Loft boarding

alexbutterfield

Just a thought, but

rather than weakening joists by cutting a notch (even if its only the size of a wire) or drilling holes and having to disconnect wires to thread them through.

Surely you could carve a groove on the underside of the loft boarding that spans the width of each joist in the correct line for the wire.

Alex

PS. I'm not a professional, so maybe someone should either concur with this or make sure people disregard it.

Sponge

Reference cutting joists. Take a look at this.

rsmini

Sorry to bring up an old thread. I know this is my 1st post as well.

I have just had the loft boarded to make it a useable space and a man from the council demanded to have a look. Because we have added a light and a socket he says it is more than a useable space and is classed as a room. Therefore we need to meet building regs.

In effect a loft is only used for repair and maintainance of the house and not for storage so he is saying we need building regs even we only put one single item in the loft.

He sent myself and the builder a letter pointing us to this website

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/genpub/en/1115313928708.html

Boarding-out for storage

In most homes, the existing timber joists that form the "floor" of the loft space ( i.e. the ceiling of the rooms below) will not have been designed to support a significant weight (known as "load"). The joists tie the pitched members of the roof together to prevent them spreading and support the ceiling lining of the rooms below.

An excessive additional load, for example from storage, it may mean that the joists are loaded beyond their design capacity. If you decide to lay flooring boards over the existing joists in the loft space, then this may require a Building Regulations Application to Building Control. Your local Building Control body will be able to advise you on this issue.

Please be careful everyone. How we are going to get around this I do not know. They may even get us to take out the insulation yet !!

ictmad

i have floored mine with caberfloor(chipboard) whole loft is done length of the house and makes a massive space,have 2 strip lights up there and we didnt tell the council cant see how its classed as a room no-ones staying up there(as far as i know)

---lee---

rsmini wrote: »

Please be careful everyone. How we are going to get around this I do not know. They may even get us to take out the insulation yet !!

Is it because of the socket? I can see why a socket would be useful occasionally in a loft space, but not really necessary. A light is pretty much a necessity for safety but if it turns the space into a ‘habitable room’ I would remove that as well.

rsmini

We may well have to remove the socket. We only wanted for using a shreeder etc up there anyway.

We didn't tell the council, they just arrived !! we think a neighbour rang them because he was on nights and being disturbed. I work regualar nights but I manage when work is going on around me. But I digress.

Am I allowed to post the link to the company we used ? On there website it shows nowhere that we need building regs. I just hope that I don't have to sit with a pile of stuff in my dining room for 3 months while this is sorted

ormus

i would tell the official to take a running jump.
he is exceeding his powers by a long way.
if he was to be succesful then id demand that he orders every householder in the local area (without PP) remove all items of storage (and lights) from their lofts!
crazy.


he may well have a point re the loads on the joists, but highly unlikely to be a problem with joists running over internal walls in a normal house.
an open 24 ft span is another matter entirely.

craig777

I might be stating the obvious here, but when putting down loft boarding, always screw down the boards.

This obviously takes alot more time than using a hammer and nails, but you won't run the risk of cracking your ceiling below from all the hammering.

rsmini

We do think the council are being heavy handed. A few items in the loft should not cause them any upset I'm sure.

We also think they are going after the company who do the loft changes rather than ourselves. As they the company may have found a way around the building regs with this