One of my offspring, who has recently moved in to a two-year-old
house, was hoping to store stuff in the loft. However, the loft has
12" of insulation in it, presumably glass wool, and just putting stuff
on top of this is a no-no.

The question is, how could some storage space be generated up there?

The house has no garage or shed that might have been an alternative.

Would it be an idea to remove some of the current insulation, say
between the hatch and the nearest wall, lay celotex in between the
joists, and board over? The idea being to gain access to an end wall
to put up shelving, and have some robust flooring to use for storage
too.

Any comments or ideas gratefully received.
--

Terry Fields wrote:

One of my offspring, who has recently moved in to a two-year-old
house, was hoping to store stuff in the loft. However, the loft has
12" of insulation in it, presumably glass wool, and just putting stuff
on top of this is a no-no.

The question is, how could some storage space be generated up there?

Well - it depends.
If cost is no object - then 'simply' ripping out all of the existing
insulation, putting 100mm kingspan in between the joists, with 25mm
kingspan over the top, over which chip is placed, will work just fine,
and give comparable thermal performance.

For a 80m^2 attic, you're looking at around a grand for the insulation,
then the chip.

Then there is the question of 'would it be a good idea to increase the
thickness of the ceiling joists - which the answer is usually yes to in
the modern house.
If you do this - and glue and screw 2*4 to the (probably) 4*2 ceiling
beams, then you could get away with 50mm kingspan, and 100mm of
the existing insulation, with 25mm kingspan over the top.

These would leave the insulation value pretty much the same.

On 18 Feb 2007 15:25:52 GMT, Ian Stirling
mused:

Then there is the question of 'would it be a good idea to increase the
thickness of the ceiling joists - which the answer is usually yes to in
the modern house.
If you do this - and glue and screw 2*4 to the (probably) 4*2 ceiling
beams,

After you've checked that the extra weight won't bring the ceilings
down.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

On Feb 18, 3:12 pm, Terry Fields wrote:
One of my offspring, who has recently moved in to a two-year-old
house, was hoping to store stuff in the loft. However, the loft has
12" of insulation in it, presumably glass wool, and just putting stuff
on top of this is a no-no.

The question is, how could some storage space be generated up there?

The house has no garage or shed that might have been an alternative.

Would it be an idea to remove some of the current insulation, say
between the hatch and the nearest wall, lay celotex in between the
joists, and board over? The idea being to gain access to an end wall
to put up shelving, and have some robust flooring to use for storage
too.

If it is going to be stored it might be just as well going to be
dumped. Give it to friends or charity or sell it in a car boot.

On 18 Feb 2007 08:35:48 -0800, "Weatherlawyer"
mused:

On Feb 18, 3:12 pm, Terry Fields wrote:
One of my offspring, who has recently moved in to a two-year-old
house, was hoping to store stuff in the loft. However, the loft has
12" of insulation in it, presumably glass wool, and just putting stuff
on top of this is a no-no.

The question is, how could some storage space be generated up there?

The house has no garage or shed that might have been an alternative.

Would it be an idea to remove some of the current insulation, say
between the hatch and the nearest wall, lay celotex in between the
joists, and board over? The idea being to gain access to an end wall
to put up shelving, and have some robust flooring to use for storage
too.

If it is going to be stored it might be just as well going to be
dumped. Give it to friends or charity or sell it in a car boot.

No, that's not how it works. First, you store it for a few years then
have a clear out, sling it all in the skip and then marvel at how much
space is in the loft now. Repeat until you are moved into a home by
the kids when they then take it all to their houses for storage for a
few years before sticking it all in a skip to clear space in their
loft.
--
Regards,
Stuart.

"Lurch" wrote in message
...

....

If it is going to be stored it might be just as well going to be
dumped. Give it to friends or charity or sell it in a car boot.

No, that's not how it works. First, you store it for a few years then
have a clear out, sling it all in the skip and then marvel at how much
space is in the loft now. Repeat until you are moved into a home by
the kids when they then take it all to their houses for storage for a
few years before sticking it all in a skip to clear space in their
loft.

There's another reason for storage - that of not having enough room for
things which will be used but isn't enough room for in the main body of the
house.

In our case it's raw flax, raw cotton, a spinning wheel, leather, linen and
wool fabric, demonstration equipment, wax, moulds and patterns, jars, tents,
other packaging materials, skins ... all used and all far too valuable to be
disposed but all too large or otherwise unsuitable for keeping downstairs.

Mary

On 18 Feb, 15:12, Terry Fields wrote:
One of my offspring, who has recently moved in to a two-year-old
house, was hoping to store stuff in the loft. However, the loft has
12" of insulation in it, presumably glass wool, and just putting stuff
on top of this is a no-no.

The question is, how could some storage space be generated up there?

The house has no garage or shed that might have been an alternative.

Would it be an idea to remove some of the current insulation, say
between the hatch and the nearest wall, lay celotex in between the
joists, and board over? The idea being to gain access to an end wall
to put up shelving, and have some robust flooring to use for storage
too.

Any comments or ideas gratefully received.

a no cost option is to leave 4" of insulation down, or whatever depth
the joists are, board, then lay the remaining insulation down. Where
youre storing things you roll insulation out of the way. Stored goods
in boxes act as insulation (to a variable extent) as they trap air.


NT