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Questions about loft in new house?

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  • Section62
    Section62 Posts: 9,876 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper
    You 'may' live in a house which has a central supporting wall which goes down to foundations and although the floor in the loft is the original joists, it can take more weight than a newer truss loft due to the joist span being less and sitting on the central wall. This is may, don't take this as advice but ours is similar....
    If thre is a central supporting wall then it is likely the timbers supporting the first floor/loft ceiling will be sized according to that reduced span, i.e. much reduced compared to what would be provided if the span was longer.  Unless the roof structure was designed for loading (e.g. a waer tank) then the sizing will usually be the minimum required to support the ceiling without excessive 'flex' - i.e. rigid enough to reduce the risk of the ceiling cracking.

    But a central supporting wall would be beneficial (if it can take the additional load) where additional structure needs to be added to support loads from a converted loft.  The reduced span means shallower members can be used, and this in turn helps with available headroom.
    ....and although we only use it for storage, it was boarded out 30 years ago and had a staircase installed by the previous owner but its not a loft conversion, you couldn't have the weight of a full bedroom up there.

    You don't have a loft conversion, the space in there is not habitable for two reasons.

    1. You don't have building regs, therefore its not habitable and cannot be used or advertised as such.
    2. Its unlikely to have the structural supports for the weight of a bedroom etc.

    What you likely have is enhanced storage which can possible take more weight than a newer truss loft. We have loads stored in our loft. 
    The total load in the average bedroom is probably less than the average load in a loft used for storage.  Beds and typical bedroom furniture doesn't weigh very much.  Boxes full of junk precious items can weigh a lot.  In terms of loading the key difference is that habitable rooms are subject to frequent dynamic loading (as people walk about) and if the floor structure isn't strong enough it will a) give an uncomfortable feeling as you walk over it and b) probably lead to the ceiling below developing cracks.
  • FreeBear
    FreeBear Posts: 18,259 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Section62 said:
    You 'may' live in a house which has a central supporting wall which goes down to foundations and although the floor in the loft is the original joists, it can take more weight than a newer truss loft due to the joist span being less and sitting on the central wall. This is may, don't take this as advice but ours is similar....
    If thre is a central supporting wall then it is likely the timbers supporting the first floor/loft ceiling will be sized according to that reduced span, i.e. much reduced compared to what would be provided if the span was longer.  Unless the roof structure was designed for loading (e.g. a waer tank) then the sizing will usually be the minimum required to support the ceiling without excessive 'flex' - i.e. rigid enough to reduce the risk of the ceiling cracking.
    Indeed. The joists in my ceiling are skinny lengths of 3x2 over a a span of ~4m in the largest bedroom. In comparison, the floor joists are 8x2 timbers (with a couple of 8x3). I wouldn't dream of using the loft space for anything more than storage of relatively lightweight stuff.
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