Extending wall to end of the joists

[onholidays]

Hi all, I've been lurking around the forums for a couple weeks learning a lot of things about house renovations. Have just bought my first house and it needs some work.

As it's a raised timber house in Brisbane, I want to put a wall in downstairs. The space for the wall has three floor joists extending out to the edge of the house, is it possible/sensible to build the wall right out to the edge? These joists will block the swing of the french doors we're wanting to put in, unless we build the wall right along the edge of the house. There is a pre-existing wall there already built about 30cm back from the edge (asbestos, being removed by pros this week) but I want to rebuild it further out.

There are bolts coming down through the "ceiling" at the edge which we'd be covering, but are these eave inspection gaps? I seem to remember someone mentioning this but a search finds nothing.

Will the wall being flush with the upper wall cause any problems with rainfall etc (even if sealed properly?)

Is there anything else I've missed? All advice is appreciated!

[journeyman Mick]

Diagrams and photos of what you're up to might help. The bigggest danger when doing this type of work is that you may form a bridge over any termite barriers. You'll need to watch this and also your flashing treatment where the new wall meets the existing structure.

Mick

[onholidays]

This is a pic of the wall. Above the shorter of the two plants on the right there is one joist, then the central "I" joist, and above the brick wall another joist. The whole garden is being removed and paved, the vertical "striped" wall is asbestos and going, and I was hoping to move the slab out and wall right up to the edge of the upper floor. Mainly between the two joists, ignoring the end with the meter box (I'll be putting split system air conditioning unit in that corner of the area).

This is to allow french doors to swing, as they take up most of the area between those two joists, and will bump them on their swing. With the wall out further they'll be able to swing and sit more flat along the walls (although they'll never sit fully flat, but that's ok). I can draw up a brief "top down" wall map if that will help.

I'm running a single course of brick along the base of the wall and mounting the timber stud wall on that to allow for a 75mm+ termite "barrier".

[journeyman Mick]

Onholidays,
thise steel beams are "bearers", your "joists" will be sitting on top of these. I would strongly recommend you engage a design draughtsman to have a look and draw up some plans, paying particular attention to the detail where the new slab meets the old. If you build your new wall framing directly under the upper section you will be able to run your cladding over both sections continuously which will make it more pleasing to the eye and eliminate any flashing problems. On the other hand you could get your French doors cut down by the height of the steel beams and save yourself a lot of bother.

Mick

[onholidays]

Thanks Mick,
Cutting down the doors is not really on the cards, we like the height/light the doors will bring into the place Stubborn I guess!

Is your concern (for the draftsman to look at) just the slab? I appreciate that extending the slab is a biggie so I'm going to get pros into look at it for me. I am still wondering what the bolts under the eaves are for, so I found this pic of them. If I can build a ceiling over/around them that's ok, I just need to know what they are so I know that it's safe. Don't want to block up anything important

I doubt that the cladding will be hard to come by, I think Hardie does one just like it. Would also have to investigate ways to ensure the doors don't let rain through in storms etc, but that will be a lot simpler to manage and I've got ideas already.

Brett

[robri]

My only suggestion is that these bolts could be partof the bracing for wind that is needed for cyclones. Having once lived in Townsville I understand that there is a need to have much greater bracing than we have down here in Melbourne.

Maybe a thought,

[journeyman Mick]

Brett,
I'd say that the bolts are the bottom part of tie down bolts that extend up to the roof battens or trusses, best not to cut them! :eek: Re the draughtsman, it always pays to get a professional to look at the job as a whole, a good designer will pick up problems you didn't realise existed before you get to the "sh!+ what do we do now?" stage.

Mick