DIY: Flooring an attic

We've got a fair bit of undeveloped attic space. Our original plan was to have it converted into a study/bedroom, but now with a little one on the way our financial priorities have changed.

So I was idly wondering about flooring it myself, just for use as storage space.

Is it a big job?
Would I need any kind of planning?

I'm thinking of just laying down some insulation between the joists then covering it over with boards and screwing them down. Obviously it would need a proper floating floor to be used as a bedroom, but would this do the job for storage (e.g. christmas decorations, suitcases, snowboards etc) where I won't actually be up there much?

I've done it. Just get the flooring from B&Q or similar and follow the instructions.

A rubber mallet and a good cordless screwdriver make it easy work.

It's straightforward.

You'll need to cut the boards to make sure they finish on a joist unless you're lucky. So having an electric saw of some kind is useful as well.

you might need to put some extra joists in – I did as my centers were too far apart – but was an easy job. used the tongue and groove loft flooring from B&Q, took about a day, did some lights first, so another 1/2 for that, and added a loft ladder and new hatch, nother half day for that. Very satisfying job

likewise. The hardest bit was getting all the crap down from the attic but once it was done, it was a doddle. Put insulation down, start on one side and screw the boards making sure they're offset like house bricks. Make sure you've got all the wiring under the boards sorted before you start, you don;t want to have to pull them back up again.

Mine went down really well, it's quite a smooth finish up there. Only took me a day although I made the mistake of doing it in the middle of summer, it was like a sauna!

Cool, just had a look at:

http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/loftflooring.htm
http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-create-attic-storage/index.html

and they make it sound very simple (though isn't that always the case for DIY).
Might give it a bash over the Xmas hols.

I just did mine, B&Q 2.4m x 600mm T&G boards seem about the best value. Make sure they will fit thouugh your loft hatch first. They do smaller ones, but they seem a more expensive and labour intensive way of doing it.
Also I put a layer of non-itch insulation down (made out of recycled plastic bottles) it's on BOGOF at the moment. Sure works, it's freezing up there now!!

If you have cables and pipes running along or accross the joists a layer of battening along the top with gaps for the pipes etc to go through makes it all smooth.

This also allows you to add cables to whereever you may want them later on too.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy mate. T/G chipboard is your only man but can be a bitch to get up into the loft – it's heavy enough. Go for P5 (the green stuff) as this is moisture resistant – not that your loft might be damp but it's usually only a quid or so more expensive.

Get it delivered – even if they want to charge £20 to do it – it's a bitch of a size to carry around on a car (and, again, heavy).

Pre-drill clearance holes (as opposed to pilot holes) and use at least 2" No. 10 screws (B&Q sell SPAX – these are good screws, or Turbogold for half the price from Screwfix).

If you have any more questions, let me know.

the only other thing i'd add is it might be worth taking the TnG off at a few places – say 3 lines across the loft. That way if you need to get under the floor for some reason in the future, you only have to take 1/4 of it up, not the whole bloody thing 😀

Yeah, I was wondering about that 5lab. Would make sense as there are transformers for halogen lights there that may need replacing.

Thought I'd probably draw out the wiring on the floor with a marker pen as I went and leave a couple of access points.

Cheers all.

one other thing apparently you need 400mm joist centers – I went for 600mm, and made sure that the joins between boards was always over a joist. There's naff all flex in my floor. I added extra joists (laid over the existing ones) partly for this, and partly to allow a full depth of insulation (200mm vs 100mm from a single joist).

final tip would be to have 2 drill drivers on the go – one with a bit for pilot holes, one with the posidrive bit in it (blag one off a mate or sommit). you will need pilot holes for the floor, and with 3 screws per board (I think I used approx 100 boards in total) constantly swapping gets pretty boring pretty quick 🙂

Don't squash any loft insulation, makes it less effective. Either go for the insulating board you can walk on, or raise the joists by adding extra wood before laying the floor.

