No internal Supporting walls. Can i still board out the loft (on a budget)?

[flashheart85]

Odd question.
I want to bored out the loft for light storage (christmas trees, Christmas decks, duvets, MAYBE one or two boxes of old ornaments etc.). However, it would seem that we don't have ANY internal supporting walls. I've read online that you can't bored out the loft (yourself) when there aren't any supporting walls and you need a builder to come in and strength the ceiling joists.. Is this true? I spoke to a person at Wickes and they said it 'should' be okay as long as you use stilts and it doesn't push the insolation down onto the ceiling bords.. but that didn't really answer my question..

How can i tell it's safe to bored it out up there? The people who lived here before us 'bored' it out using old melamine boards and.. yeahhhh... I don't feel safe walking on them lol. I'm somewhat DIY savy and I have helped a friend bored theirs out YEARS back and it went fine. They were just replacing the boards though. Somebody has suggested getting a builder out to answer the question BUT im hoping theres a way to tell myself as it would save a few hundred.

 

[Hagar]

What type of house and what room sizes (for spans)?

I don't get the stilts argument, it does not really reduce loading, a load of point loads instead of uniformly distributed loads.

Is the roof a purlin roof, ie long big timbers between the end walls? If so you could fix hangers down to the ceiling joists at intervals. It does really need a professional eye in my opinion.

 

[dlockers]

What's your biggest ceiling span? How old is the house?

 

[sx_turbo]

I don't really see what the issue is.

The boards themselves will naturally make the ceiling joists stronger because they are being tied together with boards and the weight will be better distributed.

You havnt got solid brick walls, but this wouldn't matter, few houses have these days and those that do, rarely do the roof joists sit on them for structural benefit.

The answer would be different if you were doing a loft conversion and planning to add a proper room up there, then yes would definitely need strengthening, but not for just a few Xmas decorations.

 

[Hagar]

I don't really see what the issue is.

The boards themselves will naturally make the ceiling joists stronger because they are being tied together with boards and the weight will be better distributed.

If the nailed solution gives the 2.5% lateral load resistance.

You havnt got solid brick walls, but this wouldn't matter, few houses have these days and those that do, rarely do the roof joists sit on them for structural benefit.

Subjective

The answer would be different if you were doing a loft conversion and planning to add a proper room up there, then yes would definitely need strengthening, but not for just a few Xmas decorations.

Ditto.