Loft boarding

OxJak

I have just moved into a new house and want to create a bit of storage space in the loft. At the moment it's mostly joists with a couple of diagonal planks (which I think are just taking cable underneath them) on top.

What's the best way of boarding this up? It's mostly going to be boxes of books etc, nothing too heavy. I've seen some "loft boards" in B&Q, but my dad reckons they're an expensive way of doing it!

Do I need insulation between the joists (there's nothing there at the moment), and what would I do with the diagonal planks and cabling? I haven't checked to see if these are loose, but I think they're screwed down.

Thanks in advance for any help!

24_hour_sparks

if you have downlighters in the ceiling below the loft, be carefull of them as they get v hot, and should have a fire hood, but some do not.

as for any cabling there, its probebly for the lights below, when boarding out the loft be v carefull you dont screw into the cables on top of the joists, beams etc.

tawnyowls

Wickes do loft boards too, usually cheaper than B&Q. It it is an expensive way of doing it, but unless you're happy to cut sheets of chipboard into bits small enough to fit through your loft hatch, it's often the best way.

It would be sensible to put in insulation - would cut your heating bills. Might be able to get a grant from your gas/electricity company to do this, although if you're not on benefits, the amount is pretty derisory - used to be really good, but sadly, no longer appears to be the case.

What exactly do you mean by 'diagonal planks'?

chrisw

I have just boarded out my loft with the boards from B&Q. They were cheaper than Wickes, but when I went to get the last 2 packs, it looks like they've put the price up quite a bit so Wickes might now be cheaper. I bought about 6 packs at a time and took ages to do it so I didn't notice the costs too much. I also bought a cheap circular saw from B&Q for £15 which has been worth its weigt in gold. Each board was about 2cm too long for centre-to-centre of joists.

I had the diagonal planks, I think they were just put there to hold the spacing of the joists when the house was built. I just pulled them out as the boards effectively do the same job.

I already had the insulation between the joists so just boarded over it.

OxJak

tawnyowls:
Hadn't thought that cheaper boards might not fit - you may have saved me a lot of stress! It's a newly built house and I imagine its energy rating is pretty good anyway, so I wondered if it was necessary to put in insulation if the builder didn't think it needed it?
There is one (I think, possibly two) bit of 4x2 plank running from one corner of the loft to about 2/3rds of the way down the other side, sitting (probably screwed) on top of the joists. My concern about it is that if I rip it off then I'll lose a bit of structural strength. Also, what do I do with the wires that are underneath it? Can I drill through a joist or is that a definite no-no?

chrisw:
Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely shop around when I get round to it (there are plenty of other jobs to do in the house before the OH will let me get onto this particular project!)

tawnyowls

OxJak wrote:

tawnyowls:
Hadn't thought that cheaper boards might not fit - you may have saved me a lot of stress! It's a newly built house and I imagine its energy rating is pretty good anyway, so I wondered if it was necessary to put in insulation if the builder didn't think it needed it?
There is one (I think, possibly two) bit of 4x2 plank running from one corner of the loft to about 2/3rds of the way down the other side, sitting (probably screwed) on top of the joists. My concern about it is that if I rip it off then I'll lose a bit of structural strength. Also, what do I do with the wires that are underneath it? Can I drill through a joist or is that a definite no-no?

Wish I could say this wasn't through experience!:rolleyes:

I doubt that you can ever have too much insulation (unless it stops ventilation). I'm surprised that if it's a new build, it doesn't have roof insulation, at least the amount required by the building regs at the time. The 2007 recommendations are 10.5 inches, and if you've any less than 8, it's worth adding more in - it does deteriorate over time.

Um, never seen that before, but then haven't lived in new-build houses. Any chance you could get someone in for a quote and ask them about it?

I would echo 24 hour sparks - be careful about drilling in a roof. Would strongly advise investing a few quid in a wire & pipe detector, and obviously, make sure you have a safety cut-out on your electricity supply. Clearly, though, you've got to fasten the boards to the joists somehow, and that means nailing or preferably screwing them down. Just be aware of where your cables are (attaching a brightly coloured cable tie at intervals might help) and don't get them trapped between the boards and the joists - you might find (depending on where they run) that you need to just put some small offcuts either side of the wires and screw the boards through those into the joists so that the wires have a little channel to run through.

coolagarry

Just an added point. If you are buying insulation or the boarding from Wickes make sure that you know someone (perhaps your dad) who is over 6o and has a 10% off on Tuesdays card!! (You get the form from the checkout)

chrisw

Since the planks sit on top of the joists, it's unlikely they have any structural strength. Mine were just nailed on loosely. The boards screwed into the joists will be far more rigid than the planks anyway.

I think the correct procedure is to actually drill through the joists and feed the wire through as this doesn't lose strength. I'm sure I read somewhere that if you cut a 1" notch in a 3" beam, then effectively it only has the strength of a 2" beam.
However, I did cut out small notches in mine, just big enough for the wires, as it was far simpler (and safer!) than disconnecting and threading all the cables and I felt it wouldn't make any significant difference to the overall roof strength.

I marked on the boards with a marker pen where the cables were located.

djohn2002uk

OxJak wrote:

It's a newly built house and I imagine its energy rating is pretty good anyway, so I wondered if it was necessary to put in insulation if the builder didn't think it needed it?

If it's a New Build then you need to get the builder back because without any loft insulation it wont be meeting building regs. Should have at least 10" (I think)
Ring the council and ask.

OxJak

Should make clear about the insulation - the roof is insulated, but there's nothing in the floor space (ie above the ceiling of the storey below).

tawnyowls

You may be OK then. It's generally easy to tell if a loft is well insulated or not - if it feels a substantially different temp from the house, and is more akin to what it feels like outside. The only thing I would be a bit concerned about it that although the roof insulation will obviously keep the heat from leaving the house, the heat within the house might zoom up into the loft and then be trapped there, so the loft will be baking while the rest of the house will be quite cool. We noticed that even when moving from a house with carpets upstairs to one with wood - the upper storey was much hotter than the lower, which is really not what you want when you're trying to sleep.

The self-build website (http://www.self-build.co.uk) is pretty good on things like this, especially with thermal ratings for different types of insulation, and they have a specialised forum there too.