Loft Conversion RSJs ~ LoftCon #1

YFOOD COMPLETE MEAL TASTER PACK - Use code “BUILDER10” for a 10% discount - bit.ly/Skill_Builder_YFood
James is on a new project with Ian & co and this one's a beast of a loft conversion.
Our thanks go to James King for letting Roger film this loft conversion series. The Supreme Finishing Company can be contacted by following the link below.
thesupremefinishingcompany.co.uk
#LoftConversion #YFood #SteelBeams
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[@JohnComeOnMan]

That scaffolding/tarp action is impressive. Sure beats the daily weather planning and tarp removal I'm accustomed to.

[@AB-nu5we]

Modern building technology - level beams, square corners. Makes everything else that follows so much more easy. Sipping a 6 year old rye and watching this is so relaxing. Cheers.

[@katerinastrelcova9095]

This is what my second half had been talking about. Seeing in reality is just great. Well done, its such a tutorial and I appreciate your work and I can't honesly wait for next video. All the best.

[@aalex3267]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5-Tc3ecm9dmarM kzbin.info/www/bejne/oX6ml4eXqctqqas

[@robmaule4951]

Here’s the consistent thing with the Skill Builder videos...when you check and there’s 60 seconds of the film left, but you are left disappointed as you could easily sit and watch another 10 minutes! Thanks boys, it takes a huge effort to film, edit and publish and it’s greatly appreciated! If you ever want a trip to Edinburgh to film “Skill Builder On Tour” my old house would love to welcome you all for some expert work. Keep up the great work

[@SkillBuilder]

Hi Rob It is interesting because our editor Dylan, who is not from a building background, needed some persuading that this whole section on putting the steels in should not be speeded up. I argued that it had a lot of value to people contemplating the job. Going forward I think there is a case to be made for making a separate longer edit and showing the other 20 minutes that we cut out of this video. Maybe we just do a binge video of all the stuff we have cut out including the cock-ups.

[@robmaule4951]

Skill Builder Morning Roger, it was so interesting. I’m not planning on doing any major steel work like that but as my comment suggested I was really disappointed when there was only a minute or so left! I’d commented the other day on how easy it is to watch James (skimming video) and the group you have of James, Robin and yourself are fantastic to watch. Some longer stuff would, I’m sure, be of interest to some of us hardcore subscribers. Might be worth keeping some traditionally shorter stuff too I guess. Keep up the great work and as I said if you guys want to come to my old Victorian house in Edinburgh there are always plenty of jobs up here! 🙂 Have a great Sunday

[@mikelane3032]

@@SkillBuilder would definitely watch more footage of the steels 👍.

[@zlib]

@@SkillBuilder I'm not a builder and I don't even do much DIY at the moment but I'm fascinated by all kinds of building work. Could watch this stuff all day.

[@d2cdl]

Hand bawling big steels is a retched job, and looks like a right touch that the lorrys crane managed to swing em in. Good hard work boys.

[@britman555]

Brilliant guys really looking forward to this one. You work together so well 👍🏻

[@allsearpw3829]

Must be one of the Best Builders around ,attention to detail way above some I have seen . Well done .

[@DMSparky]

What I find most incredible about the whole project is that you built very serious scaffolding around the whole site to protect everything from the weather! I have never seen anything like that here in North America. I guess we are just shabby unprofessional builders. Also I got no problems with ads as you were saying you’ve got to eat!

[@SkillBuilder]

Thanks man. We need some tea and sympathy. We put this stuff out and we are the devil.

[@njuham]

Same thing in Finland, everything is done open to the elements. Then they start worrying about mold.

[@Solidsnake0208]

Amazing how many loft companies will tell you it’s not necessary. Speaking as a Professional I think it’s the only way to work,

[@micssticksnpipes]

Could watch this stuff all day!

[@garychue7343]

At last! Been waiting for a loft conversion on SB for years...........

[@SkillBuilder]

Hi Gary We have also been waiting for the chance to do one. We hope to do more in the near future. There is also a bungalow which will be getting a whole new first floor and roof.

