Advice on strengthening and raising this loft floor

[Osimons]

Hi,

I've searched and read as much as I can on this subject but still unsure what the best method would be for strengthening my loft floor and increasing it's depth for insulation, before boarding.

Here is a rough 3d plan of whats going on up there. All the walls are of solid brick construction. The binders are 6x2's embedded into the external walls and crossed over on internal walls. Ceiling joists are 3x2's.

I want to board the middle of the loft in-between the binders. It will be used for storage and accessed with a ladder. If however my configuration would allow me to get a proper floor up there relatively easy this would be an added bonus.

I'm limited to lengths of wood I can get up there via the hatch, probably 4m at most.

I would be very grateful for any advice on the best, easiest and cheapest way to achieve this. Many thanks!

 

[Osimons]

So having thought about this a bit more, what I'm considering doing is getting some 6"x2" joists and installing wall plates, one in between the chimney stacks on the right hand side of the picture and two in between the three binders on the left hand side. Then i would be able to hang joist from the wall plates and sister/join them on top of the purple walls, and have one running along the pink wall, sistering the existing binder that spans the landing.

This would give me 7 joists at 60cm intervals, if I include the ceiling binders. Am I allowed to use the ceiling binders as a joist?

I'll post another 3D sketch of this idea when I get the chance. I'm an animator not an architect by the way, so I've got good 3d skills but not much knowledge of building practices

 

[tony1851]

If it's only for storage, why bother with adding additional joists?
If by storage you just mean the usual stuff like suitcases, Xmas decorations, kids plastic junk etc,
then just board over the existing joists. Just keep heavier stuff near the middle, and be sensible with the
loading.

 

[Osimons]

Thanks for your reply Tony.

The loft is quite well insulated atm so I wanted to raise the depth so I could get more than just the 3" I would get if I boarded the exsiting ceiling joists.

I see some people recommend laying additional lengths of timber at 90 degrees to existing joists. But I'm a bit worried about the additional weight this adds if it's not supported on anything.

My 6x2 joist idea probably is overkill for what I want to achieve.

 

[tony1851]

Unfortunately, putting additional joists @ 90 deg. directly on top of the existing ceiling joists does
nothing to enhance strength.
Support your new joists independently, which ever way you run them (but don't use the existing
binders for support).