Time to sort the loft space out.
Have an area of 4.8 x 3m which I can board, leaving 1m or so around the eves for ventilation. Roof also new with breathable felt.
I think I want to use loft-legs and a raised floor with extra insulation underneath, again leaving room for good airflow under the floor. That's all fine
I'm not worried about load bearing as its all been fine with me walking around with loads of badly placed stuff - so boarding wisely will help spread load.
However the loft boards are 1220x320 - and my 1930's house joists are not accurately placed, but around 380mm centers, so boards would have to go length-wise across multiple joists.
Using loft legs I'd have to trim each board by 80mm or so to span 3 joists (with 4 legs touching) on each "row". Trimming each board seems a right faff but its either that or having the joins mid gap unsupported?
So was thinking about putting legs on each joist at 320mm spaces (board width), then screwing some 3x1.5 (68x38) lengths to the top of the legs at 90' to the joist direction. Then placing boards on top of this as it'd not matter where the board joins were as they'd be supported by the 3x2 over the small gap between legs.
Apart from cost of 3x2 (£40) and extra height I can't see a downside to this, should be stronger when screwed down and spread load across more legs. (I'm also not concerned over the cost of the legs, its within my budget)
But I can't see any reference to anyone doing this? Which usually means its a brilliant and unique idea, or I'm missing something!
Comments/thoughts welcome
Other thoughts from searching:-
- I was planning to, and I see people do use cross battens instead of legs. After dwelling for a while I'm erring away from this as this would greatly reduce air-flow under the floor - and having suffered condensation previously I don't want any risks and want maximum loft airflow. I feel the high legs will always give a larger free-flow gap for air
- Legs are discussed as not distributing weight as much, but think with 8x legs under each 1.2x0.3m board the weight is distributed enough, excluding weight shared across battens. Current joists cope with me walking on joists and boxes balanced badly, so don't think legs would cause issues for me
Have an area of 4.8 x 3m which I can board, leaving 1m or so around the eves for ventilation. Roof also new with breathable felt.
I think I want to use loft-legs and a raised floor with extra insulation underneath, again leaving room for good airflow under the floor. That's all fine
I'm not worried about load bearing as its all been fine with me walking around with loads of badly placed stuff - so boarding wisely will help spread load.However the loft boards are 1220x320 - and my 1930's house joists are not accurately placed, but around 380mm centers, so boards would have to go length-wise across multiple joists.
Using loft legs I'd have to trim each board by 80mm or so to span 3 joists (with 4 legs touching) on each "row". Trimming each board seems a right faff but its either that or having the joins mid gap unsupported?
So was thinking about putting legs on each joist at 320mm spaces (board width), then screwing some 3x1.5 (68x38) lengths to the top of the legs at 90' to the joist direction. Then placing boards on top of this as it'd not matter where the board joins were as they'd be supported by the 3x2 over the small gap between legs.
Apart from cost of 3x2 (£40) and extra height I can't see a downside to this, should be stronger when screwed down and spread load across more legs. (I'm also not concerned over the cost of the legs, its within my budget)
But I can't see any reference to anyone doing this? Which usually means its a brilliant and unique idea, or I'm missing something!
Comments/thoughts welcome
Other thoughts from searching:-
- I was planning to, and I see people do use cross battens instead of legs. After dwelling for a while I'm erring away from this as this would greatly reduce air-flow under the floor - and having suffered condensation previously I don't want any risks and want maximum loft airflow. I feel the high legs will always give a larger free-flow gap for air
- Legs are discussed as not distributing weight as much, but think with 8x legs under each 1.2x0.3m board the weight is distributed enough, excluding weight shared across battens. Current joists cope with me walking on joists and boxes balanced badly, so don't think legs would cause issues for me
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