[@MrRmcbigboss]

@@SkillBuilder please make a video of that aswell 🙏

[@neilwalsh-xh8go]

guy in white shirt moving a steel that big wearing adidas trainers cowboy for sure

[@mackers5205]

Great to watch. Brings back memories of doing this on site

[@BuildWithAE]

Awesome work Guys keep the videos coming have a awesome weekend all the best Tony 👍

[@flange06joj]

Some bollocks to take a job on like that. Hats off to you. Can't wait to see it unfold.

[@pcranebmw]

Beautiful job men. I really like the rain covering roof and scaffolding.

[@SkillBuilder]

It is a real surprise to see so many comments on the 'tin lid' or 'top hat' because in London and the South East it is very common. In that street along we can count three of them. I would say that 30% of loft conversions in London are done like this. Some of that has to do with making a good working area up on the scaffolding. With no gardens, limited parking and nowhere to store materials the need to take the roof off completely and get rid of the old timbers immediately requires a completely different approach. There is also the insurance aspect.

[@Gerry2210]

Brilliant work, love watching big builds like this, very brave to take on a job like that! 😬😬😬

[@SkillBuilder]

Brave to let it be filmed. So many people to tell them they are doing it all wrong.

[@jazhussain1906]

Nice one boy's, great video! Always a pleasure

[@CORRIGEEN71]

Brilliant just what I need about to start one, once the steel is in its should be simple enough, keep up the good work

[@haroon420]

Same here

[@ryankilby8633]

Nice work as always!!!

[@gavincollins9376]

Just bought some YFood, will give it a try. Thanks

[@SteS]

2:50 thought Roger was going to start shaving in the van.

[@timmargereson332]

Great video, really like these boys 👍👍. You were working hard on that block & tackle Roger, surprised the chain didn't jump out - it looked like you were into a bit of campanology 😂😂. Just had my timber delivered for my roof - 12 tons 😱😱😱😱 all to be hand balled, love making my life harder 🤔🤔. Regards Tim

[@SkillBuilder]

That rings a bell

[@noelter]

Good job boy more power to your elbow 💪

[@madcarew.3256]

Bin there dun dat!! steels I have known and loved !!cheers!

[@AndrewJohnRevell2017]

Looking forward to next videos 👍🏼

[@matthewhook3375]

Crikey lads, worked up a sweat just watching you humping those steels around! Solid effort. Great watch as always, thanks.

[@shaunglendinning]

Very nice lads! Surprising what a little bit of extra muscle power can do. Congrats so far, looks very interesting.Cheers.

[@SkillBuilder]

To be honest one more man would have made a huge difference but he couldn't turn up on that day.

[@MrGlenfraser]

@@SkillBuilder no Roger he was working on the Capel build!! LOL

[@andrewholland7110]

I would have these lads do any building work on my house. They do a cracking job.

[@jerryrawlings8885]

Andrew Holland Me too I don't think they were cheap I'm thinking 70k for that job.

[@benroads5460]

looking forward to this one

[@billywhizz98]

Great video

[@a.filakiewicz2942]

I am amazed how you manage to put everything bang on level. No matter how hard i try always something runs away. Any interes on doing some videos about Leveling stuff - like during bricklaying, setting cabinets etc

[@joshlehan8057]

Gonna be a good one 👍

[@jaggiguru3127]

Good work

[@TheLondonForever00]

Love doing roofs!

[@lazylad9064]

Wow that is a big job. Steel work in and a few timbers and it starts to look good 👍👍. Thanks are you sure you was trying on them chains Rodger.😀

[@SkillBuilder]

Lazylad. Yeah I was really putting my back into it. I am just the work experience guy along for the ride

[@sarfraz6931]

I like the Plumbing work and the tank idea, Can you come and do this at my house lol as I need a loft converted

[@S7tronic]

Never seen such an elaborate scaffold for a domestic job, nice setup-ideal for the UK; even if it is summer, there will be another season along in a few hours..

[@SkillBuilder]

It is now very common to put a tin lid on a house of this size. It turned out to be a good investment because it poured with rain that day and the next and the one after that.

