Build a 2 nd floor on top of the old house.

[sanook 1]

We have a classic isaan style house(concrete at 1 st floor and the old wood house put above as a 2 nd floor). I'm interested in replacing the old wood house and build a 2 nd floor of concrete also,is it possible? The walls on 1 st floor is made by blocks(rather thin 10/12 cm). My idea is to extend the thickness of the walls on 1 st floor(maybee double) and then make a concrete floor(2 nd),walls and roof. Anyone done this before,is it possible? Any ideas,input,links are much welcome.

[KMartinHandyman]

I’m not a gynecologist but I’ll take a look.
Anything is possible in construction with proper engineering and money to execute. Cost to benefit is up to each individual. That said my first thought would be does the existing first floor have the columns with proper footings to support the weight of the concrete beams,slab and block walls that would be needed for the second story and if not it will be interesting to try and excavate adjacent to the existing home to have a proper footer and column in your second new wall. Here’s a picture of a footing from a current thread.

[VocalNeal]

I believe the contractor will remove the existing support columns and replace with ones two stories high. If it is built on standard 3 or 4m centred columns they can simply add prefab concrete floor etc.

[Artisi]

First  thing to establish is the footing/below ground structure sufficient to support the additional load. 

[bankruatsteve]

I'm usually proactive with ideas for construction, but this does not sound like a good thing to do.  If you are thinking of doubling the wall width for load purposes, they are not load bearing.  It is not likely that the current footings and support are designed for a concrete 2nd.  Have you talked about this with builders in your area?

[Rv Hawee]

Thank you for this excellent topic, I was near to open one with the same title :

 

My situation is  similar but, i was thinking to double (or tiple - inside and outside - all the  wall with lightweight cements blocks aka Q-con,  in order to create a second floor which would be  under the roof, as we often do in Europe ( converted attic, suggest  Google translate ?) 

It would not cover the entire surface of the house which is a basic 60 sqm size (6 x10 m) but 50% of it or not more than the 2/3.

This is it last year :

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We know only 1 builder around, not a so good one in my PoV  but he is nice and try to please us all the time : this explaining why i don't trust his answers too much. :D

 

The house is old, around 25 years and my wife bought it 13 years ago. We don't know who the builder is/was ! Nobody around remembers because all the  first inhabitants dieds or moved.  The only  original one left remember nothing !

I am not a technician, nor a 'i know every things" but i am aware about the pilar, the 12 of them which is why I was thinking about  Q-con and building 2 supports wall to sandwich the original one  in little red brick.

 

This house is very near my job, only 15 km, or our son school, so we can't leave it. Other properties my wife or her parents own are..... too far (x100 of km, really). We would love do the rebuild/reinforcment of the walls while still here,  a part ourself, even if it's slow.

 

So I am a stupid dreamer / a dumb thinker ? All your comments are welcome !

Edited February 11, 2018 by Rv Hawee
link to image

[sanemax]

Would be much better to knock the old building down and start again from new .

Build a whole new house .

[Rv Hawee]

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

Would be much better to knock the old building down and start again from new .

Build a whole new house .

 For us, this is not possible at the momment. Not only financially (it's a big part, yes) but also for organisation, business..... For the next few year it's a "no way" for sure.

[bankruatsteve]

6 hours ago, Rv Hawee said:

Thank you for this excellent topic, I was near to open one with the same title :

 

My situation is  similar but, i was thinking to double (or tiple - inside and outside - all the  wall with lightweight cements blocks aka Q-con,  in order to create a second floor which would be  under the roof, as we often do in Europe ( converted attic, suggest  Google translate ?) 

It would not cover the entire surface of the house which is a basic 60 sqm size (6 x10 m) but 50% of it or not more than the 2/3.

 

Again, walls in typical Thai construction are not load bearing.  I suppose you could make them load bearing but that would depend on structure they are sitting on which may/may not be reinforced.  It just sounds like not a good thing to do.  In any case, have you ever been under the roof you want to make into a room?  Suggest you do that, if not, and try to figure out how you would finish it off while still leaving space to occupy.  Not to mention keeping out the birds, critters, and getting it below 40°.

[Rv Hawee]

1 hour ago, bankruatsteve said:

 In any case, have you ever been under the roof you want to make into a room?  Suggest you do that, if not, and try to figure out how you would finish it off while still leaving space to occupy.  Not to mention keeping out the birds, critters, and getting it below 40°.

Yes, i have been under this roof which have a metalic frame structure.

 

I am hoping, after  mounting load bearing walls around all other walls, to install long lightweight floor panel to cover a surface of about 4 x 10 m  in the middle and just up the wall of 50 cm with will leave plenty of place, like a normal room i think (3 meters high under ceiling.

 

The roof will need to be isolated, which is not (I was thinking wrong ) but it still clean from pest / birds . :)

[Crossy]

Load-bearing walls require a load-bearing base.

 

99% of houses here are a post-and-beam structure which takes all the load, the walls are simply in-fill and do little structurally. If the house has ground beams you may be able to do what you want but you still need to know what's currently holding things up foundation wise.

 

A light weight upper story and roof could be a goer on the existing structural elements, but you need someone who knows what they're doing (could prove difficult).

 

A loft (attic) conversion may be a case of simply boarding over the floor (if the ceiling structure is beefy enough) and putting in a dormer and some access. Our (steel) roof has no internal braces so, apart from it being an oven (and our having cathedral ceilings), it would be a relatively easy conversion.

 

 

[Crossy]

Just for comparison, this is the foundation for a bungalow:-

 

 

And this is the foundation for a two story home:-

 

 

Note that both drawings show both piled and pad type footings for various ground conditions.

 

[steve187]

as crossy posted, walls are only on a thin concrete bed, so can never become load bearing, without underpinning, if the present post and beams are not up to a 2nd concrete floor being added, then a knock down and rebuild is the only option

[Rv Hawee]

@ Crossy : Thank very much for these informations. I intend to go back to the service of the amphoe about builing....I might be able to find something  real about our house.

 

@steve 187 : Yes, of course. If nothing can be down, we will wait. My wife directly suggest to build a modern house  with a real architect in our garden nearby, which i really would like, but ll have to wait. After 13 years in this house, i probably can  wait 15 years more !

 

Thank a lot all for your advices. If i get  real informations, i ll update.