Boarding Loft

The insulation that's up there is only 2cm thick so pretty pointless. Hence why new stuff going in. Also I can't not have boarding as there is nowhere else for all the stuff to go.

Notching joists is a big no no, especially in lofts where they are wholly inadequate.

The reason is if you notch a 4" high joist out 1", it then becomes a 3" joist at that point and because of the sharp corners, that becomes the weak point.
Potential failures will always happen and the corners of the notch is always where problems will happen.

Obviously one notch on a short span out of a 6"+ joist isn't cause any issues but a large span where maybe a bath or heavy wardrobes are sitting, it can cause issues.

The amount of butchered floors I've seen in people's houses would shock most of you on here.

40mm waste pipe notched out of 6" joists badly so only 3.5" left and sitting under a bath, course I'm the mug who has to fix it cos I can't leave once I've seen it cos the customer would blame me if something happened in future.

Central heating fitters are the fecking worst by far, cutting floorboards halfway between joists and then leaving the board to sit on the pipes they have installed.

So, get some cheap roofing lath which is about 30x45mm and lay that on the joists around the cable.

^^ never, NO,NO, NO, I don't believe it, I do really.

I think I will lay the boards around the cables seems it would be easier. As I say the loft is small as I have a very shallow roof anyway.

[timwilky]

I started screwing 3*2 on top of the existing 3*2 joists in my loft and then realised it was a bit like hard work. so bought a load of 6*2 to place at the side of the existing joists and could see just how much they had bowed since the cowboy built my house in the 50s.

At least I could now properly insulate and board the loft.

[Gazza77]

Originally Posted by Luckypants

If the boards squash the insulation, then it loses much of it's efficiency and so becomes rather pointless. There is a reason it is all soft and squishy (hint: it's not so you can nail your loft boards down)

Use a different insulation, eg kingspan.

[Messie]

The insulation I had put in last summer is a least 6 inches above the joists. It has reduced my already very shallow loft space drastically

On the up side though, even in this really prolonged cold spell my house is deffinately warmer. The whole of upstaires is really noticable (in last years' longcold spell I couldn't even get the place warm). Downstaires is also better but I really should do something about the catflap and the lack of dor on the kitchen.

I did not put any boarding back down, and I'm glad I didn't

Originally Posted by Gazza77

Use a different insulation, eg kingspan.

Yep, or put a foil wrap over the top, bit expensive but would work fine.

A dense rockwool is also good, 6" if this would be more than good enough.

[DarrenSV650S]

Don't screw the boards down if it's a new house btw.