Flooring a loft

themacster

You should check the joist centres - older traditional roofs tend to be around 400 or 450mm centres, newer trussed rafter ones around 600mm centres. The point is that thin chipboard boards (12mm) aren't really up to spanning 600mm (2 feet) - if you step in the middle of the span, they could break - make sure you use at least 18mm thick. Even better, use plywood or osb. If you're panning on storing lots of heavy stuff or using it regularly, you might want to think about 22mm if using chipboard. Also make sure they're tongued and grooved jointed as this helps stability. Screwing is best as hammering in nails could affect the ceiling below

kev_gray

Hey guys, thanks for the comments! Got a few packs of loft flooring from B&Q and started last night. All fairly straight forward except the fact that i'm now having to cut off around 25mm from the boards just so they finish up in the middle of a joist for the next one to start. All seems fairly easy at least!

Arfa__

Ahh bummer. Maybe I was lucky with my joists, each plank lined up nicely across 4 joists. Only had to cut the end ones to them up. Guess its all down to your joist spacing.

egyptiangirl

rather than starting a new thread I hope it's Ok to hijack this one.
I'm thinking of doing the same however our pipes/wires run over the joists.
Our plumber said we should 'raise' the level of the joists and then put boards down.

What's best/easiest/cheapest way of doing this?

Thanks

ormus

simple 2x2 timbers nailed to the joists will do the job.
fairly cheap when bought in packs.
try wickes.