[@jackrussell9811]

only right ,builders deserve proper safe conditions , for years i worked on bandstands/hop ups /traps in boards one slip and your fucked they think a hi viz top will keep you safe

[@Daniells1982]

I though the same. The canopy over the property is a great idea. I've been trying to paint my shed for the last month and it's a gamble whether to start or not cos the weather changes so often. North East England weather for you I suppose but great set up there lads.

[@johncunningham5799]

Great video,

[@sygad1]

thoroughly enjoyed that, anymor videos of this project?

[@Filmchippy]

Very handy those PP nailers , don't half throw out some crap though when they fire .

[@ChristianFrench1]

Biggsy1970 it’s air powered. it’s just air kicking all the shit up around it.

[@derekt7606]

Very interesting.

[@redstihl9027]

Some proper old school gear there!

[@jimbrown8399]

Great idea with the cover over the top. Poor Roger on the Chain Gang.

[@jonathansoons2074]

What a brilliant video,

[@rayt8606]

Love to see the bit in the CDM where the scaffold beam is propped with a bit of 4x2 😆

[@SkillBuilder]

It just ensures the beam doesn't bend and it didn't so QED

[@robthesamplist]

@@SkillBuilder RGJ

[@peterryan7827]

The last guy i worked with doing loft conversion used half lengths of steels with flanges and we bolted them together, But i was never happy with a bounce in the middle , he ended up packing off the walls below to kill the spring, I was never too happy about it..

[@jamiefors5062]

Great to watch, proper old school builders.........let’s scroll down the comments, someone must of said “PPE, PPE ! “

[@POUSEaroundtheHOUSE]

If I'd got you lot to do my loft it might be finished by now! Great work as with the rest of the king build series but I'm particularly enjoying these ads. I'm thinking men's moisturiser and sun screen next?!!

[@SkillBuilder]

We will be doing a lot more men's grooming. Roger is a challenge for any of those deep filling products.

[@granvillew12]

Good Builder.

[@thechrissyb]

Putting the hangers in with a laser, is what we do. Then the 'regularised' timber varies. So we do it to the timber we're using in the hangers and not a sample offcut.

[@LondonSoundSystem]

This is important if you want all out accuracy

[@paulrumbold2436]

Good old block & tackle used one of them first time in 1982 . Nothing changes

[@marshp3]

Roger doing all the lifting on his own at one point

[@bloggs692413]

Anyone would think those steels are heavy😁 this'll be a interesting series

[@everydaydaddoingsh1tdeanog821]

Brilliant video!! Made up its a conversion content, robin is missing out here 😀

[@SkillBuilder]

Hi Deano Thanks for the comment. Just for the record Skill Builder is an independent channel and Robin also has his own independent channel. We like to collaborate with a number of tradesman on projects and product reviews in order to introduce different approaches to the jobs and give the channel as much variety as possible. It just depends who is doing what and where as to what we cover. Really we could do with three camera crews and another couple of editors to cover all the projects we have lined up.

[@HidingZebraTube]

Heyy would be nice to see some kind of blueprint and bit of an explanation so we know why they're lugging all that steel around. Can't wait for more vids. Shame I'm here too early to binge watch this like the rest of your projects.

[@anthonyharper5954]

You boys need to get yourself an impact wrench.. speeds up bolting stuff no end!!!

[@Ruuski]

Pleasure to watch people who knows exactly what they are doin'

[@barryford7135]

Been watching Skill builder video’s for ages & only just found out Roger is a fellow bike rider. 🚴🏽👍

[@SkillBuilder]

Hi Barry One day everyone will be a bike rider.

[@barryford7135]

Skill Builder we can wish mate? Shame you & Robin don’t fancy a long bike ride up to the Peak District. I’ve got a big job coming up next year?

[@Solidsnake0208]

Pretty sure I drove past this job yesterday, East Molesey by any chance? Speaking as someone who runs a loft conversion company, it’s nice to see someone else installing the joists correctly and not just sitting them on the bottom flange. Although I wouldn’t fancy carrying that air compressor up there!

[@SkillBuilder]

No not East Molsey but maybe only 10 miles away

[@richardkirton7868]

Looking forward to this series. Any idea how many episodes and how often you’ll release a video.

