Does the roof need more joists adding before boarding?

[hztm2008]

Hi, I would be really grateful for some advice please.

My daughter has just purchased a timber framed house and wants to put some boards down in the loft. I have had a look and it looks like the the beams are part of the triangular roof timbers and are are covered in some eighteen inches of insulation. My question is are these beams strong enough to take boards on them? I guess we would need to either remove a lot of the insulation or install stilts to raise the boards above the insulation but I was just worried about the strength of the roof trusses.

I am only asking because in my older 70's style house I have further beams going the other way across the lower beams of the triangular roof trusses and it all looks a lot stronger.

Thanks for your help.

 

[tony1851]

The bottom chords of roof trusses are usually designed to take modest, evenly-distributed loads. You would need stilts or equivalent if
you propose leaving the insulation in place. The timbers will be relatively thin, so use screws rather than banging nails down into them.