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Building question

RogerS

RogerS

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If you have a building like this one and assume that the inside floor is concrete without insulation and probably no foundations either....if one wanted to convert it to something habitable then what's involved these days ?


Underpin the walls? Then dig out the inside, then put in concrete and insulation etc ?

Anyone any ideas as to rough price per sq m? Of course, if it was black and white then the answer is obvious...just follow Mike's build !
 
Roger, the answer is about the same as the length of a piece of string, I'm afraid.

First things first: is the building sound? Are the roof timbers OK? Do the walls need repair? If the answer is that they're OK, then fine.......your build costs will be slightly more than building from scratch, because you have all the inconvenience of having a building in the way of what you want to do.

If there is no first floor, or if you are changing roof materials, or any of the basic structure of the shell, then you will almost certainly need to underpin if there are insubstantial foundations, because you will be changing the loadings. Only some local authorities will not require underpinning if the loads aren't changing. On the subject of underpinning, often it is cheaper to use mini piles and cross beams (almost like needles), rather than dig out under all of the main walls.

What's the Planning situation? Many local authorities are very reluctant to allow the conversion of agricultural outbuildings to dwellings.
 
That's really helpful, thanks, Mike. Re Planning...I have no idea as yet. It's not a show-stopper if it doesn't go ahead. Just would make a rather nice cinema/music room !

I'm actually being a little bit of a numpty as I completely forgot that I had a similar problem with the b&w I renovated and there I got a mini-digger inside, and the floor was lowered enough to put in the DPC and insulation, BCO sign-off then concrete pour.

Your comment re change of loading is extremely helpful.
 
Just tried Googling piles and mini-beams...not that much information TBH. From what I can see they are usually done at 1 metre spacing. So what supports the wall in between them ?
 
So what's the problem ? we have concrete floors and no foundations .. and only 3' from the canal along side !
we just live here ! lol

oh .. wait ..

yeah .. it's cold

hmmm.. and very damp ...

we have no heating except the log stove ..
everything else has to get plugged in to ..
well ..
an extension socket ! as we only have one socket per room :lol:
even the kitchen ! :(

hot water .. hmmm .. in the summer its a leccy kettle , winter a copper kettle

luckily we have an electric shower :D

infact .. my shed I built to work in is warmer and better equipped :-) Maybe that's why I'm in here all the time :lol:



I'll start renovating one day .. I mean .. we've only been here 12 yrs .. so no biggy :-)
 
RogerS":2qudky4h said:
Just tried Googling piles and mini-beams...not that much information TBH. From what I can see they are usually done at 1 metre spacing. So what supports the wall in between them ?
Click to expand...


the walls :-) ..



take a V up from each support, and you only have a few bricks in between unsupported
 
I found this image
Needle-beam.png

but to me 'needle' means something narrow. Are you saying that the 'needles' are actually quite wide ?

Or am I Googling up the wrong tree ?
 
to me .. needle just means the support "through" the wall .. like a needle

Yes, temp supports are usually small/thin to go through the mortar joints
but no need to be "biggist" about size :-)
 
Tusses":2cw2fd0x said:
to me .. needle just means the support "through" the wall .. like a needle

Yes, temp supports are usually small/thin to go through the mortar joints
but no need to be "biggist" about size :-)
Click to expand...

I still don't see how the stones on either side of the needle are supported in that case.
 
ah .. stone .. it depends on the bond .. with bricks, each one supports the two above it .. and so on up in the V shape I mentioned :-) .. kind of like little arches
 
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