Placement of stairs in a loft conversion

[loft_tester]

Dear BuildHub members,

 

Hope that you could help me with this loft conversion matter!

 

I live in a semi-detached house with a massive loft space, and we would like to start making small changes to the house layout to potentially make it easier to convert out loft.

 

We reasoned that the extra room upstairs will need a set of stairs, and I have quickly drawn an identical set of steps above the existing one.

As you can see, it presently overlaps with a boiler, which we could move:

 

 

My question is: is it structurally possible to place a new set of stairs on top of the existing ones without adding any extra (vertical?) reinforcement? What will hold the weight of the new set of stairs?

 

Thank you in advance!

[markc]

Nothing wrong with your proposal, a set of stairs does not add much load. Some local strengthening is likely but nothing complicated. Most of the work will be in cutting the hole and associated trimming etc.

[loft_tester]

Thank you, Mark! Out of interest, what holds the weight of the stairs (and anyone walking on them)? Would they rest on the floor of the first floor, or are they attached to multiple points - floor, the wall, etc.?

[markc]

8 hours ago, loft_tester said:

Thank you, Mark! Out of interest, what holds the weight of the stairs (and anyone walking on them)? Would they rest on the floor of the first floor, or are they attached to multiple points - floor, the wall, etc.?

In the sketch the opening trimmer would take the majority of load, the side wall supports the turn and then this takes the majority of load for the remaining flight with the top assisting, in reality the loads are minimal compared to a heavy cabinet etc.

[loft_tester]

Thank you for such an informative answer, Mark! Much appreciated!