cut into joists

[Ian Stirling]

Where you would cut a nick into the joist, instead cut a nick out of the chipboard with a router.

[Ian Stirling]

I thought of this, and wondered if to post it.

Maybe. The notch is now in some ways equivalent to the average cut-out depth across the beam. If the above notch was 5mm in depth, then that would sort-of convert the

5mm notch into a .5mm notch.

Take a thin bit of wood, perhaps a lolipop stick. Cut halfway through with a knife. Now, do the same at a sharp angle. Compare strengths.

I would still cut out the slot in the chipboard, rather than the joist. A circular saw, set to 5mm depth can be used for this.

[Michael Mcneil]

That depends on the stuff you want to store.

Get a can of white paint and hose the roofing felt with it or put some

600 mm strips of white plasterboard angled in the rafters to reflect the light ingress from the loft hatch. You will be pleasantly suprised how much of a difference it makes to the lighting.

[dundonald]

So the flooring then goes in the same direction as the joists?

[dundonald]

Thanks Michael.

[Dave Plowman]

Err, the strips of wood go on top of the joists - in line with them. So effectively just make them bigger. I'd normally lay chipboard flooring panels with the long side at right angles to the joists, but I'm not sure it makes that much difference.

[Capitol]

Are these trussed rafters, or simple ceiling joists? If the latter, what are the spans?

Regards Capitol

[Pete C]

Can you unscrew the covers on the ceiling fittings below? If so it might be possible pull the wires up through the ceiling, route them through the joist and push them back down into the ceiling fitting.

Well you would need a router. It looks like the IEE regulations forbid laying cables in notches on the top of joist like this anyway.

Junction boxes are 50p and 100m 1mm^2 T&E £10.25 at Screwfix, it might just be easiest to route new wires between the joists to the edge of the loft and cross the cable over the joists at the edge.

cheers, Pete

[chris French]

In message , dundonald writes

if you are rejigging what's there shouldn't be too hard, and loft access is easy. The problem comes when you start having new ideas.....

I boarded out the central area of my loft. Though loop-in is the normal way to go, I used the junction box route. I effectively ran the main lighting feed round the loft on the purlin and ran the switch and light drops out under the boards parallel with the joists up to the purlins

[RichardS]

what - a router to notch a joist? you jest, surely - a hand saw and your finest cheap chisel would do the job nearly as quickly and just as accurately.

however, I'd not advise going down the path of notching the joists. It might be quick, but risks mechanical damage to cables in the future and as others have pointed out it reduces the strength of the joists, which is not a good thing for ceiling joists when their strenght might be borderline for carrying storage loads anyway.

routing the cables through holes in the joists would be pretty quick, and unscrewing the cables in each ceiling rose in turn is probably going to be just as quick as faffing about with junction boxes, cutting and stripping cables, etc. I should imagine that you'd only be talking about 2 or 3 light fittings below for your average house.

hiring an angle drill for a day to do the drilling might help as spacing between loft joists often is not sufficient to fit a drill and bit in them to drill the hole square.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

[Pete C]

OK need is a bit too strong a word. If you need an excuse to get a router it might help...

Cutting a diagonal slot would help, but it's a moot point if the wiring regs forbid it.

Or drilling the joists diagonally might do it.

cheers, Pete.