Loft Flooring

Hi There,

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

I basically have my whole loft floored already from when i moved in my house. I have a ten year old house with a fink truss (W frame) roof style. The property is a mid terrace and at each end of the party walls there is some plasterboard fitted and the roof has some cladding attached horizontally to seperate the space from the roof felt and tiles. I assume the previous owners wanted this to be a clean storage area of some sort.

Whilst our surveyors clearly didn't venture into the loft as there is no planning permission for such work i am wondering if this will be problematic for me in the future if a surveyor for a future buyer did have a look up there?

From trawling through all posts about loft flooring i have also came to the conclusion that the loft flooring might not ideal in it's current placement (attached straight onto the beams) My issue is with the potential problems with moisture etc from not having a good air flow under the boards. From what i read it seems to be a better idea to have the loft flooring on top of counterbattens.

Now, i am happy with the loft flooring as it serves a purpose. I have a couple of questions relating to this.

Would there be any benefit in raising the walkable part of the loft only and counterbattening (too much work to do the whole lot) whilst leaving the other sides the way they are?

If i was to counterbatten the central part of the loft floor do i need to have batten that stretches for the full length of the floor or can this be done in sections (dont know if i would get battering long enough up there.

Is the work done to each end (plasterboard attached to 2x2 with rockwool inbetween and the cladding to the ceiling) going to cause me structural/legal problems?


Basically, i like the work done in the loft and i would prefer to keep it, albeit i want it to be as safe as possible

Thank you for any assistance

Cheers

McLean

Anybody?

mclean1979 said:

Now, i am happy with the loft flooring as it serves a purpose. I have a couple of questions relating to this.

Would there be any benefit in raising the walkable part of the loft only and counterbattening (too much work to do the whole lot) whilst leaving the other sides the way they are?

Click to expand...

Is your roof gang nailed trusses, if so, generally speaking there shouldn't be a loft flooring on top but there are ways round it.

If i was to counterbatten the central part of the loft floor do i need to have batten that stretches for the full length of the floor or can this be done in sections (dont know if i would get battering long enough up there.

Click to expand...

I don't know if this topic below is the answer you're for, if not, get back to us

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=37387&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Thanks for replying mate

Yes it is gang nailed trusses. Around 4" x 1 1/2" at the ceiling. I guess this isn't the best for load bearing. I have a reasonable amount of stuff up there as well as when i moved in here with my woman we both brought the contents of our own flats with us. She wasn't too keen on a lot of my stuff, hence it got put up in the loft.

This is the reason i need good access to the loft. The paranoia i have felt since starting to read these forums has given me the motivation to clear as much of the crap out as i can, move books downstairs to the bedroom and spread the load to the outside walls primarily (away from the centre of the span).

The most worrying thing for me is that i used to DJ and so have three plastic storage boxes (the ones with wheels) full of records up there.

After having a good read of the post you linked to....

I take it you are describing locating the top of the partition walls and using the top of these (after locating them and raising the level using small bits of wood) and attaching new beams running the same way as the current beams to this new load bearing platform.

Sorry about the lack of lingo here. Im just trying to get to grips with all the new terms llike wall plates, gang nails etc

Would the top of these partition walls take the weight better than the trusses at the moment i take it?

When you say you remove a bit of 3" x 3" to create a hole to locate the top of the partition, would you then remove a full strip of this plaster to locate the length of wood which you would then raise (by adding wood on top of) to attach the new beams to?

Would i do this for the walkable part of the loft only or would the procedure involve reflooring the whole loft space.

Thanks again for your help

Boarding out the ceiling members of trusses is ok for general storage - just don't go knocking out the diagonal members, without an SE having come up for a design to allow you to do so.

Trusses can cope quite happily with the crud that the majority of people stick up in their lofts (with or without being boarded out - but if you were planning on storing reams of paper to roof level, or engines and lathes, it would be a bit of a problem .

Your records are probably a bit heavy, I would guess, but if it's boarded out, it shouldn't be a problem and just move them closer to where one of the diagonals meets the ceiling joist. Either way, you're unlikely to load it to the extent that they ended up in a room underneath!

If you want a "proper" (habitable) room up there, then it needs designing.

Wow, no way would i remove any part of the trusses. not at all.

All i want is to know i can store my records, decks etc and maybe walk around and spend some time up there to sort them out without destroying my roof and the 1st floor ceiling.

Im just starting to get paranoid and i guess make as many strengthening changes as i can.

As i said, the previous owners have done quite a lot up there without any strengthening of the joists. This makes me a little uneasy about the weight up there.

mclean1979 said:

Wow, no way would i remove any part of the trusses. not at all.

Click to expand...

some do!

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=140600

Sounds like you have no need to worry tbh, Mac.

noseall said:

mclean1979 said:

Wow, no way would i remove any part of the trusses. not at all.

Click to expand...

some do!

//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=140600

Click to expand...

I actually saw that. rediculous

Shytalkz said:

Sounds like you have no need to worry tbh, Mac.

Click to expand...

Cheers, maybe i am being a little paranoid after all. With me moving in here only a year ago i just don't want to damage the roof and the cornising below. Sounds like i will be ok

Cheers for all your help people

Can i ask a few things i still need an answer to?

My records will be stored in the central (clean area) of the loft.

Would counterbattening this area only strengthen/distribute the weight better? or would it have no effect since the rest of the loft floor at either side is fixed straight onto the beams.

Does the counterbattening need to be in one piece and if not would two bits of equal length be the best idea or try to get as long a bit as possible up there.

Cheers again