Loft Boarding, Insulating and Joists Project for storage

[HalifaxRoofer]

We recently moved into a semi-detatched, 5 year old house. The loft is fairly spacious, and the roof pitch is very steep, allowing for a good area in the center of the loft (where the hatch is) to be easily walked around in.

I wanted to board the loft to create a large storage space, essentially the same size as a double bedroom.

The loft was already insulated between the joists, (600 centers), and then at 90 degrees over the top of this, so I got some treated 4x1 timber to lay across the existing joists at 90 degrees, to allow for the second layer of Rockwool insulation, and also to create a gap between the insulation and the underside of the boarding. (I read on several forum threads that this gap was not needed, then others said it needed it for venilation, so I thought I'd best be on the safe side and allow for a small 10-20mm gap!)

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• HalifaxRoofer
• 26 Jan 2013
• 1

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• HalifaxRoofer
• 26 Jan 2013
• 1

This was fixed to the joists with normal angle brackets.
I then used 2.4m x 600mm sheets of 18mm tongue & groove chipboard to board the area, with the joints on the joists. I was originally going to get the small loft panels from B&Q, but went with the larger ones from Wickes (my local B&Q didn't have large ones in stock) as this would create a stronger deck with less joints.

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• HalifaxRoofer
• 26 Jan 2013
• 1

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• HalifaxRoofer
• 26 Jan 2013
• 1

I haven't quite yet finished as you can see on these photos, and in total have spent about 4 hours doing it on a day off.

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• HalifaxRoofer
• 26 Jan 2013
• 1

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• HalifaxRoofer
• 26 Jan 2013
• 1

Let me know what you think!
I also got a halogen site light from Screwfix (£9.99!!) for lighting in the loft space.

 

[WabbitPoo]

You are prepared for the fact that, with all that weight up there now, you should only be putting the odd xmas deco box or empty suitcase up there? ceiling joists will not take much loading and you get cracking in the bedrooms if you are not careful.

Neat job.

Did you take account of any mains cables up their (if there are any) as well as any recessed lighting under all that insulation?

 

[HalifaxRoofer]

Thanks!

Yeh, It's only going to be used for the odd few boxes etc, and I'm trying to load them mainly where the bedroom walls are for extra support.
If any cracks start appearing I'll probably shrink the boarded area just to be on the safe side.

I marked where the cables were on the boards and I'm going to go over it all with permanent marker when I finally get round to finishing it all off.

Originally I was just going to board straight over the joists but that would probably mean removing the second layer of insulation or squashing it down under the boards, which I've heard will make it less effective anyway.

How would you have done it in your own opinion? Any suggestions?

 

[geraldthehamster]

I marked where the cables were on the boards and I'm going to go over it all with permanent marker when I finally get round to finishing it all off.

The previous commenter may also have had in mind that it's not advisable to encase mains wiring in insulation, as it can cause it to overheat.

Cheers
Richard

 

[HalifaxRoofer]

I didn't know that, although I haven't encased any cables any more than they were originally so I'd imagine that should be ok.

Doesn't look as if anyones moved anything (insulation) about up there since the house was built, and with all the building reg's nowadays they should be aware of that, so should hopefully be alright.