Hello Everyone,

I need to lay some boarding down in my loft an area of about 2 x 3m
ideally, just for storage of the usual suspects, Christmas trees, old
toys, clothes and suitcases. You know the stuff !

Although capable of doing the work I'm not really sure what I need to
do. If I explain the current set-up could someone please be kind enough
to suggest the next steps. It doesn't need to be ultra smart, just
quick and cheap ideally.

Ok so at the moment there are a load of small rafters (3x2?) which are
approx 1ft apart. Over the top of these are number of larger 4x2
rafters. These rafters combined give a decent height for the newly laid
insulation.

The span between the larger "top" rafters is 1.7m. I want to lay
flooring across the top of these rafters but clearly I cannot span
1.7m. What should I do ? Should I lay more 4x2 rafters in between the
existing ones to reduce the span to 60cms ?

And one really daft question, how would I fix new rafters across the
top of the existing ones, do they just sit there, do they have brackets
or do they just have a nail through them


As you can tell, I'm flundering a bit, so help appreciated.

Chris

Are the top rafters at right angles to the lower rafters or are they
parallel and on top of selcted lower rafters.

dcbwhaley wrote:
Are the top rafters at right angles to the lower rafters or are they
parallel and on top of selcted lower rafters.

They are at right angles. The smaller rafters run at 1ft intervals
across the width of the loft and then the larger ones sit on top at
right angles, with the interval being about 1.7m

Put additional 4x2 between the existing ones on about 400mm spacing
(425mm is the nearest divisor of 1.7m). Lay your loft board across
those screwed to every 4x2, including the existing ones. that should
forn a fairly solid "raft". But remember that the load bearing
capacity is only that of the original 3x2s so no jumping up and down
:-)

And don't use nails. Hammering is likey to disturb the ceiling.

dcbwhaley wrote:
Put additional 4x2 between the existing ones on about 400mm spacing
(425mm is the nearest divisor of 1.7m). Lay your loft board across
those screwed to every 4x2, including the existing ones. that should
forn a fairly solid "raft". But remember that the load bearing
capacity is only that of the original 3x2s so no jumping up and down
:-)

And don't use nails. Hammering is likey to disturb the ceiling.

Thanks very much, appreciate the advice. Can you please just let me
know finally how I should fix the 4x2's across the existing rafters if
I can't hammer nails into them ? Thanks.

wildey wrote:

Can you please just let me
know finally how I should fix the 4x2's across the existing rafters if
I can't hammer nails into them ? Thanks.

In the better DIY shops you will find a recent invention called screws,
be warned that your hammer probably won't be compatible and you'll need
to upgrade it ;-)

The message . com
from "wildey" contains these words:

Thanks very much, appreciate the advice. Can you please just let me
know finally how I should fix the 4x2's across the existing rafters if
I can't hammer nails into them ? Thanks.

Just lay them. Once the boards are in place they're not going to go anywhere.

If desperate you could always screw little noggins to the existing
rafters to stop the new ones sliding about.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Andy Burns wrote:

In the better DIY shops you will find a recent invention called screws,
be warned that your hammer probably won't be compatible and you'll need
to upgrade it ;-)

Hehe, nice..

On a side note, what is the general consensus on how to fix with screws
in this particular kind of scenario, 5-6" long screws through the whole
thing? 4" screws in at an angle or usiing metal brackets and say 1.5"
screws?


//J

The message
from Jan Larsen contains these words:

On a side note, what is the general consensus on how to fix with screws
in this particular kind of scenario, 5-6" long screws through the whole
thing? 4" screws in at an angle or usiing metal brackets and say 1.5"
screws?

Think about what loads will be on it once it's finished. If you can
manage to imagine a likely side-load then it'll need fixing. Otherwise,
just sit them on and let the boarding hold it all together. It's only a
loft!

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Jan Larsen wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

In the better DIY shops you will find a recent invention called
screws, be warned that your hammer probably won't be compatible and
you'll need to upgrade it ;-)

Hehe, nice..

On a side note, what is the general consensus on how to fix with screws
in this particular kind of scenario, 5-6" long screws through the whole
thing? 4" screws in at an angle or usiing metal brackets and say 1.5"
screws?

In this circumstance I would drill a bigish hole (i.e. large enough to
swallow your screw head) 2" deep, then drill right through with a
smaller drill - thus countersinking the screws by a good distance. That
way you can use shorter screws, and there is no danger of trying to
screw the floor down right into another screw that is holding a joist.

--
Cheers,

John.

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John Rumm wrote:
Jan Larsen wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

In the better DIY shops you will find a recent invention called
screws, be warned that your hammer probably won't be compatible and
you'll need to upgrade it ;-)

Hehe, nice..

On a side note, what is the general consensus on how to fix with
screws in this particular kind of scenario, 5-6" long screws through
the whole thing? 4" screws in at an angle or usiing metal brackets and
say 1.5" screws?

In this circumstance I would drill a bigish hole (i.e. large enough to
swallow your screw head) 2" deep, then drill right through with a
smaller drill - thus countersinking the screws by a good distance. That
way you can use shorter screws, and there is no danger of trying to
screw the floor down right into another screw that is holding a joist.


Bloody hell. It's a loft. You only need lightly fix the outside boards,
and not even then if they're up against the wall.

Stuart Noble wrote:

John Rumm wrote:

On a side note, what is the general consensus on how to fix with
screws in this particular kind of scenario, 5-6" long screws through
the whole thing? 4" screws in at an angle or usiing metal brackets
and say 1.5" screws?


In this circumstance I would drill a bigish hole (i.e. large enough to
swallow your screw head) 2" deep, then drill right through with a
smaller drill - thus countersinking the screws by a good distance.
That way you can use shorter screws, and there is no danger of trying
to screw the floor down right into another screw that is holding a joist.


Bloody hell. It's a loft. You only need lightly fix the outside boards,
and not even then if they're up against the wall.

The OP only has 3x2 as the main loft joists though. So fixing the new
boards and spacers will help the load sharing.

--
Cheers,

John.

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| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
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