural engineer. Which whilst I fully agree and plan to, I like to go in with options to suggest to them. In my limited experience some people go for the obvious solution rather than think about other ways which might allow smaller timbers to be used etc..

 

Any how, that's me.

 

G

Edited June 17, 2021 by GH69

[markc]

Too many variables and lack of info to give any meaningful answers but the first step would be to gain access to the roof space and determine exactly what is there, condition of timbers etc.

Then there are loads of different methods and products available to proceed with the works and/or pricing etc.

some photo`s and more details would help

[GH69]

1 hour ago, markc said:

Too many variables and lack of info to give any meaningful answers but the first step would be to gain access to the roof space and determine exactly what is there, condition of timbers etc.

Then there are loads of different methods and products available to proceed with the works and/or pricing etc.

some photo`s and more details would help

 

Thanks for the reply.

I have started a thread here First floor extension/dormer build. - Lofts, Dormers & Loft Conversions - BuildHub.org.uk

[ToughButterCup]

2 hours ago, GH69 said:

...

I like to go in with options to suggest to them. In my limited experience some people go for the obvious solution rather than think about other ways which might allow smaller timbers to be used etc..

...

 

All credit to you for having that approach.

Knowing why you are not doing what you and others might reasonably expect you to do is challenging, healthy and stops  the  '.... Why didn't you do it like this ? ...' question dead in its tracks

For what its worth, my stock answer to that - often ill-intentioned - question is  ' Because I'm not you ' (and add whatever epithet needed to get rid of my annoyance under my breath) Often TFFT. ?

Wecome .

Ian