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Planning for a balcony

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  • 01-06-2009 6:42pm
    #1
    gabbo is coming
    Registered Users Posts: 969 ✭✭✭


    I have a 3 bed house with a dormer extension coming out of the back roof for two extra bedrooms.

    Since the flat roof extension is the same height as the 1st floor ceilings, I could access it from the attic using a velux and have a balcony on the flat roof. It's a big enough space - 22wide x10ft deep.

    So I'd want to do two things, put a velux in the roof at the back of the house. Erect some sort of railing around the edges. Put a surface down that is not the existing (boiling in the summer) felt.

    Can you tell me if I would need PP for this and what type of surface I could put down? If the roof is strong enough to withstand the wind and rain for the last 30 years - I'm asssuming it can hold a few people - I've walked across it loads of times. Any ideas appreciated. And of course - would it be expensive?


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    #2
    ART6
    Registered Users Posts: 2,632 ✭✭✭ART6


    The fact that you can walk on it doesn't mean that it could hold several people. I would guess that the beams under it are designed simply to support the roof itself, and that two or three people on it would cause sufficient sag to damage the ceiling beneath. You might get away with putting decking on top of it since that would spread the weight a bit, but without knowing the dimensions and design of the roof, that's a guess.:confused:


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    #3
    Graaaaa
    Registered Users Posts: 69 ✭✭Graaaaa


    If you have neighbours who would be overlooked by the balcony, then this is a serious planning issue as they could have very strong opinions about it!


    As for the structure, the weight of one man walking gingerly across the roof is not the same as a bunch of people packed into every corner bouncing up and down to the music you have provided for their entertainment. The design loading for a residential balcony is the same as an internal floor i.e. 1.5kN/m2 (say two adults per square yard).


    If the roof/ceiling joists were not designed as floor joists then they might only be half as strong as you need for the building regulations.


    Of course, the size of the roof plays a significant part in all of this – maybe give more details if you can?


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