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lofts - unboarded - how do you move about safely?
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Posted By Alison WR
Can anyone help?
Many/most lofts are not boarded out, so to move about the loft you have to 'be careful' and walk or crawl along the joists.
There must be some kind of crawling board on the market - something light enough to be carried up into a loft, but strong enough to support a person and robust enough to stand up to regular use.
Does anyone know of some kind of commercially available device, or do people make do with bits of board?
Regards
Alison
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Posted By Dave McIness
T&G Chipboard fixed to the joists or youngman boards.
Dave
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Posted By Vernon Kay
The device you are looking for is called a MAN Alison. Send him up!
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Posted By Salus
as Dave mentioned, also try to ensure they are a min. of 600mm wide and write up a procedure that all are OK to work to,get all to sign, head torches are a good idea in lofts.
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Posted By Gilles27
Alison, never tried the goods but seen demos. This firm appear at H&S Expo each year and I have always thought it looks useful. Cannot recommend it though as I have not used.
www.oxfordsafety.co.uk
They even do one specifically for lofts - see what you think.
Jon
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Posted By Glyn Atkinson
If your loft is not boarded out in its' original build, then you may wish to review what weight stesses are going onto the joists that have been put in place to brace the roof structure, not for goods storage in the void area.
If you can get access to the void area between ground and first floor, take note of joist sizes and board thicknesses as they will have known weight bearing factors in place for 1st floor fixtures and fittings.
I would then, at the very least, use similar or more substantial boards to cover the floor of the loft, perhaps also strengthening the joists with side packers so that the joints of adjoining boards have sufficient holding strength and do not give way in between the holding joists.
Even if careful with board installation, do not presume that the entire storage mass of your house occupants can now be safely hidden in this roof space. Spread the storage across all of the boarded area and keep the weight distribution as even as possible.
(Or enrol in a plastering or Artex course ready for the joists sagging under the weight and cracking the roof decorations below !!)
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Posted By Martin Gray
Alison, the nature of the organisation work for requires us to enter unboarded lofts on a regular basis to search them. As falling through the ceiling was a major hazard we purchased some scaffold planks and cut them to about 3-4 foot lengths with a stop block on the underside this enabled the plank to fit through the loft hatch but we were also able to ensure the plank was on a firm surface. This has worked very well over the years and we have not had any problems with anyone coming off.
Handling in the confined space does not present a problem as the person is usually on their knees when placing the plank.
Martin
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Posted By Tommy Cooper
I believe the comment by Vernon on this thread is very inappropriate and sexist.
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Posted By Paul Leadbetter
You are right on both counts, Tommy, but Vernon is known for his flippancy; lighten up and smile!
Paul
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Posted By Alison WR
My thanks particularly to Martin and Gilles - I'll check out these possibilities.
Regards
Alison
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lofts - unboarded - how do you move about safely?
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