In a victorian house of standard construction with an apex roof, how much weight can one put in the loft? I have a bunch of old books and tapes I'd like to hide, but I've never had a loft before...don't wantthe ceiling coming down.
Cheers
John
There are all sorts of roof construction with different constructions, so it is not possible to give you a definitive answer. However, it is unlikely that a Victorian loft would be suitable for heavy storage, as the joist sizes are very unlikely to be anywhere near that required by modern building regulations.
If you give some idea of the joist dimensions, the span and the type of support (i.e. hanging from ceiling, attached to rafters, lying on structural wall, someone might give you some sort of idea.
Christian.
In all probability, you should be careful of simply walking around up there. The joists were usually just strong enough to hold up the ceiling and not always strong enough to do that.
Colin Bignell
Thanks, both of you, it's as I thought. Now I can explain to the management that we have to keep the books under the bed!
Agreed. I generally keep only empty boxes up there for packing things back in when I move. There are a few heavy things up there, and they are all positioned in a line along the top of the structural wall which supports the centres of the loft joists.
It won't collapse, but it may bow unacceptably.
Weigh yourself, and the books, and then walk around in it.
You will know when the deflection is too severe.
And even with narrow joists, you can normally get some useful heavy storage right over a supporting structural wall, if there are any.
Christian.
I'm amazed at how flimsy many people's lofts seem to be, I've never seen one of these lofts with 4" or less ceiling joists. In all my experience from my parent's 1950s built house through all the houses we've owned the joists have, in the main, been overkill for the job.
Our present 1920s built house has 6" (at least) by 2" ceiling joists at, I would guess, less than 18" spacing. It feels much the same as previous lofts that I remember. I think the major stress on our joists is tension from the weight of the roof, maybe that's why they're much bigger than needed to support the ceiling.
Building regulations recognise that lofts are used for storage and mandate reasonable joist sizes. Old Victorian houses often have joists sufficient for holding up the ceiling and a person performing maintenance but little more. You may be influenced by living in more modern houses that have been subject to building regs.
Having said this, some modern houses using prefabricated roof trusses seem to have smaller joists than recommended by building regulations for freestanding joists, presumably because there is a hanging effect from the struts.
Christian.
I'm afraid youve been quite misinformed today. This is explained fully in another thread.... see if I can find it...
NT
Yes. Prefab W braced strus shwo far elss deformatiuon per unit load, and are lighter to boot than single joists sapaning - particularly large - spans. Also restricted access in such a roof discourages its use for storage.
I don't think the regs actually specify the use of strong structures UNLESS intended for storage.
There is a commoin confusion between strength and rigidity. Victorian stuff is usually well strong enough, but flexible which is what 'brings the plaster down'
If you hae a flexibility problem installing your own hangers from roof to ceiling joist will help immmensely.
The OP has been answered but here's a little p.s.: Our house was built in 1962. Dunno what the technical name for the roof construction is, but it's a triangular void, with a couple of very long spanning timbers joining the two sides of the roof, at about the half-way point.
My next door neighbour put a carpet (or two) in his loft many years ago; then a couple of glass doors ; then a few boxes; etc etc etc.
The ceiling has never fallen in .... but his ROOF SAGS! It's been pulled down, over the years, by the geological movement caused by the total weight of carpets etc. pulling against the spanning timbers.
It's not a disastrous problem, nor one that can't really be fixed by getting rid of most of the weight ... but it's summat to think about, innit?
John
A friend of mine in an 1890's terrace house with 2inch (?) joists that deflected when you walked on them (and cracked ceiling plaster) fitted shelves onto the two dividing walls and placed all the heavy items on them. Installed a couple of 8x2 sheets of flooring board (on raised battons so as to no squash the insullation and add extra strength) to allow easy access to walls, but basically tried to keep everything off joists. Also suffered from severe dirt and dust as no roofing felt in house of this age.
Unless they have been underdrawn or otherwise strengthened, Victorian houses will have lath and plaster ceilings, which, by now, tend to be held up as much by habit as anything else. It does not need the ceiling to change shape by much for them to decide to give up the habit and fall into the room below.
Colin Bignell
If lofts are barely strong enough for a person, how are water tanks supported??
By being placed over/close to a loadbearing wall and/or the weight being spread across a number of joists. When you walk around your loft there is a fair chance that your entire 200lbs (or whatever) will at times be applied at the centre of a single joist.
2" joists are uncommon, but are the ones you really can not use for anything. But its not hard to strengthen them up nicely, simply by gluing and screwing planed wood on top to make them into 4", or preferably 6" joists.
I would be slightly wary of heavy items on shelves on walls as well, simply because loft gable walls tend to be 4" in those old places, and I would expect that if the pointing's less than brilliant, such loading could bring the wall down. Be aware that in some cases the roof structure is not actually connected to that triangle of wall, so it is untied - sometimes.
Really its all a case of loking at the structure to see what you can do, and not assuming. There were almost no building regs affecting most Vic houses - I know thats not true in all cases, but with a lot of them they did whatever they felt like, and today we have the ones that are still standing.
NT
But it's surprising what can be got away with. Some years ago I removed an old leaky tank from the airing cupboard. At first sight it _appeared_ to be well supported on a couple of 4 x 2 timbers spanning the width of the cupboard. But the ends of the 4 x 2's were only resting on pieces of t&g floorboard fastened on edge to the side walls running fore and aft. After removing the tank I was able to lift the 4 x 2's off their supports. The t&g was just nailed to the 2 x 2 studding in the plasterboard wall and was easily pulled off by hand. The local spec. builder must have got away with building hundreds of houses this way.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.