Sorry if this has been answered but I can't find the answer by
searching.

I am about to attempt to board (T&G from B&Q) out my loft (not really
done much DIY before) and it is a 1900 mid terrace house.

Each board needs cutting slightly if the ends of adjacant boards are to
meet in the middle of a joist. The joists look like 4" deep and 1"
across.

That doesn't leave much room to screw each board down at the end on the
joist - only 1/2" or so and according to the instructions which come
with the boards the screw should be 15mm from the edge.

Am I going to have a problem screwing them down so close to the edge?
Should I leave the edges and just screw down on the joists which are
spanned by the board?

wrote:
Sorry if this has been answered but I can't find the answer by
searching.

I am about to attempt to board (T&G from B&Q) out my loft (not really
done much DIY before) and it is a 1900 mid terrace house.

Each board needs cutting slightly if the ends of adjacant boards are
to meet in the middle of a joist. The joists look like 4" deep and 1"
across.

That doesn't leave much room to screw each board down at the end on
the joist - only 1/2" or so and according to the instructions which
come with the boards the screw should be 15mm from the edge.

Am I going to have a problem screwing them down so close to the edge?
Should I leave the edges and just screw down on the joists which are
spanned by the board?

If you're using T&G then you probably only need to screw them down where a
whole board spans the joist. Where they butt together, they should have
another board which fits into their toungle/grove. This board will span a
joist and be screwed down. Once everything is completed, the butt joints
should be held down by the T&G's of the neighbouring boards which are
screwed down properly.

That's what I would do - whether its the 'correct' thing I don't know.

One word of warning - if your joists are 1" wide, then you're going to have
to be accurate with the screwing on the spanned boards, as you won't be able
to see exactly where you're screwing in. So best mark the position of the
joists onto the top edge of each board as you go, allowing you to draw a
line between the marks on the new and previous board, showing where the
joist goes, allowing accurate drilling/screwing.

David

wrote in message
oups.com...
Sorry if this has been answered but I can't find the answer by
searching.

I am about to attempt to board (T&G from B&Q) out my loft (not really
done much DIY before) and it is a 1900 mid terrace house.

Each board needs cutting slightly if the ends of adjacant boards are to
meet in the middle of a joist. The joists look like 4" deep and 1"
across.

That doesn't leave much room to screw each board down at the end on the
joist - only 1/2" or so and according to the instructions which come
with the boards the screw should be 15mm from the edge.

Am I going to have a problem screwing them down so close to the edge?
Should I leave the edges and just screw down on the joists which are
spanned by the board?


if your joists are that narrow then the weight of the boards may be too much
anyway!

mrcheerful

In article .com,
wrote:
Each board needs cutting slightly if the ends of adjacant boards are to
meet in the middle of a joist. The joists look like 4" deep and 1"
across.

If they really are 4x1 I'd be a bit worried about the weight of the new
floor, let alone anything you're likely to put up there.

However, you shouldn't arrange things so all the boards join over the same
joist. It will mean more cutting, but not necessarily more waste, to
stagger the joins.

--
*Aim Low, Reach Your Goals, Avoid Disappointment *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In message , David Hearn
writes
wrote:
Sorry if this has been answered but I can't find the answer by
searching.

I am about to attempt to board (T&G from B&Q) out my loft (not really
done much DIY before) and it is a 1900 mid terrace house.

Each board needs cutting slightly if the ends of adjacant boards are
to meet in the middle of a joist. The joists look like 4" deep and 1"
across.

That doesn't leave much room to screw each board down at the end on
the joist - only 1/2" or so and according to the instructions which
come with the boards the screw should be 15mm from the edge.

If you're using T&G then you probably only need to screw them down where a
whole board spans the joist. Where they butt together, they should have
another board which fits into their toungle/grove.

These are most likely just standard T&G boards with side T&G's not end
ones as well.

One word of warning - if your joists are 1" wide, then you're going to have
to be accurate with the screwing on the spanned boards, as you won't be able
to see exactly where you're screwing in.

If they really are 1 inch wide then I'd forget the whole idea as I'd
doubt the strength of the joists but that sounds very narrow, I'd expect
more like 3x2 or 4x2. Have you actually measured them David?

If you did do it then I'd screw a bit of batten to the side of the
relevant joist to get a better thickness of wood to fix into.
--
Chris French, Leeds

chris French wrote:
In message , David Hearn
writes
wrote:
Sorry if this has been answered but I can't find the answer by
searching.

I am about to attempt to board (T&G from B&Q) out my loft (not
really done much DIY before) and it is a 1900 mid terrace house.

Each board needs cutting slightly if the ends of adjacant boards are
to meet in the middle of a joist. The joists look like 4" deep and
1" across.

