Loft boarding

What is a reasonable price to get someone to lay loft boarding (e.g. chipboard) in a loft, not end to end just a few square metres on the middle + fit a loft ladder. The catalogue store has a ladder for £65 and I can't see chipboard being that expensive.

The quote we've received is £349 - I think that's ridiculous. Supposed to be "mate's rates" too!

Tradesmen **** me off.

Look at doing it yourself? £349 is daft money for the time that would take.

It's pretty easy to do, not many tools needed either.

Seems a lot,l how big is your loft ?

Just do it yourself or accept you will have to pay. That's how it works.

DIY tbh it's going to be an easy job.

Pop along to your local hardware store and picked up some tongue and groove chipboard planks, I think you can get specific packs of "loft flooring". They cost bugger all and putting them up is minor, just set them up as you need them and bang in some nails to secure them to the floor supports.

I reckon you could do it for <£50 depending on how much floor space you require.

From B&Q 8ftx2ft chip sheets are about £7 a pop and cover 1.44 sqm. So if you take 1sqm as £5 you'll have an idea of the cost for the boarding. It'll almost certainly be cheaper from a timber yard though.

I'll be doing a chunk of ours soon but am doubling up the insulation from 100mm to 200mm so i need some 2x4" as well as some insulation.

My loft was done before I bought the house, I've had to overlay it as the stuff they used is paper thin, get decent stuff pre cut so it goes through your loft hatch, think about insulation if you need it and also access for future maintenance, T&G is ok until you need to lift a bit in the middle

Screw it down don't nail it, it will creak and groan, it is an easy job but it can be a pain depending on how hot your loft is, how much junk is in there and how flexible you need to be to get into the corners

jlss said:

It's pretty easy to do, not many tools needed either.

Seems a lot,l how big is your loft ?

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Not very big... 4mx4m would be too big I think (I haven't measured).

The only thing putting me off doing it myself is we have about 20 inches of insulation and I can't stand the stuff.

I need to get this done myself.
How easy is it fitting the ladder?
I've got no problem with laying some boards down, just not sure about the ladder side of things.

meghatronic said:

Not very big... 4mx4m would be too big I think (I haven't measured).

The only thing putting me off doing it myself is we have about 20 inches of insulation and I can't stand the stuff.

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Over or under, does the original quote include battening over the insulation?

Re reading your first post if it does need battening and it includes a loft ladder that doesn't seem too bad, do you actually expect someone to come and work for you just for wages or no profit?

Tell him your budget is £300 and can he do it for that

maccapacca said:

Over or under, does the original quote include battening over the insulation?

Re reading your first post if it does need battening and it includes a loft ladder that doesn't seem too bad, do you actually expect someone to come and work for you just for wages or no profit?

Tell him your budget is £300 and can he do it for that

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No idea about battening, mum's house so will ask.

Well it's supposed to be "mate's rates" (mum's friend), so I would expect wages and little or no profit. Which is usually what I do for IT stuff.

How many hours work is this? If parts are £120 ish, we're looking at £230 Labour.... if <10 hours, my lawyer charges less than that.

Did anyone else expect to open this and see a new form of extreme sports?

I doubt it would take more than 3 hours. Getting the boards into the loft is the most time consuming bit. Loft ladders are easy to install.

Morgoth said:

I doubt it would take more than 3 hours. Getting the boards into the loft is the most time consuming bit. Loft ladders are easy to install.

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So, ~£90 an hour labour.

Excuse me why I abandon my education.

Dracata said:

Did anyone else expect to open this and see a new form of extreme sports?

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Yes I did, I was dissapoint but thought I would give some advice anyway.

Sp00n said:

Yes I did, I was dissapoint but thought I would give some advice anyway.

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There is no reason why we can't form an extreme sport, I just can't think how it would work. I can't see my loft floating.

meghatronic said:

Not very big... 4mx4m would be too big I think (I haven't measured).

The only thing putting me off doing it myself is we have about 20 inches of insulation and I can't stand the stuff.

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Yeh loft insulation is horrid stuff i don't like it myself, brings me out in a rash and itching for ages after.

Tounge and groove is good stuff tbh.

4x4 is not that big really, was the loft ladder included aswell purchased by the builder and installed aswell ?

I'm looking at doing this next month, didn't even consider getting in someone to do it. I've done it in previous houses and it's not normally to bad a job and it's pretty easy to do yourself, (just don't do it when it's to hot)

meghatronic said:

There is no reason why we can't form an extreme sport, I just can't think how it would work. I can't see my loft floating.

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I was considering some sort of roof sliding with chipboard attached to the feet.

Or... we could detach the roof from the house, relocate to mountain, strap ourselves in and ride it down the side of said mountain?