mini "survey" required....

[chocccie]

I have a building (about 40 years old) which was used as a dairy.  It seems really well built, has lintels all the way around the building at door and window level - the beas and flooring above look as solid as you like.  

It's two storey and the upper storey has been used as a hay store.  There are numerous really chunky beams conreted into the walls and it's all stengthened by a vertical iron girder (?)

I want to put a couple of bedrooms and bathrooms on the first floor, but before I got to the trouble of applying for permission, I want somebody in the know to tell me that it can support that load safely.  I really think it will be a case of somebody qualified/experienced sticking their nose around for ten minutes.

Any recommendations and idea of what this will cost.  It's roughly 9x9m.  I'm in the Haute Vienne

Thanks folks.

[Deimos]

I wanted advice re Permissions, ideas and floor/roof strength for converting an attic into 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. I got a local architect round and he was really useful. He reckoned that I did not need permissions, that the floor was OK but only for bedrooms/bathroom (shower not bath), etc. He also went through loads of regulations I needed to comply with, etc. total cost for a few hours was either €70 or €100 (I cannot remember). No written report – just verbal advice.

To find him I just looked in Yellow Pages.

Ian

[Motorhead]

Strictly speaking this would be a job for a structural engineer but do you really need this?

Was it used as a hayloft in the last 30 years and filled up? I say this because then the hay would have been in bales rather than loose and that amount of bales would be far far heavier than anything you are proposing. If the beams show no sign of recent deterioration it should all be as strong as it was then. Ask the locals if this hayloft ever had a good quantity of bales inside it. French for bale is botte BTW.

 

[Hagar]

Chocccie,

You might try www.adia.org 

rgds

Hagar