Home Addition - Structural Engineer?

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check these guys out http://www.modular.ca/ they do pre-fab walls and roof construction for some bungalows.
I have not used them, and dont know anyone who has so cant really vouch for them, but I just bought an old bungalow in Toronto, and am planing on putting up a 2nd story addition in a few years if we end up liking it there, and these guys came up a lot during my research.

good luck
 
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mimico_polak said:
The current roof is a flat roof, which I would prefer to modify to a sloped roof instead of another flat roof. This existing flat roof may actually help us out as I BELIEVE that it's strong enough to support added load.
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From distant memory the snow load design was 40 pounds / square foot and bedrooms 30 pounds so theoretically you should be good. However verify the actual construction. Some really old stuff had very weak structural components.
 
inreb said:
Hmmm, my backyard stick building permit was cheap and easy to get and the one inspection was a walk in the park. On another occasion I investigated extending the side garage forward. I took drawings and pictures to city hall and had a pretty in depth interview with guidance. Ultimately it wasn't worth proceeding(details irrelivant). From that experience I would have assumed a motivated diy builder get answers he needs w/o hiring engineering firm. Once green lighted get an engineering firm to engineer it up properly. Just thinking of saving money at the early exploratory stage.
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In my daughters case engineered drawing would have been required unless the owner provided them to the general contractor. My daughter did up the drawings and saved about $1400.00. Her next door neighbour had a recent survey and a bit of tweaking got it accepted with a full new survey.

I guess the message is to not blindly accept every bill the city hands you.
 
I would expect that a new floor could be supported by dropping columns through the existing structure onto new footings created in the basement. The existing structure would carry less load than it currently does.
 
nobbie48 said:
I guess the message is to not blindly accept every bill the city hands you.
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I think I derailed this thread partly by suggesting there might be a way to get the engineering answers w/o hiring engineers. That wasn't even asked.
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