Cheap alternative to loft stilts - Reasonable idea?

[WaxCrayon]

I'm adding insulation to my loft (200mm over an existing 6") and want to put stilts in now so that when I board on top of the insulation in the future, I won't have to poke around in the (fibreglass) insulation.

But I'm doing the job on a budget.

I was looking at loft legs or similar, but they'd be quite expensive to cover the whole loft space.

My cheaper workaround is to get some 40x80mm(ish) cross-section wood, cut it to 200mm lengths (with a mitre box to get a neat square cut), mount it on the beams and drill at a downward angle through the base of each 'leg' to make a hole to screw it into place. Then when I board on top of them, I'll drill vertically into the top of some of the legs to secure my boards in place.

Good idea / bad idea?

 

[SimonH2]

Could you afford to cross-joist now and fit the insulation between the new joists. Then when you can afford the boarding, it just needs dropping on and screwing down.

Biggest problem I see is finding timber that wide (200mm) without also being thick (like 2-3 inch or more) making it heavy and expensive. The nearest I've found locally so far is 150mm x 22mm rough sawn & treated wood sold for fencing. IMO it doesn't need to be any thicker - it's going to be supported and restrained every 600mm (or whatever the spacing of your existing joists is), and before it gets loaded, it will be restrained at the top by the boarding. All it should need is a few noggins to avoid the whole lot toppling over.

 

[WaxCrayon]

I've scoped out parts at my local wickes and I've found timber in the right dimensions - it's tall, fairly thin legs I'll be making. I think provided I can make the board/supports stable without compromising the beams, in theory it should work

 

[SimonH2]

The main thing that bothers me about the whole idea of stilts is that you're supporting the boards on points. That's OK in the middle of boards, but at the edges you have only half the width of a stilt under each board, and at corners even less.

 

[amthorpe2000]

I'm adding insulation to my loft (200mm over an existing 6") and want to put stilts in now so that when I board on top of the insulation in the future, I won't have to poke around in the (fibreglass) insulation.

But I'm doing the job on a budget.

I was looking at loft legs or similar, but they'd be quite expensive to cover the whole loft space.

My cheaper workaround is to get some 40x80mm(ish) cross-section wood, cut it to 200mm lengths (with a mitre box to get a neat square cut), mount it on the beams and drill at a downward angle through the base of each 'leg' to make a hole to screw it into place. Then when I board on top of them, I'll drill vertically into the top of some of the legs to secure my boards in place.

Good idea / bad idea?

Curious how did it go and what was your solution

 

[JohnD]

Curious how did it go and what was your solution

Did you intend to reply to this 12 year old thread?

 

[ree]

Poster #6,
You've just replied to a dormant 2022 thread.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Do you not know how to tag someone in a thread @ree?

 

[ree]

Poster #8,
Please say again - ie repeat what you just said?

 

[amthorpe2000]

Did you intend to reply to this 12 year old thread?

Yes. What is the point of people telling you to search and then not being able to ask questions on those.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

@amthorpe2000 there's plenty to be gained by reading historic threads, there's little in the way the advice you'll receive now that has changed over the last decade or so.

But there is little point in asking posters for comments when they've only posted once or twice a decade or more back.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

@ree Do you not know how to tag someone in a thread @ree?

 

[amthorpe2000]

@amthorpe2000 there's plenty to be gained by reading historic threads, there's little in the way the advice you'll receive now that has changed over the last decade or so.

But there is little point in asking posters for comments when they've only posted once or twice a decade or more back.

Sorry. I only went to the old questions as you directed me there, almost annoyed I was instructed to do so, poo pooing the question asked which was a unique and wouldn't have been answered by an old post. Making people feel bad for not performing a useless historic search.