How To Floor An Attic Uk

But live loads are a different matter.

How to floor an attic uk.

You ll have to construct a wooden frame or sub floor with boards 16 inches apart to provide extra support for the floor. Mike embarks on a project to lay a floor in the attic loft space. These panels are 18mm thick 1 2m long and only 320mm wide. The real work is muscling the panels up the ladder so try to enlist the help of a friend who can hoist them to you.

To floor an attic you ll need to install a sub floor for support before laying your plywood floor. You also need to ensure that the joist spacing is adequate. Joist dimensions are only part of the equation. To fasten the panels to the floor joists you ll be working on your knees so wear kneepads to protect your shins.

Standard joist spacing for the installation of attic flooring materials is 16 inches on center oc meaning the distance from the center of one joist to the center of the next joist is 16 inches. All attics joists can carry a minimal dead load weight i e 10 pounds per square foot. In fact the horizontal rafter sections in your loft are there solely to hold up the ceiling for the rooms below. Mike embarks on a project to lay a floor in the attic loft space.

They come in packs of 3 or 5 usually and a pack of 3 is enough to cover a little over 1 square metre. Open the windows so there s good ventilation and use work lights so you can see what you re doing. If you don t need additional storage think of flooring an area less than the entire attic such as a small section around the attic door opening. A loft or attic floor is only designed to carry a load of 25kg per square metre.

It is made much easier by the production of special loft panel flooring. If your intent is to use the attic for a purpose other than storage you will need to consider a more finished look. 1 x 6 3 spruce is a step up from pallet quality wood but makes a fine usable floor in an unfinished attic space. The loft flooring is not designed to carry loads heavier than this.

Unless expressly built for use as a living space your attic floor may not be strong enough. Attic joists for live loads. Be cautioned though that even with insulation hardwood flooring will cause a lot of foot traffic noise to the floor below. This means they are easy to get through the loft hatch.

First you ll need to measure the area you want to floor so you can calculate how much wood you ll require. Often minimal live load requirements are four times that of dead loads.