Loft flooring question

[deanalewis]

Hey All, I bought a house its a fairly old one but the attic has tons of potential. One thing the ceiling in the upstairs landing is sagging and its because when I went to the loft it was holding 3 x 8foot doors on 3 beams over an unsupported 15 foot span on 2x4 timbers.

Thanks to the previous owner for that. I removed the load and will repair the ceiling soon however as the timbers have been bent I dont really want to use them again.

Heres where I need your thoughts

I am planning to make a ledger board of 1 x 6 or something to run along my gable wall. And then put on that joist hangers that can support some spans of wood to the nearest load bearing wall.

Its not to make the loft habitable its to enable me to get into the loft safely without further stressing the older timbers.

The question I have is:

What type of timber do I need (2x6) would that be sufficient?
What type of coach bolts should I use presumably M10?
What type of timber thickness should I use to span a 6 foot gap?
Would a ledger board support a load on it temporarily around 120kg?
I just worry that I will build this frame on a load bearing wall but the ledger board pops out of the bricks.

As I say this is not to be used as storage its to give better access to the attc so I can also sister the old bowed timbers. Think of it as a floor on top of a floor.

 

[slawit]

I would just use 2x6 C16 timbers for both the ledger board and the joists. You would get away will 4x2’s over an 8 foot gap (16 inch on centers) but if it was my project I would go 2x6 for the sake of the small price difference, I like to go overboard on strength. To fix the ledger back to brick work you want to use M10 x 125mm long Anchor bolts not coach screws.

 

[robinbanks]

Ledgers don't pop out of bricks because they can't; the presence of the joists don't give them sufficient room to move far enough away from the wall for them to escape

as the timbers have been bent I dont really want to use them again

Not logical; the timbers bent to the point where they were supporting the load, that's what timber does. It's not ruined as a result

Is would be simpler to jack up the ceiling to straighten them and then sister taller timbers onto the side of them to retain the new position and give them additional ability to resist deflection and sagging

For more targeted advice post pictures and drawings; it's hard to get an impression of what you want from the description alone