d/s beam

HereAndThere

Hi

I have been looking into converting my loft and noticed on my house drawings the following term.

d/s beam ???

It runs from the party wall (I live in an end of terrace house) to a load bearing wall in the hot press (xxx on the drawings).

At the top of the stairs where this is drawn exists a protuberance in the ceiling which looks like some sort of support beam? Never asked builder what this was?

Any idea what this is for? Is it to support the attic floor (plywood)?

See attached picture.

Thanks

sydthebeat

theres no picture.

id guess d/s beam means "down stand" beam which is a beam thats located under the plane of what its supporting.

don t do anything to your attic without getting on site professional advice

HereAndThere

Thanks I just poked a hole through in the hot press. It is a wooden beam, I think it's supporting the truss roof and attic floor. Because the wall going from bathroom to gable wall is a load bearing wall. I assume this beam and the load bearing wall support the roof along with the party wall, gable wall, front and back wall.

Here's picture now

http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=6802915623

Thanks

sydthebeat

might be just me but that pic didnt work.

just attach it to your post.

beams by their definition are load bearing.

have you a specific question thats non structural? as structural queries are not allowed on this forum.

HereAndThere

Hi Sorry

On my iPod so link is a mobile one and can't attach on mobile site.

Try this http://flickr.com/#/photos/stephenjhayes/6802915623/sizes/l/

Was told it could be moved by attic conversion guy?

Just wanted to know who to ask for guidance, structural engineer or architect?

Won't be going with this guy anyway as he didn't even know what it was?

Thanks

sydthebeat

structural engineer primarily. Its exactly their field of expertise.

focus_mad

"could be moved" means the attic conversion fella hasn't the foggiest, as the lads said, structural engineer is the way to proceed IMO

Cedrus

I'm not a structural engineer only a humble draughtsman and your drawing is not the best quality.
In simple terms your house is quite deep from front to back and the support of any spanning members is compromised by this distance. The d/s beam is to compensate for this and is likely to be the cheapest simplest most appropriate solution. A structural engineer may have an alternative but I wouldn't bet on it. The clown who said it could be moved will probably feature on "Homes from Hell" or "Cowboy Builders" coming soon to a TV near you.

Your roof looks complex and you have a Velux in it? How much space is actually left in your attic to convert.

HereAndThere

Thanks

Its an attic truss so there is quite a bit of space.

19ft X 16ft of floor space - not all with headroom of course.

There is a separate pitch in the roof to the front of the house which I thought could be used for storage but again was told - "yeah you can just cut out those rafters etc... and add a door" but I think I'll ask a professional.

Thanks Again

Slig

There are a few other issues that should be looked at aswell. Building regs have to be complied with aswell in this case part f and part b.
Part f is the easy part, there is a ratio of floor to (flat) ceiling that has yo be complied with.
Part b is a little more complex, you will essentially be creating a 3 storey building and will need to incorporate fire doors somewhere in the build, you will also need a fire escape window if you are using the space as a bedroom.
Building reg compliance is easy to circumvent if you don't need planning and pay for the works outside of a mortgage but it is still the minimum standard required and can affect everything from resale to house insurance
A structural engineer may be able to advise you on these aswell if they are experienced.