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We had similar thoughts since the free insulation was laid across the beams rather than inside them. In the end we had the insulation relaid (and slightly squashed) and put loft boards back on top. The loft legs are lightweight which is why they are recommended but it looked a pain to actually put them down. Timber was out of the question due to the increased weight on the beams. Obviously we have lost some of the effectiveness of the insulation but it means we can use our loft for storage.
The loft boards aren't that big (due to having to fit them through the loft hatch) so you couldn't probably just stand them up in the passenger seat area.
chewy75-
Squashing probably isn't good for the the >100 year old plaster. It's lath & plaster with a few "characterful" cracks visible underneath.
Boards are either 1.2 or 2.4 m long (probably the same as the car). The bigger ones mean less cutting and screwing, which is good. Only downside will be lifting the fuckers into the loft...
rwn
So, loft boarding.
Our house was built 1906 and last winter was cold as fuck. We have zero loft insulation, presumably because we had no loft access. We now have a hatch and ladder courtesy the chaps who did a nice job on our kitchen in April.
Scottish Gas are coming round in a week to assess if they'll give us free insulation.
What's the craic about loft boarding? My beloved wants to put all the things up there now. The rafters are about 170mm deep and 500-600mm apart. My googling suggests that I want to fill the rafter gaps with 170mm insulation, screw cross-beams down, then 100mm insulation, and finally board them.
I'm aware of loft legs, loft lifters, et al. but they look like they'll concentrate the load quite a lot? This thing http://www.loftzone.co.uk/storefloor.html looks better cos of spreading the load across the beams, but it's pricey.
So I'm back to my initial thought of timber. B&Q sell 45mm x 95mm x 2400mm softwood for £5.46 a pop, which looks suitable to me. They also have tongue and groove boards in two sizes (similar cost at 5.6-5.8 £/m^2). They will also deliver, which is a big help (we've got a tiny car). I'm medium DIY-competent, Ikea is easy, I can wire a new light in, connect a dishwasher and put up shelves but this would be the biggest job I've undertaken.
Is this sensible?
What spacing should I aim for between my joists? I'm guessing about 500mm, to make squares with the existing ones. I'll probably fine tune based on the length of the boards we pick.
The existing joists look pretty sturdy, but I REALLY do not want to collapse the ceiling! How can I tell without getting a structural engineer out? I can measure up of course.
Cheers!