In a glance, adding a second story on top of an existing single-story structure sounds beneficial in terms of creating more spaces that are habitable. In this case, our client’s family was growing and they were in need of more space for a bedroom and bathroom. Moreover, their existing house was on a small piece of a lot filled to capacity and almost cramped within the confines of the setbacks and there was not enough room for a full ADU on the ground. Although they had to face some structural issues, the only workaround was to move up and that was not easy to find someone fills like taking over its upcoming issues. They were in need of an experienced structural engineer to define whether the additional load would be beyond the means of the existing structure or it was capable of bearing that. Our client tried consulting a local inspector and he not only determined that the existing structure was stout enough for them to go for the second story but also the existing roof could be moved to the new higher elevation with the least damages.
An additional issue that turned out was that the existing house was split-level and it goes without saying that it would call for some extra prep work that we had to cope with. Now according to the finalized drawings, the existing two-story section will be extended a bit to the front with an, In addition, the existing roof will have the front pitch extended upwards to create a new ridgeline.
The only and main change due to the client’s request was a vaulted ceiling rather than the existing flat ceiling and that caused some more structural work to arrange some supports for ridge beams etc.
As the architect made out on all the drawings and the package approved by Building Control department, one of our skilled engineers took over the structural part and calculations. That was an overall review of the incremental progress of this project from the starting point so far.
For any comments or further questions, please contact “s3da-design.com”
Client:
Neil – S
Date:
October 2018
Location:
Culverden Park, Royal Tunbridge, Wells
