CobFamilyMan
Member
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Afternoon!
I've tried to find case studies and examples online for this but surprisingly I've come up empty handed. Perhaps someone on here can help!
I recently bought a small detached cob house. At some point the ground floor has been concreted - I'm thinking it'll stay that way. The ceiling height downstairs is annoyingly low. I've removed the lath and plaster from the lounge ceiling. The first floor is basically joists running from the front wall of the house to the back wall, set into the cob, sitting on a surprisingly thin looking timber wall plate. I have this vision of simply extending the "slots" in the cob above each joist, jacking the floor up by 15cm and filling in the gap under the joists with timber or cob blocks cut to fit as tightly as possible. Alternatively, given the fact that some of the joists have had to be reinforced already, it might be a good idea to replace all the joists and wall plate, but then there's the issue of cutting holes right through the cob to enter the new joists in from outside. Not sure how else they would go in!
Eventually I would want to do the same upstairs. The ceiling up there looks like it is hanging from hangers that simply rest on the loft wallplate so again, looks like it should be a simple job to remove and build a slightly vaulted ceiling in it's place
I know things are never as simple as you expect them to be, but can anyone thing of a good reason not to do this? Or any alternative ideas?
I've tried to find case studies and examples online for this but surprisingly I've come up empty handed. Perhaps someone on here can help!
I recently bought a small detached cob house. At some point the ground floor has been concreted - I'm thinking it'll stay that way. The ceiling height downstairs is annoyingly low. I've removed the lath and plaster from the lounge ceiling. The first floor is basically joists running from the front wall of the house to the back wall, set into the cob, sitting on a surprisingly thin looking timber wall plate. I have this vision of simply extending the "slots" in the cob above each joist, jacking the floor up by 15cm and filling in the gap under the joists with timber or cob blocks cut to fit as tightly as possible. Alternatively, given the fact that some of the joists have had to be reinforced already, it might be a good idea to replace all the joists and wall plate, but then there's the issue of cutting holes right through the cob to enter the new joists in from outside. Not sure how else they would go in!
Eventually I would want to do the same upstairs. The ceiling up there looks like it is hanging from hangers that simply rest on the loft wallplate so again, looks like it should be a simple job to remove and build a slightly vaulted ceiling in it's place
I know things are never as simple as you expect them to be, but can anyone thing of a good reason not to do this? Or any alternative ideas?