attic+flooring

[jackiew]

I want to put some flooring down in the loft around the loft hatch and in a couple of locations so that I store light weight stuff which I don't use that often. I'm not intending to use the attic as a room or to spend a lot of time up there.

Anyone got any ideas about what thickness chipboard to use ... I don't want to spend lots of money ... but on the other hand I don't want me or anyone else to fall through the ceiling.

I've not seen loft boarding packs in the hardware stores here - they are sheets of chipboard which have been pre cut to sensible sizes for hauling up into the roof these are readily available in England ( sigh.... ok i now have to put 5c in my box for commiting the crime of having a sentence which includes "....in England ...." or "....in the UK...." )

[glenn k]

I ran 4"x3" blue gum ~F17 across a roof cavity 3.2m wide them ripped standard flooring chipboard down the middle so it would fit in the roof . I routed a 6mm slit in the cut edges and added an extra bit of yellow tongue. The floor bounces a little but with carpet over the top it’s a great place to store stuff. I also put 2 layers of silver paper under neath for insulation.

[echnidna]

keep in mind that ceiling joists are only intended to support celing loads so you wont be able to store much weight on them.

I would use standard 19mm chipboard.
If you look at the dealer ads in the trading post there are often offcuts available that will be easy to handle and with luck wont need trimming.

[rsser]

So you can take the bloke out of the old Dart but not the old Dart out of the bloke ;)

Yes, I used 19mm chipboard too. Had a wide access hatch that accommodated the sheets on their way up. You might consider enlarging what you've got, or cutting a new one somewhere inconspicuous since you'll have to get your stuff up there as well. (Then of course you'll want one of those fold down ladders, a skylight, 240v, and heck, why not a bar fridge as well :) )

Ern

[jackiew]

loft hatch is big enough to get big sheets through and i already have the attic ladder, its me that's not strong enough to haul the big sheets up the steps. :o

[wallyf]

Great idea, where can I get extra yellow tongue strips?

[bitingmidge]

I use standard yellow tongue (or in my garage formply) spanning the whole 600 or 900 between truss centres. Ripped down the middle to 600 or 450 widths.

Echidna is spot on regarding deflections: I use the deflection of the flooring as a bit of a guide, if you have a truss roof you have a bit more to play with, but the smaller bottom chord will deflect to an amazing degree if you let it!

For serious loads consider dropping in floor joists parallel with the bottom chord and spanning the whole room width below, packed off the top of the stud walls to leave enough room for minor deflection.

Cheers,

P

[duckman]

Great idea, where can I get extra yellow tongue strips?

I've thrown away more strips than most people have had Sunday dinners. :eek:

If you're not in a hurry and you're in the South East of Melbourne, I'll keep an eye out for some for you. :)

[Rocker]

Yellow tongue? I know what blue tongue is - a type of lizard, that I saw once on my block a few years ago. But I have never heard of yellow tongue.

Rocker

[Marc]

Yellow tongue? I know what blue tongue is - a type of lizard, that I saw once on my block a few years ago. But I have never heard of yellow tongue.
Rocker

A yellow tongue is a blue tongue after having a few warm Stout beer. :p