Hi,
Forgive me if I've double posted, there are lots of similar posts and I've read most of them, but I'm after some confirmation info.
I'm planning on bulking up my loft insulation and flooring a section of the loft for storage.
The house was built in the 1960's and is a concrete construction mid-terrace. At the moment there is about 75mm of glass fibre insulation (mostly the original insulation as it is quite tatty, but some newer stuff) and the joists are ~90mm deep.
I was planning on adding an additional 100mm of glass fibre insulation. Ventilation is important for concrete builds, will the 2 layers of insulation have an effect? I know not to push it right into the eaves and not to insulate under the water tank.
Having said that, I actually need to remove insulation from under the tank!! I don't think the previous owner was very diy savvy!
For the flooring...
The area to be floored is the central section of the loft and measures ~2.2m (parallel to joists) by ~5m (right angles to joists). Distance between the joists is 580mm. The joists themselves are 33x90mm (width x depth).
I was going to get the "loft flooring" from B&Q (1220x352mm). But having read some post I’m going to look at 2400x600x18mm T&G chipboard from Wickes.
To accommodate the extra insulation I will need to increase the height of the joists. Is it ok to “double up” the joists by screwing on another bit of wood the same? The flooring would cover about 8 of 10 joists.
What about any sagging of the boards with the extra weight (mainly from the wood), will that affect the ceiling below? It will only be used for light to medium storage and one average weight bloke occasionally walking around. In one of the other posts here they suggest putting lengths of wood crossways to the joist to help spread the weight of the board. Also the largest wall in the upstairs runs down the middle of the area to be floored. I’m guessing this will be a load bearing wall which will probably help.
Is there any recommended space between the floor boards and the insulation?
And the last thing… the wall adjoining my loft with my two neighbours is un insulated concrete, is that a problem? I figure as long as my loft is well insulated then there is no detrimental affect on me. If they have poorer insulation their heating bill will partially pay to heat my loft!
Cheers
Forgive me if I've double posted, there are lots of similar posts and I've read most of them, but I'm after some confirmation info.
I'm planning on bulking up my loft insulation and flooring a section of the loft for storage.
The house was built in the 1960's and is a concrete construction mid-terrace. At the moment there is about 75mm of glass fibre insulation (mostly the original insulation as it is quite tatty, but some newer stuff) and the joists are ~90mm deep.
I was planning on adding an additional 100mm of glass fibre insulation. Ventilation is important for concrete builds, will the 2 layers of insulation have an effect? I know not to push it right into the eaves and not to insulate under the water tank.
Having said that, I actually need to remove insulation from under the tank!! I don't think the previous owner was very diy savvy!
For the flooring...
The area to be floored is the central section of the loft and measures ~2.2m (parallel to joists) by ~5m (right angles to joists). Distance between the joists is 580mm. The joists themselves are 33x90mm (width x depth).
I was going to get the "loft flooring" from B&Q (1220x352mm). But having read some post I’m going to look at 2400x600x18mm T&G chipboard from Wickes.
To accommodate the extra insulation I will need to increase the height of the joists. Is it ok to “double up” the joists by screwing on another bit of wood the same? The flooring would cover about 8 of 10 joists.
What about any sagging of the boards with the extra weight (mainly from the wood), will that affect the ceiling below? It will only be used for light to medium storage and one average weight bloke occasionally walking around. In one of the other posts here they suggest putting lengths of wood crossways to the joist to help spread the weight of the board. Also the largest wall in the upstairs runs down the middle of the area to be floored. I’m guessing this will be a load bearing wall which will probably help.
Is there any recommended space between the floor boards and the insulation?
And the last thing… the wall adjoining my loft with my two neighbours is un insulated concrete, is that a problem? I figure as long as my loft is well insulated then there is no detrimental affect on me. If they have poorer insulation their heating bill will partially pay to heat my loft!
Cheers
