A big thank you to everyone who has posted about raising a loft floor with counter-battens to achieve an acceptable thickness of insulation. I spent about 4 hours reading old posts this past weekend before going out and buying my materials. But now I'm worried...! I took delivery of the timber, flooring and insulating batts this afternoon, and the weight of everything added together seems massive, and by my rough calculations could be over 300 kg.
My 1940's house has 3"x2" joists in the loft, spanning 5m, at centres ranging from 11" to 14". I have bought 200x47(mm) timbers which I intend to run at 90deg across these, over an area of about 12 m^2. (The area is purely for storage - ski gear, old books, suitcases etc.) There are 3 internal brick walls under this area - one at each end and one about 1/3 of the way along - though my new joists will not be resting on these, as the old joists are higher than the brick. (I hope that makes sense!)
My questions:
1. Is a load of 25kg/m^2 acceptable (and that's before I put any items in the loft)? Considering I have had my 100kg stepping from joist to joist from time to time I'm maybe worrying about nothing, but if there's anyone with more experience I'd be glad to hear from you before I cause my ceiling to come in!
2. Could/should I build up above the internal walls to the same level as the old joists, thereby getting the walls to take the brunt of the load? How would I do this?
All advice will be gratefully received, thanks.
My 1940's house has 3"x2" joists in the loft, spanning 5m, at centres ranging from 11" to 14". I have bought 200x47(mm) timbers which I intend to run at 90deg across these, over an area of about 12 m^2. (The area is purely for storage - ski gear, old books, suitcases etc.) There are 3 internal brick walls under this area - one at each end and one about 1/3 of the way along - though my new joists will not be resting on these, as the old joists are higher than the brick. (I hope that makes sense!)
My questions:
1. Is a load of 25kg/m^2 acceptable (and that's before I put any items in the loft)? Considering I have had my 100kg stepping from joist to joist from time to time I'm maybe worrying about nothing, but if there's anyone with more experience I'd be glad to hear from you before I cause my ceiling to come in!
2. Could/should I build up above the internal walls to the same level as the old joists, thereby getting the walls to take the brunt of the load? How would I do this?
All advice will be gratefully received, thanks.