Loft Joists

Hi All,

I was planning on flooring my loft and did some research into it on the old web. A lot of articles keep mentionining that loft joists wont support as much as normal floors in a building. When I check out my floor joiss they lkooked exact same as loft joists, same size of timber (6"x2") and equal distance in between (16"). Would this still apply to me. Its an old mid terraced house (circa 100 years old). I want to use it for a bit more that storage. Get my computer desk up there etc...

Any advice appreciated....

Joe.

Reply to
Joe
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The message from Joe contains these words:

My 1965 reference says 6" x 2" floor joists @ 16" centres have an allowable clear span of just 10' 3". Modern figures may be marginally different.

For light use (and a computer set-up probably counts as light use) I think you could get away with a bit wider span particularly if the loading isn't in the centre. However Building Control might not like it.

Reply to
Roger

I could be wrong, but I thought that there were much more stringent regulations that apply if the room is classed as a "habitable area". A PC acting as a server or something would be fine, but a computer desk (=office??) sounds like its becoming a proper room. Then you'd have to consider fire/access/ventilation etc etc. In other words, a proper loft conversion, with building control involved. Jon.

Reply to
Tournifreak

Who's going to know? If he does nothing that can't be undone if/when he wants to sell then it's a non issue apart from worrying about his own safety in the event of fire.

MBQ

Reply to
manatbandq

Thats exactly it. I'm not wanting to go through planning and all that

- just want to get the loft insulated and sealed up. Thats why i was asking about the joist loads. Can anyone answer that one ?

Ta.

Joe.

Reply to
Joe

Cheers Roger,

I'm presuming the 10'3" clear span is the length of one end of joist on support wall to another. Is that right ?

Joe.

Reply to
Joe

Taking the pragmatic approach again, if the loft joists are the same size as the floor joists in the rest of the house for the same span then, obviously, they are adequate by the "standards" that ruled when the house was built. I doubt very much they would meet modern standards for a floor but it may just mean you get a bit of extra bounce and may cause cracks in the ceiling below. They're not going to collapse, otherwise what holds up the other floors in the houose?

I wish my modern loft joists were 6x2! They're more like 3x1.

MBQ

Reply to
manatbandq

The message from Joe contains these words:

Yes.

Reply to
Roger

Then your 6x2s have plenty of strength. Its the old 3.5x1.5 joists over similar distances that are borderline. 6x2 over 10' would not give any ceiling cracking problems unless you went nuts up there, waterbeds etc.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

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