Hip to gable - ceiling joist dilema

[Cabbyfan]

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all having a nice Bank Holiday.

I am in the process of doing a hip-to-gable conversion and my builder is starting the actual gable end wall for me soon (this week).

I have come to a bit if a dilemma, I have stripped back the tiles on the hip and cut the rafters ready for the builders but they need the inner leaf wall plate removing to build up the wall. The problem is the ceiling joists go in different directions in the bungalow and as such on the gable side they all rest on the wall plate.

Just to make it even trickier the wall plate sits below the ceiling plasterboard height to removing the wall plate will very likely damage the walls (not that it matters in 2 of the rooms as they will get reworked anyway).

My builder has suggested cutting down between the rafters to leave slices of wallplate in place to support the ceiling joists but it seems a bit messy to me.

3 rooms are affected. Front bedroom (3m span), Bathroom (2m span) and kitchen (3m span), current ceiling joists are 3 x 2s and there is also a single 3 x 2 running at 90 degrees to the joists nailed ontop which has to go before I fit the new upper floor joists.

I would prefer not to take down the current ceiling so any suggestions ? I did wonder if I can prop them, cut the ends and trim them with 2 side by side new rafters ?

Advice appreciated

 

[catlad]

If you look on the tools section I have posted about props which are perfect
for what you want to do.

 

[tomfe]

I'd do what he said and cut around with blocks unless you want to take the ceiling down.

 

[catlad]

Is it not possible to build off the wall plate?

 

[tomfe]

Yeah, its just like a timber beam but I don't think bc would allow it.

 

[Cabbyfan]

Thanks for the replies much appreciated. Can't build on the timber building control won't allow it.

I'm hoping my builder suggests I can trim the joists and remove all the wall plate. Cutting sections out of it it tricky to do without damaging the ceilings as it is.

 

[^woody^]

Prop the joists from below, or support them from above, then run a reciprocating saw between the joists and the plate to cut the nails, then slide the plate out horizontally.

 

[tomfe]

The timber plate will the plastered into the wall with some hessian scrim so you'll make a bit of a mess what ever you do

 

[^woody^]

You tend to find that the plaster has become unstuck from the timber with age, so the plaster may stay in position as the plate slides out.

But also look for some nails that might have been put through in to the wall below

 

[Cabbyfan]

Quite right about scrim and I know from doing work in other rooms the bottom of the wall plate is about 2 to 3 inches below the ceiling height so it's going to mess up to walls which is ok I can fix that.

 

[noseall]

If it helps, just remove the course of blocks directly beneath the plate then do as Woodplane says i.e. ruin the wall plate with a recip and then carry on. We have hack saw blades (metal cutting) in our recip and it makes mincemeat of sticky out nails. Mind you, so does the grinder.

 

[Cabbyfan]

Hi everyone, solution in the end was to pull all the ceilings down and put the new floor joists direct onto the downstairs walls. Bit more work but will end up a better job plus I end up with better headroom in the loft conversion