Padstone alterations

[marsaday]

I have spoken to the engineer and he has said this is fine, but i wanted to see if this is normal.

I have a huge 9m truss going into the front and back walls. I am adding a C channel each side to create a sort of flitch beam. This then cuts down my attic size in half so i can get small joist spans.

Currently the truss is sitting on a wooden padstone and i have cleared the walling around each truss end to get my padstones in for the C channels.

Because of the wooden padstone already there i cannot dig down any further to achieve the 150mm padstone height. The height avaliable is 100mm and this works fine. So my padstone is now going to be 50mm shallower.

Would anyone do anything differently ?

 

[Blagard]

I would love to see a photo of this!

Personally I have never even heard of a wooden padstone and hope it is just your terminology that is suspect and not the engineer! Then again, I'm always looking to learn something new, hence the photo request!

 

[marsaday]

This house was built in 1910, so they used wood to level up the truss it seems.

In order for me to get my padstones down i would need to remove the wood under the truss (or at the sides).

So the alternative is to reduce the height of the padstone from 150mm to 100mm.

i will get some photos.

 

[mointainwalker]

Blagard

This doesn't really do what you want as it shows the beam just after I had removed the wood

The beam is 370 x 400 x 7000 and sat perpendicularly under a 9 m truss supporting the roof. Originally the beam-ends sat on two crossed layers of timbers ( maybe 80 x 80 from memory, but essentially what was lying around I guess)

Barn built around 1840 I believe.

Untitled

• mointainwalker
• 16 Aug 2010
• 1

I don't know if it's of interest, but I asked the locals how to replace the wood and they said concrete, so this beam now rests on a pad 400 x 500 x 100 (deep) in the stone wall.

 

[marsaday]

View media item 25262 View media item 25263 View media item 25264
The first pic shows the front of the house where the steels will come in. The right side has plenty of room to lay the padstone.

The second pic show the left side where there is a huge wood lintel over the bay window. i didnt want to cut into this too much, so the padstone here will be 150mm in length.

The last pic shows the rear section and left side. You can see the wooden padstone under the truss and where i have been cutting the additional wood to make it level. To the left is a wooden lintel which is the start of the bedroom window below. So again here i only have a padstone which is 150mm in length.

The wooden padstone the truss is sitting on is actually a wooden wall plate inserted below all the the floor joists and the truss. There is no way i can move this. So does anyone know if this will be a strong padstone.

BCO is coming after lunch to have a look

 

[Blagard]

BCO is coming after lunch to have a look

That is by far the best thing to be doing. Let us know what he says!

But I am going to take a guess that he will not be happy with any timber under any part of the support for your proposed steels. He may consider that cutting away the timber directly under the steels and using either a little insitu concrete or other decent bearing material will be enough to keep him happy. Or perhaps if the timber under the truss is only on the inner leaf and can be removed and replaced with concrete or similar at the same time.

 

[marsaday]

The truss is resting on the inner course only.

Shouldnt the engineer have know about all this before hand though?

If i do have to cut the wall plate out around the truss do you know how i can do this ?

Also if the wood under the truss has to come out, will the truss need propping.

it is sat directly over a main dividing wall in the house, but it is not resting on it. i could add slate under here to temporary hold the truss in place i suppose

 

[Blagard]

The truss is resting on the inner course only. - That will make it tricky!

Shouldnt the engineer have know about all this before hand though? - I really don't know. It all depends on just what he was asked to do for you and how much he could see at the time.

If i do have to cut the wall plate out around the truss do you know how i can do this ? - Cutting timber is easy, making sure everything is safe and does not move is the real concern. I would not want to advise based on those photos alone.

Also if the wood under the truss has to come out, will the truss need propping. If you are right about it being all it is sitting on, then definately YES

it is sat directly over a main dividing wall in the house, but it is not resting on it. i could add slate under here to temporary hold the truss in place i suppose - Don't assume it is safe to do so. It sounds like it may be very useful for the task. But I would want to see the wall is OK all the way down.

Old structures are often interesting on how they were put together, Understanding the bigger picture of how the structure is working as a whole is important so deciding on best solutions from photo's is risky.

Hopefully your BC officer will be helpful and all will become clear after his visit.

 

[marsaday]

Yes i have to cut the timber underneath which is approx 50mm thick.

So i will remove the timber and use a small lintel cut to size.

The truss can be propped off the inner wall as it is sound.

The truss does go slightly onto the outer course as they have shaped the bricks to accomodate the truss.

to do this i will work from the first floor and remove the ceiling in the area.

 

[marsaday]

View media item 25282
Got one in. The rear is more complicated as wall is in way and i will have to damage 2 ceilings in 2 rooms. This one i dont mind about as i am going to take it down after the loft is done.