[@SkillBuilder]

We have already run into problems filming the next stages because we were away filming in Yorkshire. There are also some holidays coming up so we may miss a couple of key stages but we will do our best. It should run out to about 6 episodes.

[@rickygray222]

Looks like another good series coming along. What would have been the jointing method in the old days before hoist hangers and steels?

[@SkillBuilder]

The joist were often run from plate to plate with a supporting wall in the middle of the house. Sometimes the joist ends were short of the walls and spiked into the rafters. My house is built like that and it is 120 years old.

[@FiscalWoofer]

Excellent video! Intrigued as to what the reason for using joist hangers over butting the joist direct into the steel beam? It cannot be for strength so it must be for later framing to plumb? I feel a Roger video coming on for the different methods of fixing timber to UBs!!! Yes Please!

[@Elvo7684]

Anytime I go near a bloody bike it's an endurance, and that's without pedalling the thing! Perhaps I should start drinking some of Roger's magic drink?

[@SkillBuilder]

The first 20,000 miles is the worst bit

[@MrGlenfraser]

I enjoyed that! What a great watch on a Saturday night!

[@alsingtons]

Great to watch. Some advice please. I live in a 1930,s semi thats crying out for loft conversion...Purlin construction, good height etc..but how do you get the steels in without a gaping hole in the roof. Can shorter lengths be bolted together ? Many thanks.

[@jimichip]

Yes, you can have the steels cut into shorter lengths and fix them back together with plates and bolts. We have done this a few times but I prefer to keep them in one length.

[@ConstructionwithKieren]

Love the start of a new series!😬 just starting creating my own videos, any tips or ideas how I could get people to see my videos more? Struggling to get it out there! Keep up the good work👍🏽

[@SkillBuilder]

It is a long hard road and there is no crock of gold at the end of it. If you end up with some sponsorship you still wont cover your costs but you will be torn apart by precious little twats who think you should give up all your spare time for no reward.

[@ConstructionwithKieren]

@@SkillBuilder totally agree with the precious little twats comments already lol! Thanks for the advice, love your vids!!

[@Daniells1982]

That's a shame you don't make some money out of this channel because the content and editing is top drawer. The variation and quality, plus the real life on the job content is a pleasure to watch. Keep up the good work for the viewer's benefit.

[@ricos1497]

@@ConstructionwithKieren Maybe wait until you've got a larger number of subscribers before calling them precious little twats though! Although that'd be a great name for a band. Or a youtube channel. Construction with Kieren sounds a little bit boring if I'm honest. What about "Skilled Builder"? Got a ring to it.

[@BackyardMechCon]

Nice work! Any footage of the scaffold going up or even a closer look at it? It's a great job for the wet weather!

[@edmuggles]

That’s some crazy scaf, that just wouldn’t happen is oz. we’d never get the job if we allowed for that :(

[@SkillBuilder]

The important thing in London is that you don't really spend money on property you invest it. Doing up a house and adding a loft and a basement is better than putting money in the bank. With interest rates being so low right now it is a boom time for builders. Many guys here are booked up for 12 months.

[@BackyardMechCon]

@@SkillBuilder what about the scaffolding? lol 😅

[@SkillBuilder]

@@BackyardMechCon There are very few scaffolders who observe the safety rules on putting up scaffolding because the job would take three times as long. For that reason they don't want to be filmed so it is very unlikely we will ever show it.

[@BackyardMechCon]

@@SkillBuilder Fair enough. Thanks for the reply 😀.

[@iwayini]

Great video. After that hard work you better drink a six-pack of your bottle food!

[@SkillBuilder]

To be honest half a bottle of it fills me up for ages. It is weird how full you feel on a drink like that.

[@imranpatel2489]

Well done lads, doing a loft conversion myself at the moment and this project video would be excellent to get an insight of the design. Guessing this is a dormer conversion, if so where would the dormer cheeks sit? Inner wall or off the floor? Looking forward for the next video... THANKS

[@Czechbound]

I've no head for heights, but as long as I didn't look down between the joists, even I think I could work in this set up.

