Attic remodelation advices.

Alex Mariano

Member
Messages
12
Location
Portugal, Vagos
Greeting my name is Alex and i am from portugal, currently i work as assistant carpenter in my county and as all crisis is forcing me to revamp instead of building a new house for the moment and despite having 2 houses (one of which is not for remodelling due to costs and is on market), i kept my parents house. Despite having 200sqm, and a T3 layout my girlfriend moved in and i decided to in phases remodeling and rebuilding the remaining house into modern standards and layouts.

Currently i have a good size attic with no use and decided to get rid of old junk my sister left behind and numerous items no longer of use. As i mentioned before the times demand for some savings and as i start myself occasionally with some free hands by friends and collegues in rebuilding the old house we both decided to use the attic as living area and make it later a room for visits.

My problem tends with some problems regarding the lack of experience in old house construction methods (standard is masonry housing here) and nobody seems to be able even, in my county construction department, to speak and advive on wood structures/roofing, as my current house is from circa 1850, and rebuilt and reinforced and altered a lot, keeping most of the original roof frame.

So if anybody did any attic remodelling i would apreciate some images and i can post some images and dimensions if necessary together with some SU preliminary work.

Thanks in advance Alex Mariano
 
Greetings and sorry for the delay too much work on the job and deadlines comming.
I attach some images of what i am dealing with, despite the age the structure seems to be in excelent condition, as far as i can see, most of the wood is either Eucaliptus fot the roof and attic boards are oak. can't tell who made it but the house last time it was subjected to any type of repairs and or construction as far as i recall was in 1980. The house is in good shape with old style walls made of adobe (original stucture :D good material), covered with venetian plaster and both floor and ceilings in oak and pine. I currently live in it and due to restrict construction codes either i am forced to demolish all and build new taking my next three lives to pay it or rebuild and save money.
The area i am seeking some advices is below standard regarding to the remaining house and as i found out several weeks ago it was not part of the original house but adapted to an attic. Space is not much but i am making the most of what i have and pretend to make it a visit room/studio as i will demolish most of teh main house to rebuild in modern style.

Data on the attic:
it raise 3.0m above ground, with a total height of 6.0m above GL
width :5.0m
length:7,5m
minimum heigth: 0.70m
maximum heigth: 3.0m

priority is correcting the messed up work made in the framing and make the roof safe before prior work can be carried out.

Thanks Alex.


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Sorry been kinda busy with my fiance checking out the main house and taking some measures. Despite the initial considerations we decided to do a full rebuild and checked the house i inherited from my grandparents. It has been closed and neglected for the past 6 years so much work is needed to make it fully prepared.

I attach some additional photos os the inside, and notice i found out some problems.
1, floor was made of pine and rot in the last years, as door and windows which need to be replaced either by decay and or not my intention to keep the old pattern.
2. roof is surprisingly in excelent condition, seems to be some angola origin wood, probably mahogany (my great grandfather was there)
3. walls need some reqork in plaster and infiltrations


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Looks like a really nice old house. It'll be a lot of work to make it right again, but it ought to be a really worthwhile project. I'm really interested in seeing pictures of your progress as you bring the old house back to life - and upgrade it into the 21st century.

BTW, how old is this house? When was it built? Since all the electricals are surface mounted, I'm guessing it was built before electricity was available, and the wiring was retro-fitted.
 
Hi Jim, according to papers, and i assume they registered it some years after it was built indicates 1866, with adenda made to it in 1915/1920 (stopped due to men serving into WW1).

Electrical is in fact a issue, most of it was installed after electric power arrived and it was kept as such for many years, and since it worked nobody worried to correct the issue, but made minor corrections on the instalation, i have a box of old ceramic lamp beds and switches stored somewhere :p)

In terms of work i assume a maximum of 5 months to get most of teh work done, leaving furniture adn kitchen for last.
Masonry work is no big deal, wood is a bit tricky despite i work with it.
Costs are not apliable for the moment but between concrete slab and repairs to walls i have a budget for 1500 euros, all work made by me (saving in terms of hiring almost 6k...)

Good thing is as long as i keep front as original i can much do whatever i want inside and with sides...stupid codes but who am i to worry.

i can count with some labour free on a help me i help you basis for most of work, but work time is for now limited my work is 9 to 17 and not all weekends free, but as spring arrives days are better used.
 
i would start with making sure your roof doesnt leak.. is that where the water came in to cause floor problems> or did it come from a window that was left open?.. also before fixing the floor i would make sure your main structure under it is substantial.. dont know your countries terms so that is why i used structure.. keep us in the loop and ask any questions that come up..someone will help:)
 
Well larry water damage come from a leaking window and also due to north side wall being a bit unprotected.
Floor is pine with over 100 years so it was a combination of humidity, age and lack of proper treatment.
Floor structure is similar to what you use in new world, roof framming with 4x8's space 16", with a clear space under floor of 15 to 20 inches, walls are well secured, and despite the age the type of material as an advantage in regard to masonry and or brick walls most modern houses here use. despite being thick and massive, no house of the type shows serious fissures, may occur soem degradation of the venetian or simple plaster apllied over the walls, but in most cases structure and foundations quite solid :D and no iron used on it :O.
But while i would desire to keep and or put new floor in wood fiance is from big city and prefers "modern" flooring so i will have to compare prices and verify insulation and other features before making a decision.
 
well after you get your window and north wall fixed then look at your floor:) could just fill in with same thickness wood and then cover with new style floor ,,what ever that might be, could change the prep for it..
 
