Room Additions in Burbank
Burbank second-story additions with the old roof removed, new floor joists sized by the engineer and footings checked before the upper floor goes on.
"Does the roof come off if we add a second story?" For a full second floor on a Burbank house, yes. The old rafters and ceiling joists were sized to hold a roof and a ceiling. People, furniture and a new set of walls weigh far more, so that framing comes out and the engineer sizes new floor joists to bear on the walls below or on new beams. The roof is removed in sections, with covers over the house between stages.
Taking the roof off in order
Before demolition, the engineer has checked the existing walls and footings against the new load, and any added footing, post or shear wall is built first. Then the roof framing comes off one area at a time. New floor joists go down at the size and spacing on the plans, followed by blocking and the sheathing that forms the upper floor. Walls and the new roof follow as fast as framing allows, so the rooms below spend as little time open as possible. Waterproof covers protect the house through every gap in that sequence.
Burbank review and the stair
Burbank runs its own building division, and its plan check traces how the second floor's weight and the sideways loads from wind and earthquakes reach the soil. A stair takes floor space downstairs, so its location is fixed early in the plans. Shear walls on the ground floor may need plywood on walls that were only drywall before, and that work happens from inside the rooms below. Glendale, a separate city, has a department of its own, and North Hollywood and Studio City, both inside the City of Los Angeles, are permitted by LADBS.
Room Additions in Burbank: questions
Sometimes, and only the engineer's numbers say so. We expose the footing at a few spots to measure its width and depth and look for steel. Where it falls short, the drawings add new footing sections under the walls carrying the heaviest loads, or posts with their own pads, and that concrete goes in before framing.
For a second story the tie-in happens at the top plates of the old walls, where the new floor joists land and are nailed and strapped to the plates. Hold-downs connect upper shear walls through the floor to the walls below, so sideways forces pass straight down. Flashing closes the joint at the outside wall line.
Usually, because the added weight of a second floor raises the force the lower frame must resist in a quake. Sill bolts and cripple-wall sheathing can be folded into the addition permit, and the engineer may require it anyway. Doing it now avoids opening the crawlspace a second time later.
Room Additions in other cities
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