[@SteveAndAlexBuild]

Hey Rog that stuff in the bottles , does it come in fry up flavour 🍳🥚🥓🥩🍳😋😂. You boys got a bit of a sweat on there 🥵🧱👍🏼

[@stephencarlisle3743]

Good video lads , the lad in the white shirt & wearing trainers 😩😩.

[@aalex3267]

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[@MrTooTechnical]

Kick ass

[@BM-jy6cb]

Can't wait for the rest of this series even with the shameless"meal replacement" plugs 😉

[@SkillBuilder]

Man's gotta eat and we have bills to pay. You can release us from this commercial yoke by sending us a £1,000 but somehow I don't think you will.

[@Matonias]

@@SkillBuilder Understandable! Rather have that then no channel at all

[@haroon420]

Matonias exactly.

[@dannyp7791]

Numero uno

[@deanwaters]

Am I the only one that's going to say that its a crazy amount of scaffolding. Can't imagine how much that would cost to have installed for the time they working on the project. Madness

[@SkillBuilder]

You only have to drive around London and you will see any number of tin lids. It is standard practice with houses costing a million quid a go. With loft coversions costing around £80,000 it is not a huge extra. It also means the work can carry on in all weathers. If a roofer is rained off on another job he is very happy to come and work under a steel canopy.

[@bluevanmani]

Brilliant work 👍can you tell me what nails your using in your nail gun to fix hangers and will they work in a paslode gun.??

[@jimichip]

They’re 35mm twist nails. The gun is a positive placement nailer and the nails are collated specifically for it. It’s a great tool and saves hours of work but that is the only job it can do.

[@bluevanmani]

James King cheers James and you also get to keep all your fingernails 😀paslode should get in on these

[@SkillBuilder]

Paslode have had a positive placement nailer for years. www.jewson.co.uk/p/paslode-ppn35i-positive-placement-nailer-JTH03301

[@thfc4745]

Should be a great series, was it raining the whole time? can hear something in the background. Also them pad stones are very small considering the size i had to put in recently.

[@jimichip]

We use steel spreader plates instead of pad stones (providing the engineers approves it) as they are so much easier to fit and don’t ever encroach on the rooms downstairs.

[@epicXfiles]

So when they're putting the timber joists in. Why are they not using the flange of the I-bean to rest the timber onto?

[@fireblaster9961]

Rogers still got the moves on that chain

[@SkillBuilder]

40 years working on the chain gang.

[@jameshurst3279]

Roger, I’m an actor and I think you’re a natural in front of the camera. Just a tip though, when you advertise one of those drinks, try rubbing your belly in a circular motion and saying “mmmmmmm”. Apart from that, great video.

[@SkillBuilder]

Hi James Good tip.

[@Time2Wonder70]

Them drinks will last a long time if you don't remove the seal 😄

[@tylerpassey3313]

Drinks gone off lads

[@yourkodi3945]

in my house the only way would be to lower the floors :(, i wonder how much more the cost would be the only problem i can see is the damage to the lower rooms. its a shame but i need 2.2 or 2.4 m and mine is 2m :(

[@SkillBuilder]

Have a look at Eco Joists. You can hang them on the top flange of the wallplate. That will give you more height and the span is much more than timber.

[@ozzyefc44]

Skill Builder could you give me a rough price on an eco joist . Obviously you can’t give me an exact price but let’s just say a 5 metre span by whatever minimum depth they make just so I can roughly gauge how much it would cost because I too would need to lower the floor and take some of the existing bedroom height from below . I know it’s only be a rough guess but you’d probably have a better idea than myself . Appreciate any help thanks

[@yourkodi3945]

@@SkillBuilder Thank you, will check it out as i cannot heighten the rood and to lower them ceilings is also not an option :(

[@AbkhazGera]

What gauge of steel beams is used in this project?

[@eddjordan2399]

they are the best for steels

[@mrcaboosevg6089]

That's some serious scaffolding, never seen anything like that before

[@SkillBuilder]

Spend a day in London and you will see loads of it in almost every residential street somebody is converting a loft,

[@open-yours-mind]

is the old joists gonna stay or it will go?thank you

[@SkillBuilder]

They are holding up the ceilings and will be strapped to the new joists but still not be connected so the noise transmission is reduced.