That doesn't leave much room to screw each board down at the end on
the joist - only 1/2" or so and according to the instructions which
come with the boards the screw should be 15mm from the edge.

If you're using T&G then you probably only need to screw them down
where a whole board spans the joist. Where they butt together, they
should have another board which fits into their toungle/grove.

These are most likely just standard T&G boards with side T&G's not end
ones as well.

If the butt joint is fully supported by a joist, there's no need for a T&G
on the end is there? I was meaning that where they butt together, there's
no T&G on the joint, but the neighbouring boards would fit into their side
T&G's. Hard do describe with words.

One word of warning - if your joists are 1" wide, then you're going
to have to be accurate with the screwing on the spanned boards, as
you won't be able to see exactly where you're screwing in.

If they really are 1 inch wide then I'd forget the whole idea as I'd
doubt the strength of the joists but that sounds very narrow, I'd
expect more like 3x2 or 4x2. Have you actually measured them David?

I'm not the OP...


David

In message , David Hearn
writes
chris French wrote:
In message , David Hearn
writes
wrote:
I am about to attempt to board (T&G from B&Q) out my loft (not
really done much DIY before) and it is a 1900 mid terrace house.

Each board needs cutting slightly if the ends of adjacant boards are
to meet in the middle of a joist. The joists look like 4" deep and
1" across.

If you're using T&G then you probably only need to screw them down
where a whole board spans the joist. Where they butt together, they
should have another board which fits into their toungle/grove.

These are most likely just standard T&G boards with side T&G's not end
ones as well.

If the butt joint is fully supported by a joist, there's no need for a T&G
on the end is there? I was meaning that where they butt together, there's
no T&G on the joint, but the neighbouring boards would fit into their side
T&G's. Hard do describe with words.


Ah, I understand what you meant now. It's not the 'right' way to do it
though, relying on the T&G to support the end of the board
Have you actually measured them David?

I'm not the OP...

Ah, whoops :-) mis read the attributions
--
Chris French, Leeds

chris French wrote:
In message , David Hearn
writes
chris French wrote:
In message , David Hearn
writes
wrote:
I am about to attempt to board (T&G from B&Q) out my loft (not
really done much DIY before) and it is a 1900 mid terrace house.

Each board needs cutting slightly if the ends of adjacant boards
are to meet in the middle of a joist. The joists look like 4"
deep and 1" across.

If you're using T&G then you probably only need to screw them down
where a whole board spans the joist. Where they butt together,
they should have another board which fits into their toungle/grove.

These are most likely just standard T&G boards with side T&G's not
end ones as well.

If the butt joint is fully supported by a joist, there's no need for
a T&G on the end is there? I was meaning that where they butt
together, there's no T&G on the joint, but the neighbouring boards
would fit into their side T&G's. Hard do describe with words.


Ah, I understand what you meant now. It's not the 'right' way to do it
though, relying on the T&G to support the end of the board

Nearly there - I was suggesting that the joist supported the end of the
board (un fixed), rather than the butt joing floating in air relying on the
T&G to keep it in place. The neighbouring boards which spanned the joist
would be screwed to the joist, meaning the T&G would have to stop and major
upward movement caused by weight put between joists, but I think this would
be far less of a problem than relying on it to stop downward movement. Of
course, this requires that each row is staggered by 1/2 (like a standard
brickwork pattern).

Have you actually measured them David?

I'm not the OP...

Ah, whoops :-) mis read the attributions

Well now I am worried then, I have re-measured them and they are
definitely only 1" thick and spaced around 17" apart.

I don't want my ceilings to cave in.

In article .com,
MankyManning wrote:
Well now I am worried then, I have re-measured them and they are
definitely only 1" thick and spaced around 17" apart.

The smallest joists in my house are 4x2" and only span about 4 ft. And
that's decent Victorian timber.

4x1 are merely ceiling supporters - and only just.

I don't want my ceilings to cave in.

I'd say they would if you add any appreciable load. I'd be worried enough
about just my body weight up there.

--
*Never kick a cow pat on a hot day *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

MankyManning wrote:
Well now I am worried then, I have re-measured them and they are
definitely only 1" thick and spaced around 17" apart.

I don't want my ceilings to cave in.

You can still put down boards, but be careful about where. If you
can arrange to board a couple of feet either side of a supporting
wall, for instance, or somewhere that the span as small, such as
over a stair, it could be OK. I wouldn't store great blocks of
lead or similar up there, nor board off anything more than a foot
or two close to a support. You might have a vague possibility of
adding new joists above the existing ceiling, between and higher
than the existing ones, and boarding those.