Reducing height of house?

SARAH ANNE

hi all

im new to this so here goes.

at the planning stage of my house and have the plans for my new house,(dormar) but engineer wants to drop forst floor by 100mm to 2500mm. the hollowcore goes on top and the engineer wants 4 inch (100mm), but the hollowcore company says this is only shuttering and mostly sell it in 6 inch, (150mm).

Upstairs the engineer wants to reduce the 2nd floor by 150mm and to 2450 and reduce the ridge by 350mm and instead of having a rafter at 35 degrees have it at 34 degrees, so the overall height from ground floor to ridge board is now 6150mm, instead of 6750mm or (20.5 ft from 22.5 ft), a drop of 2 feet. (600mm)

All this is for the best she says, but i am worried will it will give a lot of dead space upstairs, what is the advantage or disadvantages of her doing this not from a planning prospective but from a practical point of view in living in the house and building it

many thanks

soldsold

Hi Sarah Anne, Welcome to the construction and planning board! Your post might get a better response though in the main forum as its mostly questions whereas this thread is for updates as to how everyone is getting on - I guess to motivate each other and pat ourselves on the back! You should also provide a bit more detail as to why the engineer wants a lower roof? Cheers, Steve

muffler

Moving the above to a new thread.

Mellor

The engineer is cutting it very tight for space,

I can see no reason for this, the original height isn't huge by any means,
if I had to reduce, I'd drop the pitch before the ground floor ceiling

RKQ

+1
I can't see any advantage to the OP in reducing the height.
I would keep the height as per your planning permission.

Without seeing your design, I think that reducing the ridge height of a dormer by 600mm must affect headroom on the 1st floor! Especially where ceiling follows pitch of rafters.

Reduce the pitch if you must, but maintain your ceiling heights.
Ask your Engineer to explain their reasons for reducing the height and its advantgage to you?

sydthebeat

if you have a permission for the higher dimension, what is the reason behind the proposed reduction??

muffler

SARAH ANNE wrote: »

at the planning stage of my house

This may be the important part.

Is it a case that the planners are looking for a reduction in the overall height?

SARAH ANNE

Thanks all for tour responses,

To make it a bit clearer and its not totally clear to me, according to the engineer its to keep the planners happy.

would it affect the 1st floor heights, basically what im trying to ask would there be more waste of space where the ceilings come down, and would it be a better option to just drop the ridge board, the engineer wont show me the plans in three d like before, am very confused and concerned.

ta all

SARAH ANNE

excuse my ignorance, but what is meant by reduce the pitch

muffler

SARAH ANNE wrote: »

excuse my ignorance, but what is meant by reduce the pitch

The slope of the roof

Mellor

muffler wrote: »

Is it a case that the planners are looking for a reduction in the overall height?

SARAH ANNE wrote: »

To make it a bit clearer and its not totally clear to me, according to the engineer its to keep the planners happy.

By the sounds of things, it hasn't been submitted yet. I'd rather put it in higher and be told to lower it, rather than pre-empting a request to lower.

However, if this is part of a FI request, then you have to do pretty much do it.

SARAH ANNE

Iagree i dont want to compromise on space upstairs, but the engineer isnt too forthcoming, when i tried to bring it up his attitude is we will get permission build it and see, which isnt what i want to hear

thanks

sinnerboy

Just curious Sarah Anne - what is your engineer reducing from ? . In other words if a design is being prepared for planning permission - where did the heights and levels you mentioned in your opening post come from ?

No6

This is a very common occurance here in Mayo. The house is designed as per the clients requirements, attempting to keep the design on side of the rural housing design guidlines. No matter what you do the planners come back with something to give you grief and one of their favourites is its too high. If the house is a two storey what heights are the houses around it, are they two stoery too or are they all bungalows and dormers. I have frequently got a revise the house or else type advice notice but but a lot of dicsussion. persuision and proof that the houses around the one in question are all of higher or similar height I usually manage to get the original design through with minor ammendments.

SARAH ANNE

sinnerboy,

The heights etc were the first draft, now the latest draft have the revised heights, i wonder why the engineer did re- draft.

The re draft seems in my eyes to loose a lot of space upstairs,is this the case maybe im wrong.

can anyone advise please

mickdw

Maybe your engineer took the 1st draft to the planners & they advised on the reduction. Im sure he is not simply doing this of his own accord given that the first draft was higher.
Also be very careful if you are keeping ceiling height very tight. You will most likely require void space below your hollowcore so this must be allowed for. You also need to consider exactly your hollowcore specs - what thickness of floor screed will you have with that, Will you be using underfloor heating with it etc.
Nothing worse than a minimum height ceiling in a larger type house. I would try to keep the ground floor ceiling as high as possible & maybe consider a more substantial redesign to suit the planners instead of just butchering the original idea to make it fit.