I AM LOOKING TO BOARD OUT MY LOFT SPACE BUT ON TOP OF THE 4"x 2" JOISTS ARE 2 LARGE 8" x 2" TIMBERS THAT RUN THE OPOSITE WAY TO THE JOISTS. TO BOARD THE LOFT SPACE WOULD I REMOVE THESE AND REPLACE WITH 4" x 2" JOISTS ACROSS THE WHOLE OF THE SPACE ? OR DO I HAVE TO BRING THE NEW BOARDED FLOOR LEVEL WITH THESE MONSTER 8" TIMBERS ?? IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I NEED TO CONSIDER REGARDING PLANNING WHEN DOING THIS ?
LOFT BOARDING
- Thread starter strac
- Start date
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Are you just boarding for storage? The cross members may be ceiling binders so dont remove them.
strac, using capital letter's on forum's is the equivelent of shouting mate.
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Thanks for the reply, sorry about the capitals, i didn't even realise i'd done it.
So even replacing the 8"x 2" timbers with 4"x2" first then taking them out is not advisable ? It is only for storage at the moment but maybe sometime i may want to use it for something else i.e playroom, any other ideas ?
So even replacing the 8"x 2" timbers with 4"x2" first then taking them out is not advisable ? It is only for storage at the moment but maybe sometime i may want to use it for something else i.e playroom, any other ideas ?
Why not board around the 8x2 ceiling binders on the existing ceiling joists? as its only for storage.
Well i could board around them but this would leave an 8" timber sticking up which would be ok just for storage but if in the future we needed the space for something else i would have to re board to make it level. i've had another look and this 8"x2" sits on top of the joists and connects from the roof to the dividing wall. if this was replaced with a 4" x 2" from roof to wall and onto the joists would this not be the same ?
No,
The binders are there to limit movement of the ceiling due to wind/snow/storage/you moving about trying to find xmas decorations. If you reduce them in size and board and then put in a 1:50 scale replica of paris with trix train set and life like trees for the "kids" to play with your increasing the work the timbers will do. Resulting in cracks appearing along the lines of your ceiling joists through your artex/plastered ceiling. 4x2 timbers are quite small and i would suggest you run new 8x2 joists from bearing wall to bearing wall next to existing ceiling joists. But then your are crossing the line into loft conversion territory.
And halving the depth of a timber member means it loses 75% of its original cross section strength and around 90% of its bending capacity. Timber gets its main strength from its depth.
The binders are there to limit movement of the ceiling due to wind/snow/storage/you moving about trying to find xmas decorations. If you reduce them in size and board and then put in a 1:50 scale replica of paris with trix train set and life like trees for the "kids" to play with your increasing the work the timbers will do. Resulting in cracks appearing along the lines of your ceiling joists through your artex/plastered ceiling. 4x2 timbers are quite small and i would suggest you run new 8x2 joists from bearing wall to bearing wall next to existing ceiling joists. But then your are crossing the line into loft conversion territory.
And halving the depth of a timber member means it loses 75% of its original cross section strength and around 90% of its bending capacity. Timber gets its main strength from its depth.
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