Loft Legs - Are cross beams needed to support the 600mm edge ?

[gavman99]

A very reputable and highly recommended loft company have floored my loft.

Existing joists are 600mm centres.
Standard height plastic loft legs have been used.
A 3x3 grid of 2400x600x18 mm T&G loft boards have been laid on top of the loft legs.

The installer has not put any timber cross beams anywhere which means the 600mm edge is not supported. AI suggests no support under the long edge is fine as weight is transferred better to adjacent boards but no support under the short edge could be an issue.

Any truth to this ? And if so, how concerning is it ? They're coming back tomorrow to fit the loft ladder so I havent pad anything yet. Should I insist they lift it up and add crossbeams or I am worrying about nothing ?

Loft wil be used for typical house stuff but there is quite a few boxes to go up there. And I'm 19 stone / 120 kg.

Thanks.

 

[Tigercubrider]

I am not qualified but..
Are you saying that the edges are 600mm and not supported?
How much space vertically is there above the edge?

You could ask them to add edge supports.
You probably don’t need them.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You don't fit any timbers around the perimeters of the boards when using loft legs, that's the whole point.

 

[gavman99]

To clarify, not even in the middle of the boards where one 600mm edge joins in with another 600mm edge ?

 

[Koolpc]

if you use loft legs you don't need anything else.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

To clarify, not even in the middle of the boards where one 600mm edge joins in with another 600mm edge ?

But you've got a loft leg every 600mm in every direction - correct?

TBH if I was forced to use loft legs I would probably have a bit of timber around the perimeter of the boarded space but that's because I think having the boards unsupported around the edges is a bit crap. But then I would never use loft legs to start with. But if you employ someone to fit them then they'll do them as per the manufacturers instructions. Unless you pay extra and ask for it beforehand.

 

[gavman99]

So the 9 loft boards make up a 7.2m x 1.8m rectangle. There are loft legs every 600mm in all directions.

Turns out they did put a timber support along both 1.8m ends as there are no legs on these edges. No other timber support was added. Everything else is secured only into the loft legs.

I was assuming there would also be a timber support every 600mm running perpendicular to the boards. Which is what would be supporting the boards if we didn’t use loft legs and they were sitting directly on the joists.