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Welcome to the forum Alex, sorry first time i see your posts.

Well for me its the first roof i have seen in 10 years that i can relate to. :) Originally i come from South Africa and down there all is masonary and brick and roof exactly the same except no use of round log all lumber cut timber. But the tiles are typical of how we put them up. For our hot climate and similar to yours in portugal while it made sense for the sake of loosing heat in summer if there was a breeze it also did not make any sense in summer or winter when the heat is either captive in the atic or evaporating in the cold nights. All looks solid though.

Do you have any idea if there is an air gap between the walls usually its double brick on the outer wall and gap between because that plaster finish looks like there is a damp problem and from the pictures it looks like its coming up from the foundations.
Given how far back this house dates you might want to check on what is going on down at the foundation level. I have no idea what they would have used back in the day to form a vapor barrier between the foundation layer and the wall where it rises above the ground. I know we used a strip of bitumen like they use on flat roofs but later that turned into a strip of black poly plastic.

You sure got your work cut out for you. BUt all the Portuguese i know well both here in Canada and back in South Africa you guys are pretty good builders and very hard workers so i dont see you having an issue with fixing it up. :)

Keep us posted.
 
Alex,

Too bad about that floor. Are you sure you can't convince her the old way has a rustic charm, and fits with the theme of the house? ;)

If it were me, I'm not sure I'd mess with that roof. At least as long as it's dry.

I hope you're good at electrical things. I've done much of my own wiring, but I know things are different there.

By the way, one of my favorite old professors, Alberto de Lacerda, was Portuguese. He told us a hurricane ripped the roof off his home. Here's hoping yours stays intact! ;)

Best,

Bill
 
That's a great looking house. Lots of potential but lots of work. The floor looks like it will be fairly easy to repair but the electrical stuff could be pretty expensive. Be sure to keep us updayed on how it's going :thumb:
 
Hi Rob, well construction is quite basic per european (south/mediterranean standards), the wall is made of plaster, Adobe (mix of clay, sand and gypsum with cauline), intermediate gap of 2" to 5" depending on if wall facing north or south, another wall of adobe and yet another layer of plaster which was replaced or complemented some years ago with cement. Usually external walls have no less than 50cm thick and interior ones 20cm.

Foundations are sheltered against humidity by use of a tar based compound, similar to the one used in roofing and boat, but clima here changed a lot in past 10 years and from 90 days rain we get 14 at the moment between october and this date.

Roof is very beautiful and it's in original color, no treatment aplied and wil probably get minimal coating with some oil to moisture it (teak), color is a brownish red, but i remembered it being more vivid and it's a bit dirty, all of it being 2" wide and longest one is 6,9m long, all secured by male/female joints and no metal nails just wood nails .

above it its a 15" spaced isolated area covered with another layer of 3" oak and pine (it was made after 1940 and last when they made an adenda, cork is sandwiched between the roof and upper boarded roof.

checked temperature today as i got a concrete suplier to give me a budget...prices up again :( 75 euros a cubic meter of grade -a concrete, pump included and polishing) despite being 3ºC outside at 18h inside termometer indicated 20ºC.

As for floor i am checking if i can salvage most of the boards and select some square meters and use it on the master bedroom.

Electrical instalation is a headache i solved partially, prices not bad, but nothing i can do myself.

Sole problem being prepping wood for the windows and doors :D...nothing like the smell of teak and mahogany in my work shop back at the county :D...chief granted me some space and tool time to plan and cut pieces so saved some bucks, wood prices are a nightmare..250 euros a cubic meter of mahogany....teak was almost free :D...
 
Ok some bad news and good news...

Bad news, after checking the wood used in the floor and support beams it's a nightmare, aged and rotten and monetary it's a fail as best prices i got for a general repair/replacement exceeded 4500 euros. We gonna rip it off this weekend, and i doubt i can save and reuse for other projects more than 50% of the wood.

Good news cement, sand and rock ordered, prices on general are going with crisis, cement 5 euros a 35kg sac, sand 15 Euros cubic meter, rock 20....wife andi did some math and costs for stage 1: replacing floor will be around 1000 euros.

But no work there this week, finishing soem projects in the "toy museum" in my city and damm circus bus and modern design library demanding a bit work and they almost finished....almost
 
yup gonna enjoy this one myself:) so did i undersrtand you to say that the house main walls have a hollow between the inner and outer wall? and for the elctricali would just go with surface mount.. it can be done to look good if you take your time..
 
This is more like the house i grew up in. We gad great wide pine floorboards and they were pulled up and floor turned into a slab then carpeted over. Fitted carpet was the popular thing back then.:(
Spoilt the benefits of playing cars on nice wood floors:)

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