Alternative for a suspended floor.

[JDAvila]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice if I may.

I have a oak framed carport which at the moment is filled with a huge amount of general household stuff which is just just sitting on the bare concrete floor and therefore making it hard to use the car port for anything more useful.

There is sufficient height to add a suspended floor which would will increase storage capacity and clear the floor area. I had been planning to (try to) fit a typical suspended floor with joists running across the 3m span (on hangers) between the structural beams, but someone suggested I'd be better off just laying some scaffold boards flat across the span at (say) 450mm centres). Either way I would be laying 3/4 inch plywood on top.

There is quite of bit of stuff that I want to store up there (although nothing particularly heavy in it's own right (just normal housing stuff etc). So the scaffold boards seem to offer an easier and more adaptable solution but I want to make sure it's safe if I (or anyone else) is up there moving things about.

Would the scaffold boards (at 450m centres) topped with ply be sufficient to take a decent amount of weight? (say) two men plus multiple boxes of household stuff.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks

 

[Doggit]

I think some photos would be helpful, but If you want to have a couple of men up there as well, then you're going to need joists rather than scaffold boards. You might get away with 7x2 at 450mm. How big are the gaps between the structural beams. You could then go with 18mm P5 chipboard for the flooring.