I'm needing to floor the loft but I've not got any idea what is involved or how much it's going to cost – I'm only looking to put 'flooring' down for storage so it won't be used as a day to day room or anything…what do I ask for and roughly how much? House was built in 2006 if that matters for the spacing between the planks of wood.

Wife has decided rather than getting rid of the old stuff for our daughter she wants to keep it just in case we have another…makes sense but she wants it in the loft.

It's a detached house and I'm not needing the full loft floored, just the usable space – which I think it about 2m short of 3 double bedrooms in length and about 2m short of the width of 2 double bedrooms (at a guess, would that be about 15m*10m???).

Also, best way to lay whatever it is I need to buy – not looking for the cheapest as it needs to last, be easy to install but not cost the earth.

Cheers.

Hi, I did it about a year ago when i moved into a new house. B&Q do a loft flooring pack. I think it was 5 sheets of 120cm by 30 or 40 cm boards. Surprisingly god value and the boards are a god size to handle and get into the loft.

Lay across the beams making sure you only cover half the beam on either side so you can screw another board down ( I had to cut small strips sometimes off the end of the board). I laid mine like bricks (off set). Once you have made a start it is much easier as you can then use the boards you have laid to work on. Measure and cut a few if necessary to make a full length line, make sure it is straight before moving on. They slot together so you can't screw down until the next one is in- you will see what I mean when you do it.

Remember – if you have lighting wires laying across the beams, cut a groove out the beam just enough to take the wire with no chaffing (chaffing would be bad if the boards move when you walk on them). Then make sure you dont screw the boards down through the wires – I measured where they were and marked a big X on the board.

Oh, and buy yourself a new saw, box of screws, charge the cordless drill for countersinking and pilot holes and screwing and find some knee pads.

Good luck and hapy Chrimbo.

Get this stuff – it will fit through your loft hatch. Screw down using 2" number 8 screws and cut so that the ends are supported. Don't bother with glue.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_oneslice=true&fh_view_size=10&fh_reffacet=categories&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3C

Sorry, don't know why the link appears not to be working. Anyway it's loft flooring from B&Q. The panels are :

Width (mm): 325

Length (mm): 1220

Thickness (mm): 18

And costs £5.28 for a pack of 3

cost me about £120 for the flooring, about a fiver on screws. There's another thread on here for last week with lots of details. Takes about a day, very satisfying job

Some good advice here (though no costings):
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/diy-flooring-an-attic

must be a Xmas thing 😀

Thanks for the advice…I couldn't find anything using the search so thought this hadn't been done previously – will go have a nosey on that thread, cheers.

GrahamS – nowt to dow ith christmas but everything to do with time off!!!

Yep, use the B&Q stuff. And don't try and save time by nailing them down – bits of your plaster fall off downstairs (I know…)

+1 the B&Q boards

I've used them before and I've just bought a load more for another loft. They are just over 1m2 per pack, and about £5.60 per pack.

If you have downlights then consider cutting trap doors in them to access the electrics.

if they can fit, use the 2.4mx60cm boards which are tongue and groove, also put battens down over joists to help with any future and present wire issues. I bought one big board first to ensure it would fit and then make the turn. Total cost for me was £300 but then I did need 36 of those boards plus the battens.

All sounds good apart from the bits that involve more than just laying them on the deck – no downlighters where the flooring will be so nothing to worry there, also only 1 power cable visible from where I have been able to get to…and that is already below the joists so shouldn't be a major headache.

A daft question but is the board wide enough to reach each joist but leave room for the next one? I seem to have it in my head that the board is longer than the gap between the joists so each one will need trimming? If so, I'm not looking forward to that – mainly due to my lack of patience resulting in a hashy attempt.

Ideally I'm looking for something that can be laid down and the screwing in will be about as far as my DIY has to go as anything else I'm awful at.

I'll get up the loft and measure the gaps between the joists and then see how different that is to the stuff that B&Q sells, thanks.

A daft question but is the board wide enough to reach each joist but leave room for the next one?

I'm not sure whether I fully understand the question. But you do realise that the flooring needs to run in the opposite direction to the ceiling joists/trusses …… don't you ?

If so, I'm not looking forward to that – mainly due to my lack of patience resulting in a hashy attempt.

Ideally I'm looking for something that can be laid down and the screwing in will be about as far as my DIY has to go as anything else I'm awful at.

As you can tell from the other thread, I'm thinking about this too and am likewise cackhanded.

I figure the boards will definitely need trimming since I don't think there is a "standard gauge" between joists. A Circular Saw seems like a good investment – even I can cut straight with that as it has a handy guide arm on it 😀

I used the B&Q loft boarding to make up the area where I stand, so only used 3 packs and screwed them down securely. The rest of the area of the loft I boarded out with chipboard I had from taking down a huge monstrousity of a built in wardrobe in the spare room.

