Loft Boarding with Insulation

Hi, I'm new to the forum so forgive me if this exact subject has been covered and please bear with me as my DIY knowledge is somewhat limited....

My mother has just had her loft insulated free of charge as she is over 70. However, rather than laying it in between the rafters as we expected, it was layed in blanket fashion on top of and across the joists, making the joists & wiring etc not visible (All there is, is a sea of insulation).

Beforehand she had some old temporary 'flooring' which we have now thrown away.
I was hoping to put in place some better form of flooring in an area of the loft purely for storing purposes. However, the way the loft has been insulated makes this trickier to achieve, as its been layed on top of everything, and we cannot see the wooden joists!

We need to achieve something as my mum has a fair bit of stuff to store back up into the loft.

I'm aware that the flooring shouldn't be in contact with the insulation and nor should the insulation be compressed down, so I'm at a loss to know how to approach this, short of taking the insulation away (which I don't really want to do).

Please can someone advise what the best way forward is in order to achieve some kind of acceptable flooring in the roofspace?

I would also appreciate some advise in the best material to use and the best place to get it from.

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

Nos.

measure and tell us:

the depth of the insulation

if there is already more insulation between the timbers, what size

the thickness, width and spacing of the loft timbers

A photo of the loft timbers so we can see how it is built will also help

When that is known, we will suggest how you can counterbatten for your flooring. It will take a certain amount of basic carpentry work so I hope you don't want to do the whole loft.

You might consider throwing away or ebaying some of the stuff in the loft.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I can try and get measurements and possibly a few pics, but I won't be going over there again until sometime next week.
There is some very thin insulation which was already there, but its almost insignificant, its so thin.

No, we certainly don't need to board the entire loft space, just a small section of it, really.

I'm hoping its not all going to go back up there, so might well consider eBaying whatever I can, or even binning some of it, even.... but there will still be some stuff which will need to be stored up there. My mum is having to live around it all at the moment!

I'm certainly happy to attempt some carpentry to achieve what is required.

I will post some measurements, etc within the next week or so, and if that helps, your advice will be appreciated.

Cheers
Nos

OK

Your can search on "Counterbatten" but I will probably end up suggesting you lay some 100x50 or 150x50 timbers crossways across the existing timbers, at 600 centres or less, The new insulation can be scissored to fit between them, and the boards laid on top. You want each board to stand on at least three of the counterbattens, and a counterbatten under each joint between boards

Rafters, counterbattens and boards should all be screwed together and it will be quite rigid.

12mm WBP ply will be strong enough for light storage, and resistant to damp. 18mm is stronger but heavier to get up the ladder. Give it a try, but you can probably manhandle a 2440x610 board through the loft hatch

You need an airspace between board and insulation to prevent condensation

Electricity cables for immersion heater or electric shower should not be encased in insulation as they will overheat. lighting cables are very lightly loaded so are usually OK (there are ways of calculating this accurately)

Thanks for that, although I am probably misunderstanding what you are saying; Using the counterbattens being laid crossways, I still cannot see how the new flooring will be high enough to clear the new, very thick insulation that has been laid over the rafters. I don't suppose you have a photo something that shows something like what you are suggesting?

I will go ahead and get measurements and few pics of the roof, which will hopefully clarify what I am trying to say.

JohnD said:

across the existing timbers, at 600 centres or less

Click to expand...

Also, I didn't understand what you meant by this (Sorry!)

600mm

two feet

"600 centres" mean they are at 2 foot intervals (but not two feet apart as they are 150mm by 50mm (six inches by two) so the gap between them will be 1 foot ten.

If you were to draw lines 600mm apart, you would then put one of these timbers on each line. the centres of each timber would then be 600mm apart

Measuring centres (not intervals) means you don't have to take account of the thickness of the item, as you would if you measured the distance between them

If the counterbattens are 150mm deep, that will allow you to have 150mm of insulation between them, plus whatever is between the existing rafters (this would usually be about 100mm, giving a total of 250mm thick insulation (ten inches) which is plenty. the rolls of insulation that have recently been installed might or might not be a convenient thickness, but if you are only flooring a small section of the loft you can, if necessary, buy a couple of rolls of 100mm or 150mm at modest cost for the floored area.

That was why I was asking for the dimensions of the timbers and insulation, to work out best how to do it.