Floor joists

[Rich.ca]

I'm helping with a guy to do some work on his house, long story short, the original plan has changed and now that all the upstairs ceilings have been taken down and orignal ceiling joists inspected, it's been decided that they'll need replacing and while we're at it be lowered for extra space in the loft.

The house is late 1800's stone built with rubble infill. In a perfect world, bolting a plate along the wall with joist hangers for the new joists would be the way forward, but I'm concerned that any anchor/resin bolts won't hold up as the stones are not really large enough to take a bolt without them splitting. The other option I'm thinking, would be to make pockets in the wall for the new joists to sit into, I'm assuming I'd have to sit the joists on engineering bricks rather than a bed of cement for strength.

Obviously this is considderably more work than just bolting a plate up there, so I'm open to any other suggestions.

 

[Dee J]

Major change like that is going to have to go past building control with appropriate engineering calcs. But bolting to walls like that doesn't sound like a plan. Also, what's going to stop the roof spreading once the original ceiling timbers are gone.

 

[blackrodd]

As Dee j says, not a wise move as you will get big problems, roof spreading etc, any adjoining neighbour will probably sue You're pants off too!.
It would be difficult to get fixings resulting in a flat and level floor in the stone and Barny Rubble wall any way!
Regards Rodders

 

[Rich.ca]

The roof will be tied in to the new floor with plywood bracing gussets, as advised by BC, although the roof is actually supported on 5 massive timber beams approx 16" x 8". The new space isn't going to be used for anything for now, so if/when they decide to convert, then they will notify the relevant planning and building authorities, but for now it's just a case of replacing broken joists with something a little stronger with possible future developments in mind.

 

[blackrodd]

A pity the information contained in you're second post, size of timber, Building Control on site, etc etc was left out
of the first post.
In light of this, as you have the Building Control on site, he will need to be satisfied as to the method for the proposed new floor is used, so you will need to chat to him regarding this, as he is on site he will be aware of any or all particular site conditions, IE, original construction method, wall bearing and stone size, etc etc.
Questions like this are not always easy to answer without all the relevant information, sizes, what is existing, what is proposed, and some pictures too!
Regards Rodders