Ceiling Under Attic Problem
 

We have a heat pump. The compressor is outside; the air handler is
inside, in an unfinished attic. I.e., there is no flooring and access
is through a "hatch" reached by a ladder.

Every time someone goes up there, to service the air handler,
install an attic fan, etc., the heads of nails holding the ceiling to
the joists "pop" through the ceiling below, making a very noticeable
dimple in the paint, and occasionally breaking through. It's a real
drag having this happen every time someone goes up there.

Is there some way to prevent this from happening?

I thought that if I were able to floor part of the attic, i.e., the
areas where these servicemen need to walk in order to access the air
handler, might this spread the load somewhat and perhaps prevent these
dimples from forming every time they go up there?

If so, what thickness of particle board should I put down?

If folks think this won't do the trick, what might???

Many thanks,
Bob

R. Gerard wrote:
We have a heat pump. The compressor is outside; the air handler is
inside, in an unfinished attic. I.e., there is no flooring and access
is through a "hatch" reached by a ladder.

Every time someone goes up there, to service the air handler,
install an attic fan, etc., the heads of nails holding the ceiling to
the joists "pop" through the ceiling below, making a very noticeable
dimple in the paint, and occasionally breaking through. It's a real
drag having this happen every time someone goes up there.

Is there some way to prevent this from happening?

I thought that if I were able to floor part of the attic, i.e., the
areas where these servicemen need to walk in order to access the air
handler, might this spread the load somewhat and perhaps prevent these
dimples from forming every time they go up there?

If so, what thickness of particle board should I put down?

Particle board is a bad choice - for anything. If it's just a narrow
area where they have to walk use planks. Generally using 1/2" ply is
all that is needed for such an application, but the 1/2" ply is
probably a bit thin to distribute the load. Stiffness is proportional
to the thickness of the material. You have to balance that with not
adding too much weight - hence the planks. You don't need a high grade
of wood at all, and a couple of 1x8s next to each other will form a
sufficient walkway. It'll be easier to get planks up there anyway.
Don't have adjoining pieces break on the same joist - stagger them. A
lower grade cedar might be your best choice, balancing weight, strength
and cost. Plus they smell nice.

If folks think this won't do the trick, what might???

Pull those offending nails and use screws. They won't pop the same
way. Space them about 8" apart - 1.25" is all you need.

R

R. Gerard wrote:
We have a heat pump. The compressor is outside; the air handler is
inside, in an unfinished attic. I.e., there is no flooring and access
is through a "hatch" reached by a ladder.
....

I thought that if I were able to floor part of the attic, i.e., the
areas where these servicemen need to walk in order to access the air
handler, might this spread the load somewhat and perhaps prevent these
dimples from forming every time they go up there?
....

I like RicodJour's ideas for the floor. I will add another. Try
replacing the nails with drywall screws as they pop. You can add one screw
on each side of each pop. That should reduce the problem.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

RicodJour wrote:
R. Gerard wrote:


If so, what thickness of particle board should I put down?


Particle board is a bad choice - for anything.

Not so fast... It seems to be the perfect and recommended tile
substrate of choice for Rudy and his 30 neighbors who got stuck, oops I
mean blessed with it.

Of course nobody else on the planet accepts it for that, but Rudy says
that second only to 3/8 plywood it's the substrate of choice for him and
his neighbors.

"R. Gerard" wrote in message
...

We have a heat pump. The compressor is outside; the air handler is
inside, in an unfinished attic. I.e., there is no flooring and access
is through a "hatch" reached by a ladder.

Every time someone goes up there, to service the air handler,
install an attic fan, etc., the heads of nails holding the ceiling to
the joists "pop" through the ceiling below, making a very noticeable
dimple in the paint, and occasionally breaking through. It's a real
drag having this happen every time someone goes up there.

Is there some way to prevent this from happening?

I thought that if I were able to floor part of the attic, i.e., the
areas where these servicemen need to walk in order to access the air
handler, might this spread the load somewhat and perhaps prevent these
dimples from forming every time they go up there?

If so, what thickness of particle board should I put down?

If folks think this won't do the trick, what might???

Many thanks,
Bob

Our house is similar. The builder provided walk boards made from 2X stock.
We have never had a problem. I feel pretty sure that if he thought a thinner
material would work, he would have used it.

Colbyt

1/2 inch plywood will spread out the load just fine. Those joists must
be pretty skimpy, as I've never had this problem occur when walking on
joists in any of the homes I've owned. Maybe it's the weight of the
air handler plus a person that's pushing the limit and making the joist
deflect too much.

Colbyt wrote:
"R. Gerard" wrote in message
...

We have a heat pump. The compressor is outside; the air handler is
inside, in an unfinished attic. I.e., there is no flooring and access
is through a "hatch" reached by a ladder.

