How much of the loft should we board?

[malin100]

We are boarding the loft. Supposedly it's 30 square metres. First quote as follows:
Whole thing 30 sq m £1500
12 sq m £600
9 sq m £450

Eventually, if we stay here, we'd intend to do a loft conversion but have heard it would be about £30k so not possible just now.

We need the storage badly and first child on the way but I'm finding it difficult to figure out what we actually need. I'm inclined to go for the cheapest as it still seems like a reasonable amount of space for boxes, some flat pack furniture (too nice to get rid of so want to keep for next house or loft conversion time) and general bits and pieces (some baby stuff, over time, would go up to wait on second child hopefully in a couple of years). But I'm rubbish at visualising space like that. My husband is leaning towards doing the whole thing as he reckons it will increase resale value anyway as people will like having a whole 'storage room' (although it's a nightmare to get up to, from a tight landing, through a small hatch). I partially agree but also think it's a waste if it will all have to be taken down to do the conversion anyway (if we got to that stage). Would also be a waste of money if it's far too much for our needs.

What would you do?

And would it make a difference to buying the house for you?

That's shockingly expensive. What we did was buy the board ourselves from homebase and put it down in the area around the hatch. When we ran out of space for storing stuff, we went back to homebase, bought some more boards and put a few more down. It's not a complicated job (in fact, I suspect that dh may not have bothered to nail the boarding in place, but it's working for us as storage!)

if it has a pitched roof, there will be (say) 8ft headroom in the centre under the ridge, reducing to 0 at the eaves.

Floor that part where there is sufficient headroom to stand upright.

Top up the loft insulation first. Insulate between the joists up to the top of them, and no higher, where you intend to floor. You can't (mustn't) squash insulation. However you can lay rigid foam boards over the joists and put your flooring on top of it. The loft contractor should be aware of the method, but you can look on Knauf, Kingspan or Celotex websites who may have guidance.

I don't like loft legs.

If you hope to do a proper loft conversion one day, all your current work will have to be ripped out to reinforce the timbers.

If the hatch is too small or in the wrong place consult a competent carpenter or roofer who will understand where to cut and how to reinforce the opening.

I agree with bananapie

We are by no means DIYers, but did this ourselves. It doesn't matter in your loft if it's not quite straight or whatever - all you are doing is storing a few suitcases and your Christmas decs on them, out of sight for 11 months of the year. Do a small space, then add a bit if you need to.

If it is just a floored loft, it will be unbearably hot in summer, and freezing cold in winter. As the roof slope is uninsulated there is nothing you can do about it. You could put four fan heaters up there and the heat would fall straight out through the tiles. If the roof is unfelted (i.e. you can see the underside of the tiles) it will be filthy, and will get filthy again a week after you clean it. So if DH is fantasising about a model railway or a man-cave, he will have to think again.

We paid that much to install oak flooring in the same size floor space!! Are they doing something special up there?!
You can buy big chipboard sheets from b and q. The ones we have used had tongue and groove type links so they just slotted together. They probably even have suitable stuff packed up and labelled 'loft boards'. Make sure the size you get can fit through the loft hatch.
I would board more rather than less because it is better to spread out the stuff you are storing up there rather than pile if all up precariously so you can't find anything.
I don't think it would add value to your house because it is such an easy thing for someone to do. That's why paying 1500 for it is shocking.

I too agree with bananapie

That's exactly what we did. I am now selling after 18 years and having just emptied the loft, realise most of it has been up there all the time and was never used! I suggest you run a very strict audit on anything you put up there as to whether it'll ever be of use.

Thanks for your replies! We did buy loft boards to do it ourselves but that was when we moved in 3 years ago and it hasn't happened. Now we really have a reason to do it but it would take DH weeks to do a bit each weekend, being an utter perfectionist and getting all the bits and pieces for raising it above the insulation that I now agree to get someone in to do it - but never expected to pay that much. Good to know I'm not just being a cheapskate! We've got someone else to quote next week so hopefully they can give us a better deal and I can convince DH we only need the smaller area.

We got 150sqft boarded, a ladder and a light putting in. £300
In the northwest though.