Timothy Murphy coughed up some electrons that declared:


I want to make a hole in a plasterboard ceiling
to get access to the roof-space in my one-storey cottage.
I have found that the joists are 1 foot apart,
and am thinking of making the hole a little under 2 feet square,
which would mean cutting one joist.
and putting 2 cross-pieces to hold the joist.

Is this a job I can do myself? Or should I get a builder.
I'm reasonably handy.

Any advice or suggestions gratefully received.



**** As always with free advice on USENET, please wait around for a bit to
see if there's are any refinements on what I'm about to write and make sure
no-one disagrees fundamentally with what's below. ****


Well - it sounds like a pretty standard loft-hatch arrangement.

I assume the joists are only holding the ceiling up? And are 4x2" or vaguely
thereabouts?

Personally (and I'm going by what I've seen, not done myself), I'd:

1) Prop the ceiling joist from below, the one that you're going to cut, at
both sides of the cut (unless one bit will be so short and near the
supporting wall that's it's obviously not worth bothering because you are
sure the ceiling will hold it - I'm talking a couple of feet or less long)

2) Cut the joist and remove the redundant bit in the middle.

3) Arrange two bits of 2x4" (or whatever the size of the joists are) across
the ends of the cuts like this (pieces ac and bd):


a b
=============================== uncut
| |
| |
==========|e f|=========== cut
| |
| |
=============================== uncut
c d

Fix new wood ac and bd at all points so that the joints can take vertical
loads. Often this was done by banging 4" nails into the side of one piece
through the end of the bit it was being fixed to.

This is how all the openings I've seen (not many) have been done.

*** I guess this is exactly what you were thinking of doing, based on your
description? ***

I'm not very keen on structural things (I like wet things and sparky things,
but not together!) and I would tackle a job like this, as long I was
absolutely sure that:

a) the joist wasn't doing anything else other than supporting the ceiling
(do you see any cross braces to purlins or anything like that?)

b) I'd propped it well - acro-props are dirt cheap to hire and you'd need
two, with a 4 offcuts of ply or plank to acts as pads top and bottom to
protect the floor and ceiling finish.

------

You might get away with cutting two joists for a decent sized hatch, but I
wouldn't want to commit to saying it's definitely OK it as I can't see your
ceiling.

HTH

Tim