Every time someone goes up there, to service the air handler,
install an attic fan, etc., the heads of nails holding the ceiling to
the joists "pop" through the ceiling below, making a very noticeable
dimple in the paint, and occasionally breaking through. It's a real
drag having this happen every time someone goes up there.

Is there some way to prevent this from happening?

I thought that if I were able to floor part of the attic, i.e., the
areas where these servicemen need to walk in order to access the air
handler, might this spread the load somewhat and perhaps prevent these
dimples from forming every time they go up there?

If so, what thickness of particle board should I put down?

If folks think this won't do the trick, what might???

Many thanks,
Bob

Our house is similar. The builder provided walk boards made from 2X stock.
We have never had a problem. I feel pretty sure that if he thought a thinner
material would work, he would have used it.

That's entirely overkill. He probably had the boards lying around and
threw them in. If there are any signs of nail holes, paint or cement
on them, they were used somewhere else first and then used as your walk
boards.

R

Gents! Many thanks to all of you for your input. I would not have
thought of approaching the problem from the point of view of either
replacing the nails with screws or bracketing the popped nails with
screws on either side.

Think I may go ahead with putting some flooring up there anyway just
to make it a bit easier for servicemen to get around...and reduce the
possibility of one of them putting his foot through my ceiling!

So...planks and not particleboard???

bob

R. Gerard wrote:
We have a heat pump. The compressor is outside; the air handler is
inside, in an unfinished attic. I.e., there is no flooring and access
is through a "hatch" reached by a ladder.

Every time someone goes up there, to service the air handler,
install an attic fan, etc., the heads of nails holding the ceiling to
the joists "pop" through the ceiling below, making a very noticeable
dimple in the paint, and occasionally breaking through. It's a real
drag having this happen every time someone goes up there.

Is there some way to prevent this from happening?

I thought that if I were able to floor part of the attic, i.e., the
areas where these servicemen need to walk in order to access the air
handler, might this spread the load somewhat and perhaps prevent these
dimples from forming every time they go up there?

If so, what thickness of particle board should I put down?

If folks think this won't do the trick, what might???

Many thanks,
Bob


It sounds to me like you have a engineering problem with the size of
your roof joists. That should not happen. But not much you can do
about it now. Sometimes I wonder what city building inspectors
really do. Sit on their thumbs obviously. Try the other suggestions
with the d/w screws and planks or plywood to evenly distribute the
weight.

Rich

--
"You can lead them to LINUX
but you can't make them THINK"
Linux user #291570
Remove "nospam" to email

When ever I replace a heat pump with an attic indoor unit, I put in a
walkway using 5/8" to 3/4" plywood. Plywood less than 5/8" will not
support my fat ass. I go at least 18" wide and prefer 24" wide. The
walkway is required by code here, but not enforced well/ I figure it
into the price of the job, it is cheaper than replacin a ceiling my
foot went through. It is also better than having an employee hurt,
even though we have workers comp.

But it sounds to me like you have a problem wthh your trusses. Even if
you add flooring, your trusses will not get much stronger, likely your
problem will contimue. Perhaps you should twin your joists (add other
joists next to your existing joists) and fasten them together with
screws. Then put the flooring on top.

Stretch

"G Henslee" wrote in message
...
RicodJour wrote:
R. Gerard wrote:


If so, what thickness of particle board should I put down?


Particle board is a bad choice - for anything.

Not so fast... It seems to be the perfect and recommended tile
substrate of choice for Rudy and his 30 neighbors who got stuck, oops I
mean blessed with it.

Of course nobody else on the planet accepts it for that, but Rudy says
that second only to 3/8 plywood it's the substrate of choice for him and
his neighbors.

You're so full of **** you fag.

In article qfDze.1098$ZN6.802@trnddc02,
Evodawg wrote:


It sounds to me like you have a engineering problem with the size of
your roof joists. That should not happen. But not much you can do
about it now. Sometimes I wonder what city building inspectors
really do. Sit on their thumbs obviously. Try the other suggestions
with the d/w screws and planks or plywood to evenly distribute the
weight.

It's interesting to note that when the service men came out to work
on the air handler and I pointed this problem out to them, they
responded that they see this _all_ the time and that angry homeowners
always blame them for it.

They were so happy to find someone who recognized it was not their
fault that this happened. bob

R. Gerard wrote:

It's interesting to note that when the service men came out to work
on the air handler and I pointed this problem out to them, they
responded that they see this _all_ the time and that angry homeowners
always blame them for it.

They were so happy to find someone who recognized it was not their
fault that this happened.

It kind of is their fault if they don't tell you about it as soon as
they stick their head up there. If they know it's going to happen they
should warn you beforehand.

R

In article . com,
"RicodJour" wrote:

It kind of is their fault if they don't tell you about it as soon as
they stick their head up there. If they know it's going to happen they
should warn you beforehand.

R

Good point. bob