Hi I've just had my loft insulated to 270mm and now have a problem,
where the hell to put all the boxes that came out of it without crushing
the insulation or wrecking the insulation every time I need a box out.

My loft has what I believe is called a purlin beam running around the
loft. The bottom of this purlin is a couple of inches above the top of
the insulation so I'm wondering if I can attach some joist hangers to
hang some 4x2 joists across the span (2.8mtrs) then lay chipboard loft
flooring over them? It should be possible to support the 4x2 in the
middle of the span if necessary but it's not going to be supporting a
huge amount of weight and I'd rather not if possible. It's not going to
be used to walk on, only be crawled on to retrieve/replace boxes,
there's no possibility of it ever being walked on as the loft is only
5ft and will be around 4ft after this.

Does this sound a reasonable plan?
--
Clint Sharp

Clint Sharp wrote:
Hi I've just had my loft insulated to 270mm and now have a problem,
where the hell to put all the boxes that came out of it without crushing
the insulation or wrecking the insulation every time I need a box out.

Additional 3" or 4" joists on top of and perpendicular to the existing
floor/ceiling joists and panel over that?

JGH

In message
,
jgharston writes
Clint Sharp wrote:
Hi I've just had my loft insulated to 270mm and now have a problem,
where the hell to put all the boxes that came out of it without crushing
the insulation or wrecking the insulation every time I need a box out.

Additional 3" or 4" joists on top of and perpendicular to the existing
floor/ceiling joists and panel over that?

JGH

Alas the insulation is laid in two layers perpendicular to each other so
to do that would mean having to lift all the insulation and re-lay it,
not impossible but I dislike working in the loft and with raw mineral
wool especially so a 'floating' storage floor would be my preference if
it's at all possible

Adding only an extra 4" height to the existing loft 'floor' would crush
down the insulation too.
--
Clint Sharp

In article 91211812-f875-4915-b3c3-5b1f59a461e7@
17g2000prf.googlegroups.com, says...
Additional 3" or 4" joists on top of and perpendicular to the existing
floor/ceiling joists and panel over that?


That's what I did and it's worked fine.

--
Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

In article ,
says...
Alas the insulation is laid in two layers perpendicular to each other so
to do that would mean having to lift all the insulation and re-lay it,


Nah, just tear it where the new joists are going.

--
Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

On 29/01/2011 11:29, Clint Sharp wrote:
In message
,
jgharston writes
Clint Sharp wrote:
Hi I've just had my loft insulated to 270mm and now have a problem,
where the hell to put all the boxes that came out of it without crushing
the insulation or wrecking the insulation every time I need a box out.

Additional 3" or 4" joists on top of and perpendicular to the existing
floor/ceiling joists and panel over that?

JGH

Alas the insulation is laid in two layers perpendicular to each other so
to do that would mean having to lift all the insulation and re-lay it,
not impossible but I dislike working in the loft and with raw mineral
wool especially so a 'floating' storage floor would be my preference if
it's at all possible

Adding only an extra 4" height to the existing loft 'floor' would crush
down the insulation too.

A breeze block at either end, and a couple of lengths of 2" x 1"
between them? Not much deflection unless your boxes are really heavy

In message , Skipweasel
writes
In article ,
says...
Alas the insulation is laid in two layers perpendicular to each other so
to do that would mean having to lift all the insulation and re-lay it,


Nah, just tear it where the new joists are going.

OK but what about the crushing of the insulation? It's going to halve
the depth if I do that and surely that's going to stop it working so
well?
--
Clint Sharp

Clint Sharp ) wibbled on Saturday 29 January 2011
12:02:

In message , Skipweasel
writes
In article ,
says...
Alas the insulation is laid in two layers perpendicular to each other so
to do that would mean having to lift all the insulation and re-lay it,


Nah, just tear it where the new joists are going.

OK but what about the crushing of the insulation? It's going to halve
the depth if I do that and surely that's going to stop it working so
well?

Hmm. Sadly this would have been easier to solve before the new insulation
went in.

But - change the suggestion for 4" joists to 6". You'll crush down the
insulation by one inch which will make no practical difference.

You say the new insulation is 90deg to the old. So the old was 4" bewteen
the ceiling joists and the new is 7" crossways giving you 11" or 270mm
*total*?

In which case, perpendicular joists would be fine.

You will get away with 500mm spacing easily, and even 600mm for light loft
storage - especially of you screw ply or T&G chip down at regular spacings
(but think how you will get to your wiring - I'd use ply meself and I would
not glue it (even though it would be a strength advantage).

