Flooring My Loft

[Ken Manning]

I use my loft for storage and wish to continue doing so but it's a mess up there and it's difficult to manage. The only answer would be to floor the loft in stages. I've cleared an area and fitted plastic stilts I bought from Screwfix and when I've floored it I will move items from another space on to it and continue the process until the whole loft is complete. The joists,which are made from 3"x 1/2" timber, are spaced 18" apart centre to centre.

My problem is that the packs of small loft floorboards are 1220mm (4') long and are too short by about 6" and have no tongues and grooves on the ends. Is the only answer to use the bigger boards or is there a better solution?

I'm sure I'm not the only one with this problem, so I wonder why they are made to that length?

 

[blup]

Loft joist centres vary between, and within, lofts; and 4 feet is a standard board length.

You could fit cross pieces between the existing joists (and not use the stilts) to allow for the shortfall in the board length, or it may be quicker to cut the boards short.

3 x1/2" seems very precarious for a loft joist especially with stilts, so ensure they can take the additional loads you are proposing.

Just my observations as a DIYER. Call in a carpenter if you do not feel confident to do the job safely.

Blup

 

[Ken Manning]

Sorry there was a typo on my message. The joists are are actually 3"x11/2' and every 3rd joist is 4"x11/2"

 

[blup]

The load bearing capacity of the roof joists depends on the "clear span" as well as the joist dimensions.

These are the examples given by one Council:

https://www.haringey.gov.uk/sites/haringeygovuk/files/note07_-_domestic_timber_floors.pdf

Blup

 

[Ken Manning]

Thanks for the link it could be very useful.