How To Floor An Attic Uk

First you ll need to measure the area you want to floor so you can calculate how much wood you ll require.

How to floor an attic uk.

Mike embarks on a project to lay a floor in the attic loft space. To fasten the panels to the floor joists you ll be working on your knees so wear kneepads to protect your shins. To floor an attic you ll need to install a sub floor for support before laying your plywood floor. A loft or attic floor is only designed to carry a load of 25kg per square metre.

To put a floor in your loft is not a difficult job. All attics joists can carry a minimal dead load weight i e 10 pounds per square foot. Attic joists for live loads. The loft flooring is not designed to carry loads heavier than this.

These panels are 18mm thick 1 2m long and only 320mm wide. 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. Joist dimensions are only part of the equation. Unless expressly built for use as a living space your attic floor may not be strong enough.

But live loads are a different matter. Be cautioned though that even with insulation hardwood flooring will cause a lot of foot traffic noise to the floor below. In fact the horizontal rafter sections in your loft are there solely to hold up the ceiling for the rooms below. They come in packs of 3 or 5 usually and a pack of 3 is enough to cover a little over 1 square metre.

You ll have to construct a wooden frame or sub floor with boards 16 inches apart to provide extra support for the floor. 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. Often minimal live load requirements are four times that of dead loads.

Use 1 foot wide boards in pine or spruce to make quick work of putting down a floor. If your intent is to use the attic for a purpose other than storage you will need to consider a more finished look. 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. You also need to ensure that the joist spacing is adequate.

Mike embarks on a project to lay a floor in the attic loft space. This means they are easy to get through the loft hatch.