If the transformers get warm, you might want to drill some 20mm holes in the floor above each and make sure there is some air space around them. Don't cover with upended plastic flower pots!

Don't cover with upended plastic flower pots!

I'd been told upended CERAMIC flower pots over the back of the halogen fittings was a good way to protect them?

Yeh possibly, not sure but I have heard a couple of stories where plastic ones were found melted over the fittings!

The ceramic/earthenware MIGHT be ok, wouldn't want to recommend it though just in case 🙂

how old's your house?

If it's going to see much use or weight I'd check that your joists are up to the job. Our house dates back to the late 1800s and I wouldn't board out the loft on the current beams as they're not designed to be load bearing – they're not floor joists if that makes any sense. It's going to need proper reinforcement when we do it (this is on the advice of a structural engineer btw)…

woffle
I think I'm in the same situation (house 1840ish) as when I was up in the loft the joists looked very thin! Did you manage to insulate yoour loft alright? I got the insulation up there in the summer and laid some boards to walk on. It was too hot to finish and injury means I haven't been up there since but its getting cold!!

insulation is fine – I've got the 'enclosed' blankets that I've just laid between the joists with some boarding for us to store things on. I'm sure it's not exactly the best but it's only temporary.

The whole roof needs redoing as we've not even got felt and it's prone to the odd leak. Going to be a job for next summer – we want to get the beams strengthened, a couple of veluxes and a dormer window added. Can't afford to have the whole conversion done in one piece so I'm having all the structural stuff done and then I'll do the staircase, roof insulation, boarding out etc etc myself as and when funds allow…

you only need the floor reinforced if you're doing a proper conversion (afaik) – if you're just boarding to stick a bunch of crap up there, you should be fine (within reason – obviously if the beams are thin, you might want more)

as for felt – most older places don't have it (mine is '20s and doesn't). that doesn't on its own make it a candidate for replacement, just means it uses different age technology – if you add felt you have to be very careful to add all the right vents in as the roof will stop 'breathing' on its own

how old's your house?

1900ish.

when I was up in the loft the joists looked very thin!

Our joists look relatively okay. I suspect they'd be too thin for constant use, but I'm sure they'll be fine for a few boxes. The slats and "ceiling" between them is paper thin though.

insulation is fine – I've got the 'enclosed' blankets that I've just laid between the joists with some boarding for us to store things on.

Yeah that's probably all I'll do. Not looking to do a complete conversion, just make use of the space.

The whole roof needs redoing as we've not even got felt and it's prone to the odd leak.

/Insert joke here about woffle wanting to get felt up/

When we were looking at a full conversion the architect reckoned they'd take they whole roof off and lay felt/membrane etc. "Regulations" apparently, though it could probably do with it to be honest, it's an old roof.

If you insluate, don't insulate under any water tanks, unless you want them to freeze in the winter.

I was considering this too.

What do you do about access to light fittings from above, I assume you have to leave a gap?

On a similar note, who would I need to get in to have a look at removing a bit of roof joist/ woodwork.
Will the council building inspector be the one or a suveyor or architect?

I used to have a heavy old slate roof, but I've now got composite with is much lighter, I woul like to remove or modify the woodwork to allow space into the loft but the roof supports are very close together, been into the roof space of both my parents and girlfriends houses and these's a lot less woodwork, I want to see if it would be OK to remove a little to make a bigger opening without affecting structural integrity

Get a structural engineer. You can probably arrange for an intital visit and a "yes, its possible", or "no (starts sucking teeth)", within about 15 minutes. You will need to submit calcs to building control though.

Our house is 1895, joists are probably 4×2", nothing like enough as a proper floor, but overlaid with old floorboards they seem to be doing fine. All the heavy stuff gets piled down the middle of the loft over a structural wall, if I put the heavy stuff under the eves I reckon I'd start to see some cracking in the plaster ceilings.