Loft Boards

Credit-Crunched

All, thinking of boarding my loft as it is only a matter of time me walking along the wooden beams that a foot will go through!

Wondering what option works out cheapest

Pre Cut Loft boards 3 for £20 at B&Q - Tongue and groove

or If i Just buy my own chipboard, cut into strips and install.

Any one done either of the above?

JP08

The obvious difference is the tongue and groove. Makes for a much stronger join between boards and, to a certain extent, spreads the point loads further. The downside of the solidly interlocked floor is that it's a bit of a pain to take up again if you have any electrical work to do.

You're probably going to have to cut the chipboard into pretty small bits just to get it through the loft hatch, and unless you are far better with power tools than me, or have access to some pretty good kit, you will not have straight edges that butt up neatly to each other. And there'll probably be a fair chunk of wastage.

The other thing to think about is what to do with the power cables. Ceiling joists are thin enough without taking chunks out of them.

In my loft I was lucky - the previous owner had part boarded with old floorboards from another job downstairs. He'd left gaps between the boards for the power cables. When I did the loft I lifted every other floorboard so I had enough for the whole loft and tongue and groove boarded over them, leaving the cables going over the joists in the gaps between the boards.

TheCyclingProgrammer

When I boarded my loft, I added cross supports of 3x2 at the appropriate centres for the panels (the ceiling joists in my house are pretty irregularly spaced).

As well as giving me proper centres to work with and making the floor a bit more rigid (cross supports will not strengthen your existing joists however), it meant there was a gap for any existing wiring to run without putting holes or notches in the original joists and also allowed for some cross ventilation above the insulation (there's only 100mm where I've boarded though).

Alternatively, you could look at a suspended platform using one of those LoftZone kits. Similar principle to what I did but gives you enough room for maximum insulation and air flow.

For things like junction boxes and light fittings m, what you can do is cut the tongue off the board that covers it so if you need accessbyou just need to unscrew it and you can then lift it up easily. Don't forget to mark the boards.

Chrishazle

To go for ordinary chipboard you'd have to get it in strips narrow enough to get through your loft trap, the strips being either in a pack (so pre-cut) or cut on a panel cutter such as B&Q have - but they charge per cut. I did the loft in my previous house this way, but we had a very large loft trap.

A few months ago I helped our SIL do their loft with the T&G packs - they bought from Wickes rather than B&Q, but it's basically the same. A jigsaw, cordless drill and suitable screws / pilot drill / countersink drill makes the job monotonous but relativly easy.

First things to think of ;
Thickness of insulation : Ceiling joists are probably 100mm, so without a second set of joists that's all the insulation you can have below the sheeting. There are modern insulation materials where 100mm gives the equivalent of much thicker "old fashioned" insulation and doesn't itch like crazy when you're installing it!

Electrics - you should really lift all the cables above the insulation - and the boards if they are going over the wiring. Beware junction boxes and downlighters - they in particular need ventilation boxes through the insulation.

Finally, put draught strip round the loft trap and build a box on the back of the trapdoor to contain insulation - you'll be surprised what a difference it makes!

MX5huggy

Wickes might be a better price for 5 packs plus.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Chipboard-Loft-Panels-Pack-3/p/116420

Credit-Crunched

Thanks all for you input, much appreciated.

littlemoney

Chrishazle wrote: »

There are modern insulation materials where 100mm gives the equivalent of much thicker "old fashioned" insulation and doesn't itch like crazy when you're installing it!

I want to board my loft and I only have 4" of insulation (rolls of fiberglass)which was put down probably in 1970's. Part of the loft has been boarded with anything that was available. Some boards are panels from an old wardrobe.

What are the modern insulation materials where 100mm gives the equivalent of much thicker "old fashioned" insulation and doesn't itch like crazy when you're installing it!

I am wondering if it would be worth while replacing the old fiberglass with more modern insulation materials and then getting the loft properly boarded.

phil24_7

Your best bet would be to either:

1. Glue and screw new joist (100mm or more on top depending on span) on top of the old joists and put more insulation down. You could even counter batten this with 50mm joists to limit cold bridging and tie all the joists together before boarding. (This would allow you to run cables and such on top of the insulation.)
2. Just counter batten with 100mm joists but this will not strengthen your existing joists it will just help to spread the load.

It all depends what you intend to store up there and how much headroom you have.

Putting more efficient, board insulation up there will cost a lot more than adding more fibreglass rolls and doing it properly by strengthening the joists will likely cost a similar amount, material wise.

Regards
Phil

Gloomendoom

I had 4" joists in my loft. I extended them to 12" using 10mm OSB webs glued and nailed to one of the vertical sides, effectively making them into I joists. Then I laid standard 8' by 2' treated chipboard flooring sheets on top.



The floor is a s solid as a rock.