well, im lost

but i think ill go the unnofficial route

so do i add any timber to secure the rafters?

if i ran 2*2 across them and nailed into each one, this would give me a flat floor and a stronger one...i think  ???
but what would i do with em at the ends? just rest em on the end rafter nearest party wall or would i have to tie em in?

is this the best way to do it?

is the weight limit going to be of concern here?

any other pointers?

i plan to make it into a proper room
just use a loft ladder thats easy to get at  
would the weight of the plasterboard balls the roof up or anything?

anything else i should considder?

cheers guys

ss

ps, chappers, not far from you mate

so basicly im going between the main 4*2 joists that go between the party walls and support the joists("a good bit if its run onto the bearer at each end"- that the thingy?)
with 2*2 ontop of the existing 3*2 or what ever it is?


whats the reason for going ontop of the existing rather than across the existings?(just wondering)




"My thinking is that removing all the strutting will necessitate adding two more purlins to take the rafters"
the strutting is the 2*1 or so that runs read center of the loft floor  up to the center of the roof itself?

whats a purlin? lol


celotex- that horrible stuff(not as bad as rockwall) that has foil on one side and is a kind of yellow foam?

will nick some off the next site  

smoke alarms....
yup
any system that might be needed
i even have some pyro cable (its feckin expensive and basicly made totaly from copper- can work up to about 720c lol might do the trick eh?!)

cheers

ss

well, ill get on with the flooring then and come back for instructions lol
as your talk of purlins and everything lost me long ago lol

i dont ahve a clue
to be honest i dident even know i could get rid of any of the roof supports 8)
might leave em there
but the one that runs dead center would be nice to loose
here;
http://novoserve.no-ip.biz/P3050003.JPG

as for the cable, it was my revenge  
dont speak spark do you?
my chip isnt that great  

ss

firstly Robbo would agree with you about small dormers you can trim between doubled up rafters but only if some common rafters are left either side of the doubled ones.In fact my next job is one of those, but for a full box dormer you need something a bit beefier.

Robbo is right you will be better off going along the existing rafters as this is adding to their virtical rigidity and going across will have virtually no effect other than adding weight to the existing rafters, as you are adding a complete floor over the existing ceiling.This would only be of any benifit if you were supporting a descrete load eg spreading the weight of say a water tank over several of the ceiling joists.I would sugest you use timber of the same depth as any binders you already have running at right angles to the joists.

Depending on the strutting already in your loft I would expect you may need to add additional purlins to help prevent the roof sagging when you remove them.
A pulin is predominantly there to prevent your roof sagging from top to bottom and not so much to take a load. However a purlin wall in a loft conversion is a different matter as it is there to share the load with whatever you use to beef up the ridge when building a dormer.
I would also add some ceiling collars between the rafters to help the stability.

For occassional use I suspect that 9 times out of ten You could remove most of the struts in the roof add a couple of purlins, board out the floor and, although not the structural ideal, nothing is going to collapse many people have done it ..
wouldn't go over board on the purlin wall as it will be resting on the existing ceiling joists, and when adding extra supports consider whether what you are adding is actually benifiting the structure as a whole as you could just be adding more weight or transfering the load to a part that may struggle to take it

I would probably have some plans knocking about for a conversion for a house similar to yours, that you could have, might help with specs for venilation, windows, insulation etc

where abouts are you SS?

im hemel hempstead

shithole of the country lol

ill get some better pics

because i dont have a clue...well a vague one
of what the purlins are and what the 'binders' are ect

cheers

ss