I'm trying to put up some boards in my loft. I've taken a lot of pictures but it's so dark and dirty in there I'm hoping it's possible to make out what I'm talking about.
Down the centre are two large joists - currently the previous owner had partially boarded by putting some large sheets of chipboard between the two joists - these are quite big i.e. I'm sure they're considerably bigger than standard loft boards, however they are sagging quite badly - this was something our surveyor picked up, the upstairs ceilings were sagging due to the amount of items stored in the loft but he thought all would be fine once the items were removed. (as a separate point, the boards seem to have been GLUED down rather than screwed which is going to require a bit of force!)
So I'm in the process of trying to remove the current boarding and put down a new one, extending this over the whole roof. As the joists are higher than the beams that I'm planning on putting boards over, I'm assuming that the best solution would be to use risers to level this out (and due to the insulation height)?
My other query is boarding between the two joists - if standard loft boards don't span the distance would people use some longer boards? or create a frame to lay standard boards on (although this would raise the height further creating more of a mismatch between the central boarding and the outside sections).
This is the first time I've attempted this - I was initially worried about the small size of the beams but the surveyor has assured me they should handle a modest amount of weight.
Appreciate these are fairly basic questions! Any advice much appreciated.
Down the centre are two large joists - currently the previous owner had partially boarded by putting some large sheets of chipboard between the two joists - these are quite big i.e. I'm sure they're considerably bigger than standard loft boards, however they are sagging quite badly - this was something our surveyor picked up, the upstairs ceilings were sagging due to the amount of items stored in the loft but he thought all would be fine once the items were removed. (as a separate point, the boards seem to have been GLUED down rather than screwed which is going to require a bit of force!)
So I'm in the process of trying to remove the current boarding and put down a new one, extending this over the whole roof. As the joists are higher than the beams that I'm planning on putting boards over, I'm assuming that the best solution would be to use risers to level this out (and due to the insulation height)?
My other query is boarding between the two joists - if standard loft boards don't span the distance would people use some longer boards? or create a frame to lay standard boards on (although this would raise the height further creating more of a mismatch between the central boarding and the outside sections).
This is the first time I've attempted this - I was initially worried about the small size of the beams but the surveyor has assured me they should handle a modest amount of weight.
Appreciate these are fairly basic questions! Any advice much appreciated.
