Hello everyone, my house is a 4x7m end of terrace over 100 years old, we’ve done renovating the living spaces and want to strengthen the loft joists so that it can support more weight for storage.
The loft joists are sitting directly on brick walls with no wall plates, and the ceiling underneath it are old lath and plaster ones with some plaster protruding out.
The joists are 1x3, and we want to go up to least 2x6. Here are some questions:
1. Is sistering the old and new joists the best practice? As opposed to glue and nail another 1x3 on top of the existing ones. (2x6 is easier to get)
2. If we do sister joists, since the ceiling surface is not even, we want to elevate the new joists on each ends by about 1/2 inch, is it better to nail the new and old joists together(sistering) or put the new ones in between the old ones(separating them)? My instinct is to go with the first, but the latter idea seems separate the new joists and the new floor above it with the old joists and the ceiling beneath it. I’m not quite sure if it’s better.
thanks a lot!
The loft joists are sitting directly on brick walls with no wall plates, and the ceiling underneath it are old lath and plaster ones with some plaster protruding out.
The joists are 1x3, and we want to go up to least 2x6. Here are some questions:
1. Is sistering the old and new joists the best practice? As opposed to glue and nail another 1x3 on top of the existing ones. (2x6 is easier to get)
2. If we do sister joists, since the ceiling surface is not even, we want to elevate the new joists on each ends by about 1/2 inch, is it better to nail the new and old joists together(sistering) or put the new ones in between the old ones(separating them)? My instinct is to go with the first, but the latter idea seems separate the new joists and the new floor above it with the old joists and the ceiling beneath it. I’m not quite sure if it’s better.
thanks a lot!
