Flooring a loft - advice needed

[Bilabong007]

Hi,

The section of loft i need to floor has 2.5"x9" joists at 18" centres. Its for storage.

Is it worth cross battening to raise this to 11" to accommodate the cross-lay of insulation that is there? Its a bedroom and living room thats below so i would like to put a bit of effort in if its going to make any appreciable difference.

If so, should i uses c16 structural timber or just plain kiln dried softwood?

Should i match the width with the old joists ie use 64mm or as close as possible? or not bother

As they are only taking a compression load is it ok to fix them with cheap corner brackets eg http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Con...etalwork/Corner+Brace+40mm/d210/sd2797/p52089

Many thanks for any advice

Graeme

 

[alan333]

I wouldn't bother, I'd either squash or remove the cross-lay insulation. My theory is that a reasonable amount of insulation is much better than none, but the extra layer doesn't do much. I'll explain...

About 3 years ago I had cavity wall insulation installed. Before the work was done the sales guy checked the thickness of my loft insulation (IIRC it's 150mm, the height of the joists) and offered me an extra layer. I declined cos I wanted to partially floor the loft for storage. Then, a couple of months after the install, I got a letter from them with suggestions for making my home more energy efficient - it included a suggestion to add an extra layer of insulation, which would save me a whopping 7 quid or something per year on heating bills! If you really want, I'll dig out the letter and quote it for you.

 

[Bilabong007]

Sounds like going from 9" to 11" isn't worth the bother then unless I need to notch lots of joists for wiring.

Thanks for that.

Graeme