hi all

welcome to my loft!

our loft is quite small, so i just want to do is board this area out for storage. the previous owner had a go, but all he's done is lie some boards down on top of the insulation, so all the weight is resting on the ceiling, which i'm not sure will take much weight so currently we don't use this space

i was thinking i could put in some new joists, which stretch between the large beam at the bottom of the photo, over to the other wall (party wall). then i'll have something solid to put boards onto, and a lot more space under the boards for extra insulation

what i'm not sure of is how to support the new joists. at the wall end there is no ledge or wall plate, so should i use a joist hanger like one of these? i presumably would need to scrape away some mortar so that it can sit directly onto the brick, and then re-point. all while trying not to fall through the ceiling…

is this going to work or is there a better way to do it?

the other end i could just sit the new joists on top of the large beam, which is 8"x2", and maybe use another brackety thing to hold it steady. there are two of these beams spaced at 1.5m which i guess are holding the ceilings up. will they take the extra weight?

any advice much appreciated

cheers

Pete

if its just used for storage then your plan will work. but im slightly worried about the 8 by 2 long term if to much weight is put on it.

What are you planning on storing?

If it's light stuff (christmas decorations, empty suitcases etc) then you'll be fine.

If you want to go walking about in there, storing your Encyclopedia Brittanica collection and a selection of weightlifting equipment then you'll need to think about more support.

is that the lochness monster coming in from the left of the picture

Aren't threr any joists running across at 18" centres?? What's the ceiling held up by?

It's tricky to give any advice really based upon that pic alone.
What you SHOULD do is run new, bigger joists parallel to the existing ones. 4×2 with a few extra ones in there should be sufficient. Don't fix them to the existing joists though, fix them to each other with noggins to old a new, floating floor. Then board with 2400 x 600 18mm tongue and groove chipboard flooring, perpendicular to the joists.

there are ceiling joists as well which are pretty weedy. 2×1 i think, but it's all under the insulation at the mo so not sure of the spacing. they're spanning across 1.5m from the beams to the wall

weight-wise it needs to support 1 person and a few boxes, camping stuff, suitcases. plus the weight of the joists and boards. it'll probably amount to a couple of hundred kilos, but spread around

heavier stuff like tins of paint etc. i was thinking i'd put on shelves attached to the wall

my hand puppetry obviously needs more practice, that was supposed to be a diplodocoid, rather than a plesiosaur

That's quite a weedy looking ceiling and I'd be quite careful putting any more structure in. You really need some more full width spans resting on the wall plates to back up that old looking 8×2. Might be worth considering some ties up to the purlins too. If it were me I'd shut the hatch and put the christmas decs under the bed.