New member - loft conversion using timber rather than steels

[Huggy Bear]

Hi everyone, I'm starting a new dormer loft conversion project. 

All the builders I've spoken too propose using steels for strengthening loft floor and taking dormer weight.

I'd like to do it using timber to reduce carbon footprint - London LETI targets are <400kgCO2/m2.

The loft floor area is 8000x5000(width), with a central load bearing wall. 

The existing loft ceiling/floor joists are 100mm and span 2x4000mm from front/rear brick wall to centre.

We want to keep the loft floor depth to minimum in order to maximize loft height.

Does anyone have experience of doing a loft conversion just using glulam or similar and could this meet building regs for fire?

Thanks for any words of wisdom.  

 

[Conor]

Your structural engineer will be able to calculate this for you. Re fire, not an issue, you'll just need to adequately protect them if they are structural parts of an escape route or protected area.

 

I'd advise getting your drawings and structural design sorted before going to a builder, you'll need all that for building control anyway.