This isn't screwed down so I can move it around a bit if I want. I don't walk on this area, but it is plenty strong enough to put suitcase/boxes etc on.

Might be a cheaper option if you didn't want to buy lots of those B&Q packs. They come out surprisingly small so adds up quick if you want to board the majority of your loft

The last time I did this (about 6 years ago) I used the B&Q loft flooring and I had to take about half an inch or so off of each board to make sure that it was supported on a beam at each end.

If you get T/G chipboard, it should be T/G on all four sides. The idea is that you can "hang" the join between the ceiling joists (as long as you haven't got something silly like 600mm centres). Otherwise, as ernie says, use 2" screws. Technically, whatever board you start a row with should sit on the first two joists but this is more a rule for a structural floor rather than a storage space.

Lay your first two rows loose. Measure off to the other side, ensuring you're roughly parallel. Divide your measurement by the width of your boards and make sure you're not going to have a silly 2" rip to complete the floor (although, again, this is only loft boarding so you might not want to bother flooring right to the edge.

Drill clearance holes rather than pilot holes before you screw in. Allow yourself plenty of wastage. Use good screws. B&Q sell Spax which aren't a huge amount more expensive but will bite a lot better when you're going into the joists.

Get yourself a felt tip marker and draw put any pipe or wire runs as you go.

Take your time, get the first two rows right no matter how long it takes and the rest will be a breeze.

Ernie, yes I'm aware they go across the joists and not run the same way – which is why I guess I'm asking if there is a standard width between the joists – if the standard width is say 850mm and the floor pack is 1210mm then I'm going to need to be chopping off a lot of wood that won't be used again – if that is the case, is there anything I can do to support the wood without chopping it and wasting it?

Seriously, those that know me will know my DIY skills aren't there – I can do it but I need 3 attempts as the first 2 fail due to lack of patience.

Cheers.

Your trusses should be about 600 centres. They're only narrow width sheets, you can have a joint between trusses as long as you maintain the tongue and groove joint, and there is a row of boards before and after the one with a joint. If in doubt, just whack in a 2b2 noggin to give it support. I personally, might be tempted to buy a few sheets of 18mm ply and just rip them down to suit – it wouldn't have T&G joints, but it will be considerable stronger than 18mm particle board – so that won't matter. No idea of the cost though, and it would be hard work to rip them down with a handsaw. Decking out a loft is a piece of p*ss, you won't have any problems, just use commonsense – don't leave boards unsupported – and be careful not to put your foot through the ceiling. TBH I don't know why housebuilders can't be arsed to leave a reasonable amount of the loft space decked, as it's hardly likely to add much to the total cost – the best you can expect is a tiny catwalk.

I wouldn't chop the boards down – as mentioned they're t&g on all 4 sides, and the floor will be stronger if you keep them that way.

My floor had ~800mm centers, the boards are 1200mm. So I laid another set of joists, over the top of the last ones (at 600mm intervals), secured down and built the floor on that. This gave twice the height for insulation (8" vs 4"), allows cables with ease, and made laying the boards easy (you also want to stagger the boards so the joins don't line up, this worked well for me).

The reccomendation is for 400mm between joists. I recon 600mm is fine (they move a bit if you bounce on them, and might not be suitable for heavy traffic, but seems fine) – I'd say 800mm between them may be pushing things a bit if you want to support weight – especially if you're only going to have 2" of the board on a beam at either end (doesn't take much to bend chipboard, and you don't wanna be putting your foot through it

We get a lot of plaster, dust and crap falling off the back of the roof slates (no felt or lining membrane on our roof – it's an old house).

Any issue with hanging some tarp or similar under the rafters to protect stuff?

Or is there a better solution?

@ GrahamS How about sheets of 6mm ply? Measure out your centres and get them ripped down by your timber yard to fit?

That would work, but I only have a small orifice 😳 so **** all chance of it accommodating a large piece of wood.

Any issue with hanging some tarp or similar under the rafters to protect stuff?

I wouldn't recommend it – any problems such as leaks from broken/missing tiles, won't be obvious. Plus the timber needs air to circulate freely. Cover the items in your loft with dust sheets instead.

Fair point ernie. Ta.

where the **** is the plaster coming from? has someone plastered your roof? 😮

Cover the items in your loft with dust sheets instead.

Indeed, that would be the most obvious answer… 🙄

Probably not actually plaster. I guess it is some kind of old style adhesive or something. It's white, brittle and between the rafters and the slates.

Occasionally seems to break off in chunks so I'll maybe avoid storing my fine crystal up there.

Asbestos?

Possibly. Doesn't taste like asbestos though 😀

Doesn't taste like asbestos though

😀

I used 18mm ply.
£22 for 2.4m x 1.2m cut into 2 halves.
Loads stronger than that cheap chipboard stuff.

Before you start, if your below the min loft insulation thickness I'd lay some 2"x2" along the joists & top that up beforehand.