You can fix your new joists to the old ones at every intersection with
TimberLok or Reisser screws - basically rally long screws that can be driven
through the top joist into the lower by an electric drill or suitably meaty
power driver.

How are you for headroom?

--
Tim Watts

In article ,
says...
OK but what about the crushing of the insulation? It's going to halve
the depth if I do that and surely that's going to stop it working so
well?


That would depend on how high you made the new floor, Shirley.

--
Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

In message , Tim Watts
writes
OK but what about the crushing of the insulation? It's going to halve
the depth if I do that and surely that's going to stop it working so
well?

Hmm. Sadly this would have been easier to solve before the new insulation
went in.

I agree entirely, benefit of hindsight and all that..

But - change the suggestion for 4" joists to 6". You'll crush down the
insulation by one inch which will make no practical difference.

I think I'm going to have to accept some crushing of the insulation if I
go this route but what I've not seen is any comment on my idea of
hanging the flooring from the purlin using joist hangers..

Basically, the loft is enclosed by horizontal beams 2.5x8 front, rear
and side the bottoms of which are about 2 inches above the top of the
insulation. My idea was to affix joist hangers to this and run my 2x4s
across the loft, supporting in the middle, a span of 2.8 mtrs spaced at
500mm then laying chipboard T&G loft flooring over them.


You say the new insulation is 90deg to the old. So the old was 4" bewteen
the ceiling joists and the new is 7" crossways giving you 11" or 270mm
*total*?
I know in the eyes of the green gods I have sinned, there was no
insulation at all but what you say is fairly accurate yes.

In which case, perpendicular joists would be fine.

You will get away with 500mm spacing easily, and even 600mm for light loft
storage - especially of you screw ply or T&G chip down at regular spacings
(but think how you will get to your wiring - I'd use ply meself and I would
not glue it (even though it would be a strength advantage).
I'd screw it down and mark the wiring locations in black marker, I'm not
too bothered if I have to cut through the chip in the future, it's cheap
and fairly simple to replace, to my mind the hard bit of the job is
getting the joists sorted? 500mm fits nicely for the loft, a midge's
over 3 metres long by 2.8 wide.

You can fix your new joists to the old ones at every intersection with
TimberLok or Reisser screws - basically rally long screws that can be driven
through the top joist into the lower by an electric drill or suitably meaty
power driver.


How are you for headroom?

Will be OK for the boxes but putting them in means bending double after
adding the floor so it's only ever going to be storage space unless I
win some serious money (at which point I'd move anyway)
--
Clint Sharp

In message , Clint Sharp
writes
In message , Tim Watts
writes
OK but what about the crushing of the insulation? It's going to halve
the depth if I do that and surely that's going to stop it working so
well?
Right, it's all done, joist hangers off the purlin beam, front and back,
4x2 joists supported in the middle on the top of a wall and boarded over
at 50cm intervals, lovely and solid, no discernible movement and no
crushing of insulation at all. Anyone interested in before and after
pics?
--
Clint Sharp

I'm thinking of doing this very task - may I please see the before and after piccies (if you still have them :-))? Many thanks, Ian.

On Monday, 31 January 2011 22:15:28 UTC, Clint Sharp wrote:
In message , Clint Sharp
writes
In message , Tim Watts
writes
OK but what about the crushing of the insulation? It's going to halve
the depth if I do that and surely that's going to stop it working so
well?
Right, it's all done, joist hangers off the purlin beam, front and back,
4x2 joists supported in the middle on the top of a wall and boarded over
at 50cm intervals, lovely and solid, no discernible movement and no
crushing of insulation at all. Anyone interested in before and after
pics?
--
Clint Sharp

On 13/11/2014 23:20, wrote:
I'm thinking of doing this very task - may I please see the before and after piccies (if you still have them :-))? Many thanks, Ian.

On Monday, 31 January 2011 22:15:28 UTC, Clint Sharp wrote:
In message , Clint Sharp
writes
In message , Tim Watts
writes
OK but what about the crushing of the insulation? It's going to halve
the depth if I do that and surely that's going to stop it working so
well?
Right, it's all done, joist hangers off the purlin beam, front and back,
4x2 joists supported in the middle on the top of a wall and boarded over
at 50cm intervals, lovely and solid, no discernible movement and no
crushing of insulation at all. Anyone interested in before and after
pics?
--
Clint Sharp

Pictures are always appreciated

In article ,
writes:
I'm thinking of doing this very task - may I please see the before and after piccies (if you still have them :-))? Many thanks, Ian.

Haven't seen him here for yearly 4 years.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]