UKH

I'm looking to make better use my roof space. Its insulated.
Next I want to lay some floor boards and some lighting. Finally finishing of with some ladders.

Any tips on flooring and adding some lighting?
How is it tricky? Costly? I'll be great to have somewhere i can throw all the all old Christmas dec's, books and other rubbish.

In reply to goldmember:

If you're not living there you want to maintain the best insulation to the rooms below. What I'm doing is insulating with 300mm for most of it, using loft legs (or something similar) to support timber over the 200mm top-up. Building storage cupboards on top for things like decorations and clothes in vac-pack bags. Leaving some area with solid (walkable) flooring. For this I'll use a better insulation that is solid and thinner (with same total U value).

Lighting is easy. Assuming you're okay adding altering upstairs lighting, just extend that circuit to give you some lights and a switch by the hatch.

In reply to goldmember:
I've boarded 4 lofts in the last few years. The important thing is to raise the floor to get the minimum insulation thickness - currently 270mm, iirc.

I've done this 3 times by using 2 layers of beams on top of the existing rafters, at 90 degrees to each other, so you end up with 3 criss-cross layers of (about) 100mm insulation and a rock solid platform. You can end up with a bit of cutting and fiddling, but overall it's quite quick, if awkward depending on roof space. I used these on edge, screwed at 45 degrees:

http://www.diy.com/nav/build/timber/construction-timber/studwork/Spruce-CLS...

When I did my sister's loft, I used plastic supports and 200mm top-up roll, which were quick and easy - use the right screws and you don't even need to drill pilot holes:

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Loftleg-175mm-Loft-Legs-Pack-12/p/100412

Each method has it's pros and cons, but pricewise the legs were slightly more. I don't think you need as many as they say, either.

Don't forget a suitable mask and having 2 battery drills is so much easier.

In reply to Philip:



I might try and avoid using the loft legs and just have board on top of the rafters.

How do I go about adding to the upstairs lighting loom?

Should I do line the up right surfaces too ?

In reply to goldmember:


Good luck with that. (Try googling what a rafter is)

In reply to Philip:

Ok dear, I'll not please inform

In reply to goldmember:

Best bet is get up there, see what you've got to work with structure-wise and what you have to work around, see what you can fit through the hatch then plan it from there. You don't want to compress your insulation and you need to be careful not to trap or route your wires through too much insulation. T&G chipboard from a timber yard will work out much cheaper than 'loft boards' from DiY places. That goes for all your timber.

Loft legs are handy if you need to raise the deck but I found mine needed pilot holes. In reality if you have a decent saw then cutting your own is probably as quick and much cheaper.

Make sure chipboard edges are supported where you'll be stepping especially in high wear areas around the hatch.

There's little point in boarding vertical surfaces unless you plan to use it as an occasional space rather than pure storage (it'll be nasty ho/cold/muggy/draughty without care).

Wait till autumn, it'll be horrid working up there at the moment.

Loft ladders come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and attachment options. I'm prowling Ebay presently and there's lots available cheap.

Adding lights is easy but you need to know how to work safely and you'll need a few tools. I'd suggest a DiY book or a good online tutorial as a starting point. Don't assume it's isolated because you've flipped the breaker, check!

Basically you pick up power from a top floor ceiling rose, run it to your light fitting then drop a switch wire from your light fitting to a switch by the hatch. Very easy in principal.

jk

In reply to jkarran:
Thanks just what i'm after!

In reply to goldmember:

I did our loft earlier this year. Bought the material from a local builder's merchant (free delivery once you spend over £120), so that's loft ladder; 50x50 battens; new insulation; T&G chipboard. Total cost was about £250. I also bought a cheap circular saw for about £40 from B&Q, makes it much easier to cut the chipboard. There was an existing flourescent tube so didn't have to worry about lighting.

The existing joists were 75mm deep so used the battens to get them up to 125mm, couldn't really go much deeper than that as I'd run out of headroom. Cut the battens to length so that I didn't trap any wiring and screwed them to the top of the joists. I went inline rather than at 90deg as there are supporting timbers. I then replaced the existing insulation before putting the chipboard on top. I only screwed the chipboard around the hatch area so that it didn't get pushed around.

There was lots of going up and down the ladder as I was doing all the cutting outside. The house is old and not square so pretty well every sheet needed cutting.

Now that the loft is properly boarded out rather than spare cut-offs from the house build the kit is stowed away better and there's lots of room. Pretty well everything now gets stacked in the lower side areas so the main central part is clear. I added shelving at the gable end for climbing gear.

Well worth doing, there's quite a bit of kit that was stored in the bedrooms that's now out of the way.

In reply to goldmember:


i think he was just being pedantic, I assume most know what you mean, as thats how most would say it, but technically (I think) you're boarding out ceiling joists, which are rafters to you and me.

In reply to Bob:

Ok, what about ventilation? How should I keep the air flowing

In reply to goldmember:

I'd take care with how much weight you add to the ceilings by adding all the timber and storing items up there. If you get much flex you may crap all your ceilings resulting in an expensive plastering bill.

In reply to goldmember:

Depends on the house really, modern houses have vents in the soffits, older houses have air bricks or similar. So long as you don't block them up then you'll be fine. Basically for soffit vents don't push the insulation right in to the angle between roof and floor.

In reply to Bob:

House has Soffits. I'll take care to leave a reasonable gap.

I cant imagine carting much heavy stuff up their. but if did I'd break in down into small loads. and spread it out according.

How should the chipboard be anchored down? plasterboard screws into the rafters?

sounds like a fun weekend project. We have a building site nearby I might speak to site manager to see what usual bits i can get cheaply or for free!

In reply to goldmember:
Just normal woodscrews will be fine. You only need a couple per sheet to stop them moving around and potentially having the join not be centred on the joist. I'd also make sure that if there's any wiring you can get to it easily without having to take half the floor up. I made sure there was a snug fit around the hatch area and fixed those boards but removed the T&G from them as that's where the wiring is. the other boards are just sat there as they aren't going to get much movement.

One thing to note is that try not to have small slivers of boarding at the edges or where you are going to walk lots like around the hatch, so if you've got 700mm width to fill don't use a full board width of 600mm leaving 100mm but go for 400mm & 300mm.

In reply to goldmember:

If you put extra timber in to increase the insulation depth then you should run them on top of the existing joists and screw them in every 2 feet. This will increase the depth you can put insulation in whilst maintaining the structural integrity or increasing it - joist strength is based on the cube of the depth. Fitting cross 'joists' as someone has done above adds weight to the structure but little strength. However, your insulation may compress under it's own weight, so you may want to put some sort of netting inbetween the two layers of joist to support the upper levels of insulation.
Don't forget to leave an area for the loft ladder to slide up into. It's also probably easiest to board out starting round the loft hatch and working towards the edges so you move around on nice new secure boards!
Electrics - easy, but ensure they can't get too hot and that you won't put fixings through cables. My parents have a dual switch in one of the bedrooms so they can turn the loft light off if they forget to do it when they're up there (they used to have to use a step ladder)
B&Q do chipboard with polystyrene bonded to the underside for making loft floors. Personally I'd use plywood rather than chipboard as chipboard's not particularly strong and any water ingress from a missing slate or tile will turn chipboard into a soggy mess.

In reply to goldmember:

Oh, insulate the loft hatch too. and between the rafters. Easiest way is to wedge kingspan or celotex sheets in the gaps.