Developer · LA, Nashville TN · Member since 2015 · 295 posts · 75 votes
I'm struggling with this project to get a finalized design. My original design is shown below with nice large walk out balconies, however my GC never prepped the framing to support such balconies. I'm a year into the project now still with no design. My default was to go down to Juliet balconies but for the upstairs I think it will really detract from the space given it's a small room and the doors dropping off into nothing seem odd to me. I have a truss system and therefore there are no LVL's in place to drill into, but blocking can be added across the trusses. It is bricked on the outside.
I'm struggling with this project to get a finalized design. My original design is shown below with nice large walk out balconies, however my GC never prepped the framing to support such balconies. I'm a year into the project now still with no design. My default was to go down to Juliet balconies but for the upstairs I think it will really detract from the space given it's a small room and the doors dropping off into nothing seem odd to me. I have a truss system and therefore there are no LVL's in place to drill into, but blocking can be added across the trusses. It is bricked on the outside.
Pay $300+- and hire a local architect (You may also need a structural engineer- also pretty reasonable) to come out and consult. No need to struggle with this or delay it any longer. Get great on-point advice from a local expert, pretty cheap, considering.
This looks like a fun project that you can transform into something special.
@Pavan Sandhu - Considering they will be a mix of short-term rentals and long-term rentals, I think it would just devalue the upstairs bedroom a bit because it's awkward. Short-term renters wouldn't care so much because there's a huge roof-top deck. In the end, it just becomes an awkward door vs floor to ceiling glass or lots of windows, which I think would be preferable to double doors with Juliet balconies.
I'm struggling with this project to get a finalized design. My original design is shown below with nice large walk out balconies, however my GC never prepped the framing to support such balconies. I'm a year into the project now still with no design. My default was to go down to Juliet balconies but for the upstairs I think it will really detract from the space given it's a small room and the doors dropping off into nothing seem odd to me. I have a truss system and therefore there are no LVL's in place to drill into, but blocking can be added across the trusses. It is bricked on the outside.
Pay $300+- and hire a local architect (You may also need a structural engineer- also pretty reasonable) to come out and consult. No need to struggle with this or delay it any longer. Get great on-point advice from a local expert, pretty cheap, considering.
This looks like a fun project that you can transform into something special.
WTH! Why did he change it like that without saying anything to you?
The GC had a metal worker design some kind of bracket that would pop through the brick to attach C-Channels. However, they never had any engineer or architect spec out a design. So the metal worker refused to install them leaving me with a bunch of brackets I don't know what to do with. Since it was clear this GC was not progressing, I fired them. Now I'm very late in the game and need to decide what's worth waiting to do.
Another option to consider would be to adding stacked balconies, which are held up by pillars and typically require minimal load implications on the building. This is likely a more cost effective option anyways.