LoftTrackWorld – 3″ x 2″ joists enough? Any joiners/ practical people home?

I’m planning on boarding out the loft for storage purposes…

Firstly, the joists in the loft are 3″ x 2″ – is 3×2 (and MDF boards) strong enough for a 14 stone bloke to potter around on and to store numerous boxes of s***e that the wife won’t let me take to the tip? I’ve read some advise screwing down additional 3×2 joists on top of what is already in place in the opposite direction to add strength – is this necessary/ advisable?

Secondly, is 18mm MDF tongue and groove sheets think enough or would I be better off with 22mm for the purposes mentioned above.

As ever, ,many thanks in advance for your feedback/ support!

Cheers,
Dave

I’d run at least 4×2 on top of them, partly for strength but mostly to give height for insulation which you want to lay before the boards 🙂

18mm boards are plenty – but the 3×2 joists would scare me.

Not a joiner BTW

3×2 will take the weight but it’s not really man enough. You risk it flexing and cracking the ceiling below. Adding a second set of timbers is sensible imo. 18mm plywood would be fine, I’d be concerned about MDF but I expect it’ll be ok. You can always go a bit beefier in the middle where you walk.

3×2 joists wer3 never intended to take weight, they are only for the ceiling, you will see some bracing pieces from the joists to the roof rafters which will give more strength
Depends what you want the space for, if it’s just for bobbing up to store stuff 4x 2 would be ok with 18mm mdf flooring boards ,
If it’s for a bedroom etc it’s a whole different box of frogs

Bollocks to that if its truly shite tell her the loft won’t take it. Don’t mention structural improvement.

btw, I’d really recommend using those loftboards you get in DIY shops for the flooring (they’re normally 1′ x 4′, T&G particalboard). They’re pretty much as cheap per sqft as anything else you can use but really easy to handle and install. Just make sure the new joists you put in are nicely spaced at 2′ gaps and bobs yer uncle

Load of hassle increasing the depth of the joists, but important as th ceilings may well flex and crack.Cut notches to go over the cables to secure 3 x 2 onto 3 x 2 use 2 x 1 upright soldiers 6 inches long, screw through the face into both the 3 x 2 and 4 x 2 a lot quicker than screw down through the 4 x 2.

Fit loft insulation, wear gloves and and sleeves it itches like mad and once sensitised to it it will never go away.

Get a large fan and a damp towel in front of it to keep you cool, finaly if no loft lighting DO NOT USE A HALOGEN LAMP, it will set fire to the loft insulation easily, use led lamps.

Chipboard loft flooring because it inter locks and makes floor stronger and smoother no moving joints like with MDF, also easier to fit and get into loft.

Find avdave’s thread of the items that came from his late friends garage and show the wife. If the stuff she wants to store can match those items then they stay. Otherwise it’s the tip.

Check recommended insulation depth. I had a new roof fitted and the building inspector checked insulation depth. Not sure what this had to do with the roof but apparently if the insulation isn’t deep enough it will not get signed off.

I put 6×2 on top of my existing 3×2. It’s solid now and well insulated.

General consensus seems to be more timber rather than loft legs (which is what I did in our last house).

In that house, I could see daylight out of the eaves (just about) and had a couple of vented ridge tiles.

This house was built in 1995 and has uPVC soffits installed by the previous owner and no ridge or tile vents. There’s no obvious issue with condensation up there but is it something I need to consider if I was going to reinforce and board?

If you’re worried about flexing under the weight then adding more weight with structural timbers isn’t going to help that situation.

Unless you’re going to tie in those structural timber into the roof or wall structures so they become part of the structure themselves you’re just adding more dead weight and will be causing more ceiling flex not less.

Maybe better off not boarding out the whole area and just two or three areas to spread the load and make some effort to limit the amount of stuff you put up there.

Unless you’re going to tie in those structural timber into the roof or wall structures so they become part of the structure themselves you’re just adding more dead weight and will be causing more ceiling flex not less.

Bolting extra structural timber alongside the existing joists would stiffen the ceiling but don’t forget to factor in the weight of the actual boarding you’re going to put down as well as the crap you’re going to store on it + someone up there. It all adds up.

2*3 loft joists here. working on the basis it was enough to support the water tank, which was quite large, I boarded it and store stuff up there. I did put more 2*3 on top so as to get a half decent amount of insulation up there, and I try to limit the tat going up there but the wife seems to win that battle

A question about adding additional joists alongside the existing.

It’s not going to be possible to get a full span length into an existing loft. If you take 2 half lengths up there you end up with a joint where the bending moment is greatest.

Would you be better off taking thirds up there? Or, cut one of the halves into two and fix the quarters nearest the wall and the half in the middle?

Having said that, to get clearance for the insulation, won’t you end up with 1ft wide planks up there?

Check recommended insulation depth. I had a new roof fitted and the building inspector checked insulation depth. Not sure what this had to do with the roof but apparently if the insulation isn’t deep enough it will not get signed off.

I just insulated under the floor as I had to take it up and replace some joists anyway
Bizarrely I’m not allowed to insulate it unless I completely rip out the whole room and raise it above the rest of the house by 3″ or block the underfloor airflow… but I can just not insulate it???

The building inspector doesn’t pay my heating bill though so I just chucked in 50mm of Kingspan.
Worse thing that can happen would seem to be I get told to remove the insulation….