Using garage rafters as storage

Scuzi

Scuzi

Scuzi

Man of Honour
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I moved into a new build house last year and during the handover process the site manager said the rafters could be used for storage of a Christmas tree or something equally as light and nothing more. Speaking with neighbours, some of them have boarded their rafters and have what looks like a few hundred kilos of stuff stored up there. Is that asking for trouble? I could really do with more storage and it would be an ideal spot.

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I was thinking of sliding some sheets of ply across the rafters and using the space to store fairly lightweight and bulky items. Would it be okay to do this with the current setup and if not, would it be possible to strengthen the rafters to support storage?

Thanks!
 
They can always be strengthened. Very unlikely you'd need to do it. What are the supporting walls made up of? Looks like brick but can't tell, is it single skin?
 
Theee outer walls are red brick, two bricks thick. The inner wall joining to next door's garage is breeze block with two "pillars" also made from breeze block.
 
The only way to establish this properly is to have Structural Engineer do some calculations based on the design and materials in the roof and the proposed loads.

However, there looks to be plenty of timber in there to me and you won't actually fit that much stuff up there due to the design. As long as there's nothing really heavy going up there I'd say it'll be fine.
 
There'll be a design factor taken in to account. You should be good with what you propose. I'd definitely avoid anything majorly heavy up there though. Weird that it's single layer brick and there's no supporting blockwork although I suppose it makes sense if there's nothing above it. Rules out future extensions though!
 
Thanks for the replies. :)

I think I'll slide some sheets of ply along the outer edges, leaving the access hole in the middle, and put some bulky/lightweight things up there and see how it goes for a while. I'm guessing it will be fine based on what some neighbours have and based on the replies here but what would be an early sign that it's too much weight for them to support? Would they shift or buckle?

I'd also like to do the same in the house but I think I'll take the advice above of getting a structural engineer to offer an opinion first for that project.
 
Yours looks like a double garage so the beams obviously have to span further however for my single garage (in the same style) I've boarded mine out and used for storage. I just used standard flooring chipboard but its screwed down which to some degree will strengthen the structure. Yes its not designed to take a full floor load but for storage of house overflow (boxes, kids toys, xmas decorations) its ideal.

EDIT: As for your house I would give it further investigation, again I've boarded out my old loft but thats mainly for access and storing the odd thing (more empty boxes, and some clothes). The materials used in newer builds are done to meet the minimum legal tolerances (i.e. keep the roof on) to keep the costs low. Our new loft (above extension) has a proper load bearing floor and I've now got all sorts stored up there.
 
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