Installing boarding to loft

[leeweedon]

Hi.

I'm planning on boarding my loft and need a little advice.

The loft is 5.7m by 7m and is split in to 3 sections by two 'main joists' they are 2.4m apart.

Due to heavy lagging I can't see any of the cross/ceiling joists.

My plan, was to buy 2.4m x 89mm x 38mm timber and lay it across the two main joists with 30 cm gaps between each piece of timber.

Once this is complete, lay T+G boarding across the laid boards.

My questions are

1) Is the 2.4m timber going to need support between the two main joists? (i.e will it snap in the middle of walked on?)
2) Is the gap between board to big or small? Obviously the bigger the gap the less board and cheaper the cost.
3) Are there any hidden pit falls I'm overlooking?


Any help or advice would be superb, even if it's "You idiot you've got it all wrong!"

Many thanks

Lee

 

[leeweedon]

a bit of further investigation and I can lay extra supporting beams along the ceiling joists parallel to the main supporting joists.

(Subject to moving the loft insulation and ensuring the terrible electrics are not in the way / properly moved.)

My questions still stand about distances, what are the recommended gaps in joists (remember that the boarding will go over the top of these and the floor is only to be used for storage)

Once again, any help is appreciated.

Lee