[@moomastico]

Did you account the lifting point for the chain block into the design of the scaffold ? I think there’s some LOLER stuff going on there that you could dig into and would be quite interesting for some of us.

[@SkillBuilder]

To be fair we could have set that winch up a lot better than we did.

[@moomastico]

@@SkillBuilder it wasn't a criticism, just a genuine question, I don't have much experience of doing rigging and lifting stuff out on small building sites. Do people do lifting plans etc or are they somehow exempt from the regs due to the scale of the site ?

[@danguee1]

I'm a structural engineer and I design the structure for a lot of lofts. (Unless the width of that house is an optical illusion) I can scarcely believe the weight of those steel beams..... But that's not your fault. Good quality work, Guys......

[@SkillBuilder]

Can I hire you to check some calcs for me?

[@alistairmitchell858]

Hi what do you guys think of the eco-truss system, is it the way forward?

[@SkillBuilder]

Yes we love metal web joists

[@mdon1662]

hi the side bit where uiu build wall to raise sides is there insulation in that?

[@stephenpeacock2627]

Wow that looks tough. How heavy was each rsj

[@jimichip]

They varied between 300 and 450kg each.

[@vinic8687]

Is there a reason that you didn't just level & install the outer joists first and the just pull a string line through for the centre ones?

[@SkillBuilder]

You can do that and we do it sometimes but the string can get in the way a bit. Lasers are the new string.

[@katabrontes]

Hi Roger Why not fix the timber to the RSJ with Paslode nails? The chippy who did my garage roof (10Mx8M) 40 years ago did that and it saved a lot of time and the cost of drilling the RSJ. Mike

[@SkillBuilder]

The drawing calls for timbers bolted to the steels. We work to the drawing because it is their risk not ours.

[@katabrontes]

Skill Builder Understood but I assume that using nails would be structurally fine as the load would be carried on the base of the RSJ and not by the fixings.

[@geofftaylor5989]

seems such an old fashioned approach when you see what Ecotrus and others are now doing

[@tomsmith9048]

A handy trick I do is get my steels cut in half and have them pre drilled and plated either side makes it a little easier on the back 🔨

[@SkillBuilder]

We have the option of cleated steels but the single steel is better. Those plates get in the way.

[@tomsmith9048]

@@SkillBuilder Yeah and having the staff definitely helps aswell as access through the roof me and my pal normally walk them up the stairs as it's only the 2 of us 🔨

[@AndrewSmith-bb8sh]

Nice job lads, but how realistic is that tin house over the house?! What we talking £10-15K. Where I live I could never price it with the job, wish I bloody could tho. Doing an amazing job tho lads. How much does it cost for that scaffold then?!

[@justicecase19]

Between 3-5k I'd have thought

[@zakariauddin]

What was the cost of that loft extension???

[@grahammitchell6435]

Why were the floor joists fitted onto joist hangers , ? mine were tucked into the steel beams , much easier and quicker ! just seems a lot of work to get to the same point not to mention all the extra materials and hundreds of nails .

[@SkillBuilder]

We do it both ways depending on the setting out.

[@paulmcfadyen689]

You do whatever the engineer specifies🤷‍♂️

[@Omar-nl5gs]

good job lads, always still amazes me though how 1000 year old cathederals with multipe floors of 30m floor spans are still standing.in your opinion do you think all this steelwork is sometimes overkill?

[@SkillBuilder]

Structural engineers love steel and it is often worse in a fire than timber. I would rather see two bolted timber beams across the ridge but if they want steel then steel is what they get.

[@Omar-nl5gs]

@@SkillBuilder i agree with you on that rog, another good vid pal keep em coming.

[@HaroonAshraf]

@@SkillBuilder as a structural engineer in my experience I think there is a tendancy to over size elements, partly I think I've seen poor worksmanship on site, like not all bolts being installed in a beam to beam connection for instance or rebar being omitted from concrete, but also the cost of oversizing vs the consequences of a failure are minimal Agree about fire resistance of timber vs steels generally but it all comes down to the design and detail

[@b21playa]

My old former loft conversion done in the 70s was all in timber, no steels. I’m looking to extend this to the outer walls and hoping to continue this in timber to retain the existing