Hi folks,
First up I'm a new user here so hello!
Apologies if this has been covered a million times before, but if it has I can't find it.
We've just moved into an old 1830/40's house and my first big DIY project is sorting out the loft. The insulation currently up there looks to have been installed very badly a very long time ago. I figure I'll replace the existing insulation, fit new insulated loft hatches and board the loft for storage. As far as I can tell this should be a fairly straight forward job generally speaking (as long as I'm careful of course) would you agree?
The snag is I measured up last night and the space between joists is 415mm while the joists themselves are 3x1. My main concern is whether the joists are thick enough as a friend of mine told me the joists need to be 3x2 minimum to support any weight, is that correct?
Also I really want to install some decent loft hatches, the current 'hatch' is literally a board of MDF over the top of access hole which obviously isn't helping keep the heat in. Although I've found a few decent looking hatches (with good reviews) none would fit between my joist space of 415mm. What are my options here?
Once the above is sorted I'm hoping boarding it out is as simple as cutting the boards to size and screwing into the joist?
Thanks all, I really appreciate your help!
Matt
First up I'm a new user here so hello!
Apologies if this has been covered a million times before, but if it has I can't find it.
We've just moved into an old 1830/40's house and my first big DIY project is sorting out the loft. The insulation currently up there looks to have been installed very badly a very long time ago. I figure I'll replace the existing insulation, fit new insulated loft hatches and board the loft for storage. As far as I can tell this should be a fairly straight forward job generally speaking (as long as I'm careful of course) would you agree?
The snag is I measured up last night and the space between joists is 415mm while the joists themselves are 3x1. My main concern is whether the joists are thick enough as a friend of mine told me the joists need to be 3x2 minimum to support any weight, is that correct?
Also I really want to install some decent loft hatches, the current 'hatch' is literally a board of MDF over the top of access hole which obviously isn't helping keep the heat in. Although I've found a few decent looking hatches (with good reviews) none would fit between my joist space of 415mm. What are my options here?
Once the above is sorted I'm hoping boarding it out is as simple as cutting the boards to size and screwing into the joist?
Thanks all, I really appreciate your help!
Matt
