Hi all.
Planning a loft conversion for my bungalow. Plan to do as much as I can myself however, like everything with this house, nothing is straightforward. So my plan is to run 175mm by 75mm joists at 4.2m spans to allow for overlap at 3.5m. Span will run from wall plate, to central structural wall and out again from the same point to opposite wall (extension wall thats been built up to take weight of extension roof). The issue is that on the wall plate of original house (built in the 60's) there are single red bricks wedged in and mortared on top of the wall plate beside the current ceiling joists. This goes on for the entire length of the house. There is therefore no room to place the new floor joists on top of the wall plate, unless I knock the single bricks out that is.
However, my question is: what's their purpose!?? Can I knock them out. There doesn't appear to be any structural reason for it other than maybe supporting the weight of tile at that point of the eaves? Or perhaps that's the way they did it then to seal up the eaves as much as they could!? If I can't knock them out I will have to get a beam in and run the new joists off it which is a bit of a nuisance as I will likely have to get a builder in to do that!
Thanks all!
