Loft Storage In a Modern House

[Terry Fields]

One of my offspring, who has recently moved in to a two-year-old house, was hoping to store stuff in the loft. However, the loft has

12" of insulation in it, presumably glass wool, and just putting stuff on top of this is a no-no.

The question is, how could some storage space be generated up there?

The house has no garage or shed that might have been an alternative.

Would it be an idea to remove some of the current insulation, say between the hatch and the nearest wall, lay celotex in between the joists, and board over? The idea being to gain access to an end wall to put up shelving, and have some robust flooring to use for storage too.

Any comments or ideas gratefully received.

[Ian Stirling]

If cost is no object - then 'simply' ripping out all of the existing insulation, putting 100mm kingspan in between the joists, with 25mm kingspan over the top, over which chip is placed, will work just fine, and give comparable thermal performance.

For a 80m^2 attic, you're looking at around a grand for the insulation, then the chip.

Then there is the question of 'would it be a good idea to increase the thickness of the ceiling joists - which the answer is usually yes to in the modern house. If you do this - and glue and screw 2*4 to the (probably) 4*2 ceiling beams, then you could get away with 50mm kingspan, and 100mm of the existing insulation, with 25mm kingspan over the top.

These would leave the insulation value pretty much the same.

[Lurch]

On 18 Feb 2007 15:25:52 GMT, Ian Stirling mused:

After you've checked that the extra weight won't bring the ceilings down. ;)

[Weatherlawyer]

If it is going to be stored it might be just as well going to be dumped. Give it to friends or charity or sell it in a car boot.

[Lurch]

On 18 Feb 2007 08:35:48 -0800, "Weatherlawyer" mused:

No, that's not how it works. First, you store it for a few years then have a clear out, sling it all in the skip and then marvel at how much space is in the loft now. Repeat until you are moved into a home by the kids when they then take it all to their houses for storage for a few years before sticking it all in a skip to clear space in their loft.

[Mary Fisher]

...

There's another reason for storage - that of not having enough room for things which will be used but isn't enough room for in the main body of the house.

In our case it's raw flax, raw cotton, a spinning wheel, leather, linen and wool fabric, demonstration equipment, wax, moulds and patterns, jars, tents, other packaging materials, skins ... all used and all far too valuable to be disposed but all too large or otherwise unsuitable for keeping downstairs.

Mary

[meow2222]

a no cost option is to leave 4" of insulation down, or whatever depth the joists are, board, then lay the remaining insulation down. Where youre storing things you roll insulation out of the way. Stored goods in boxes act as insulation (to a variable extent) as they trap air.

NT