Strange arrangement

[Paul1919]

The floor of the loft of my house consists of the normal rafters across. Which have been stained & varnished to be seen from the bedrooms etc beneath. And the plasterboard has been laid on top of them and painted white.
All very nice but not very practical.

I want to revert to the normal arrangement and I propose to put chipboard on top of the plasterboard to make it safe to use for storage and to be able to access the sloping roof area for adding insulation. Which at present is quite difficult to access as I'm 69 and not as supple as when I was 29.
I will then plasterboard in the normal way beneath the rafters. So they are not visible anymore.
Can I ask for some advice and tips to assist me, from the learned persons on here.
I've bought a plasterboard lifter, and circular saw bench. Together with power drills, Reisser wood screws and impact drivers etc.

 

[foxhole]

Circular saw is all that's required for the chipboard and of course plasterboard screws for the new ceiling.What's the saw bench for? Don't use impact driver on plasterboard , too harsh.
Any wiring/pipework in the way.?

 

[Paul1919]

Tools are for lots of other work.
Cables/pipes
Only the light fittings but I'm competant in re routing the cables.
I'll fix up a fluorescent light before starting.

 

[Paul1919]

I'd particularly like views on how to approach adding the insulation to the rafters. Type of insulation to add or whether to remove the glass fibre stuff.
How to fix the new insulation etc etc
The practical side really

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I'd use 8 x 2ft (actually 2400 x 600mm) t&g chipboard for the flooring as it's a lot easier to get it through the loft hatch whilst also being let's weight to hump about.

For insulation I'd consider Cellotex or the like cut tight betwen the rafters (so that it will stay place when you shove it in there) but leaving a 50mm air gap between the top side of the insulation and the underside of the roof felt/membrane. Cellotex type stuff whilst relatively expensive is far lighter than mineral wool batting and unlike mineral wool, fibreglass or sheep's wool insulation doesn't require the wearing of masks to install it. Retain in position using chicken wire mesh stapled onto the undersides of the rafters. Same technique can be used to retain insulation betwen the ceiling joists if required before plasterboarding over

 

[Paul1919]

Thank you for your interesting comments. I'll do just that and remove the glass fibre material between the rafters and use Celotex between.
Tips for safe removal will be welcome. I obtained a long length of vacuum cleaner hose 15M. And plan to leave the vac down below to avoid air disturbance.

Do you know what the chicken wire type material is called so that I can search for it ?
As the loft floor is covered with the plasterboard, is it strictly necessary to use tongue and groove. I'd like to cut down some chipboard myself. Staggering the joins. It's hard to know where the wooden rafters are below. But I guess I can make holes and stick straws up from below.
The void is open and there are no wooden roof supports between the slopes.

 

[foxhole]

Use a mask, found the fine floating dust from cutting celotex choking in confined space.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Do you know what the chicken wire type material is called so that I can search for it ?

Errr, chicken wire. The insulation trade do sometimes use special narrow rolls of this made specifically for them and it is easier to handle, I have to admit, but other than saying it comes from insulation distributors I can't say any more than that, really. You will need a pair of tin snips (cheap sprung aircraft type ones as opposed to the Gilbow unsprung type) and gauntlets to cut and handle it, though

As the loft floor is covered with the plasterboard, is it strictly necessary to use tongue and groove. I'd like to cut down some chipboard myself. Staggering the joins. It's hard to know where the wooden rafters are below. But I guess I can make holes and stick straws up from below.

The T&G suggestion was made based on your previous comments and by me (making the assumption, wrongly as it appears ) assuming that you wouldn't want to handle full sheets of 18mm chipboard at 50kg or so a pop. If you are happy to cut down than that's the way to go. It will certainly be cheaper. The ends do need to fall on a joist to prevent unsupported boards from sagging, but if you've screwed the original boards to the tops of the ceiling joists you should be able to pick-up the lines of the joists from above by running a rare earth magnet across the plasterboard. It will adhere to any steel screws in there (indicating a joist below so no need for straws)

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Use a mask, found the fine floating dust from cutting celotex choking in confined space.

Point taken. I must admit that we tend to cut it in an open area and pass it upinto the roof void - but then I do a lot of commercial work and our roof voids tend to be rather large

 

[Paul1919]

Appreciated
Yes, the terminology sometimes leaves amateurs like me frequently frustrated but in this case chicken wire is just that.

Having seen where bits of the glass fibre insulation has fallen down. I notice that there is no felt/membrane under the slates. (Which are in good general condition)
Nothing I can do now about that now I guess. It's a big roof.

As yet I didn't check to see whether the previous owner had the plasterboards fixed to the tops of the joists. Or just laid down ?
I'll try the rare earth magnet tip.

I'll cut the chipboard down