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I need to board the loft so I can get all the remaining boxes from when we moved out of the garage and spare room.
Currently not boarded or anything - has a fair amount of insulation in there with it being a fairly new build (9 years).
It will only be used for storage so don't need anything excessive.
Was thinking these boards and stilts from B&Q:
18mm loft board
Loft Stilts
Obviously need to screw the stilts to the joist - but do I screw the boards to the stilts?
Anything else I should consider?
Yes, screw the boards to the stilts. Also make sure there's an air gap between the too of the insulation and the underside of the board.
Mark on top of the boards where electrical cable run and where any junction boxes might be.
It might void an NHBC warranty if it caused issues but....
it being a fairly new build (9 years).
...means the warranty will have less than a year left anyway.
Issues that can be attributed to loft boarding are damp/condensation if the air flow is restricted or nail pops in the plasterboard on the ceiling below as you add the extra load to the joists.
Lots of people do it themselves though and plenty of companies specialise it too. It's one of those things that we'd really benefit from doing ourselves... but I can't seem to find a definitive answer on whether it's actually a good idea. Our house is 4.5 years old...
Yep, I used the loft stilt things to add more insulation, whilst still having some boarded space - 30yo house with only about 4” of insulation originally - has worked well.
Only bit of extra advice I’d add is to pre-drill screw holes in the bottom of the stilts where they will meet the joist. Saves a lot of faff.
I've done my loft just in the middle at highest point and left the the rest unboarded, staying well clear of the eaves, plus I didn't like the idea of boards above my downlights and fan ducting for the bathroom. I didn't leave any air gaps though, don't think its needed if you're not fully boarding.
Recently done our 45 year old house so added new insulation all round. Used the Wickes stilts as they seemed the cheapest at the time.
Pre-drilling the stilts is a good idea and make sure you use a magnetic/extended screwdriver bit as space is a bit limited and dropped screws is a ball-ache.
I have seen recentish houses built by Bellway and Bloor which had curiously thin joists which according to a local builder who specialises in loft boarding and conversions should not be boarded over or indeed bear any additional load.
These were terrace and semi-detached. The two detached houses I knew of both had traditional joists, one got fully boarded and seems fine.
I have seen recentish houses built by Bellway and Bloor which had curiously thin joists
Our house is a new build and the developer essentially said the loft isn't designed to be boarded out. But there were various grades of advice from the developer depending on who you spoke to, e.g. some saying don't put anything up there to "suitcases would be ok, but not boxes of books etc." In any case the truss design meets with a V in the centre so the space in the centre is actually minimal. Perhaps we need to seek out a specialist like the one you spoke to.
I didn’t leave any air gaps though, don’t think its needed if you’re not fully boarding.
Not sure this logic follows. If moisture is able to collect under the board then it will condense onto the insulation and compact it and significantly reduce its thermal insulation performance and, depending on how well sealed your ceiling is, trapped condensed moisture could settle on joists and ceiling and start rot. I'd always want all parts of my loft space well insulated.
Our house is a new build and the developer essentially said the loft isn’t designed to be boarded out. But there were various grades of advice from the developer depending on who you spoke
I think this is true. I think there is a nominal load limit of something like 100kg's per square metre, so OK with empty suitcases and lightweight stuff, but not anything substantial. Loft boarding is usually quite heavy so would eat into that load limit significantly before you even started chucking stuff up there for storage.
My loft has a load bearing raised platform where the water tanks used to be before I changed the system to an unvented system, and I use that platform for storing stuff and have not boarded out the rest of the loft and maxed out on insulation upto 300mm thick.
Another thing I did was I noticed the original builders (mid '90's build) had pushed the insulation right into the eve's...they're not supposed to do this they should have left an air gap for air to flow from the eve vents into the loft space, so I cut the existing insulation shorter before laying down more insulation ensuring good airflow.