Boarding the Loft, do we need to strengthen

neney1

Hi everybody

My husband wants to board out loft out, to use to put a weightbench up there and some other gym stuff, he says its okay to board straight on to the joists there because 2 other people have done it who live in the same type of houses, but I thought we would have to strenghten the joists as these are ceiling joists and not floor joists?

The joists that are up there are 4 by 2 and the area is 40 square metres, my husband says because it has 2 supporting walls it will be fine and I just worry about things like this.

Any help would be great:)

bobhawke

Short and safe answer - No.

Longer answer, would need to know spacings of joists, how long they are, where load bearing walls are, type of flooring, how much weight will go up there, where will the bulk of the weight be situated in relation to the load bearing walls etc

WestonDave

Putting loft boards straight over joists is fine for occasional access and light storage. I'm no structural engineer, but I would be very wary of kitting it out as a gym - if you think about it not only will your OH have his weight on a particular part of a ceiling not designed to carry much more weight than the plaster etc on its underside, but you'll also have all the weights on the bench etc.

That said I have known ceilings to survive ridiculous amounts of stuff being stored in them - a probate lawyer I know had a loft cleared of a vast amount of stored magazines. A subsequent survey showed that although the ceiling hadn't collapsed the joists had permanently warped so that the ceilings were all bowed.

If you are going to use it as a room you should have the joists beefed up as per building regs - your use is more akin to loft extension use where this is required than occasional christmas tree etc storage where you can get away with just boarding over.

DVardysShadow

WestonDave wrote: »

Putting loft boards straight over joists is fine for occasional access and light storage. I'm no structural engineer, but I would be very wary of kitting it out as a gym - if you think about it not only will your OH have his weight on a particular part of a ceiling not designed to carry much more weight than the plaster etc on its underside, but you'll also have all the weights on the bench etc.

I agree with the above. While it should be OK for the overall weight in books or junk, if used as a gym it will flex and take a lot of shock loads. Expect problems with the ceiling below and don't be surprised if a joist or 2 takes damage.

tony6403

Agree with the replies . A bad idea. Also ,how big is your loft access door and are there any costs for revised insulation?