Best way to keep cluster flies out of a loft?

Discussion in 'Builders' Talk' started by ibanezman, Dec 28, 2015.

  1. ibanezman

    ibanezman Member

    This year I'm finally going to get round to flooring out part of the loft. However, when I started cogitating on this particular activity back in the summer, I noticed that the loft was home to thousands of cluster flies. As it wasn't a pressing problem, I pretty much just shut the hatch and left it for another day!

    So, if I'm going to start thinking about using the loft, I'm going to need a way to stop the flies getting back in, once I've got any that are left in there out. I was thinking that I could effectively seal the usable space by creating a 'box' in the loft. Then the flies can do what they like outside the box. I wouldn't see them, they wouldn't see me, and we could all co-exist happily enough.

    Is that a good or bad idea?
     
  2. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    You can get your local pest control officer to treat the loft ULV fogger,but they will be back following year, so no Cluster flies last stand.

    Just need to block up all the holes & entry points in your loft.
     
  3. nigel willson

    nigel willson Screwfix Select

    or remove that corpse from the loft????
     
  4. ibanezman

    ibanezman Member

    I can't - my wife said she never wanted to leave ;)

    Ok, so next question...

    I've just looked at the measurements of the room that I'd like to build. My roof trusses look almost exactly like the diagram that I've uploaded and I'm planning to build a box within the large central cavity. This would give me a room which would be 5m long by 2.7m wide by 2m high.

    To achieve what I'm thinking of, I'd need 36 (1220mm x 325mm) loft boards (12 packs of 3 from B&Q, as access through the house is tight, so large sheets are not an option) and 52 (1220mm x 600mm) sheets of plasterboard.

    After a little back of envelope maths, that works out to be about 300kg for the plasterboard and 150kg for the loft boards. So, almost half a ton before I've started to do anything else. Am I going end up seeing enormous cracks across the ceiling?!
     

    Attached Files:

  5. chippie244

    chippie244 Super Member

    Trusses are designed to hold the ceiling and roof up and nothing else.
     
  6. ibanezman

    ibanezman Member

    That's exactly my worry. So given that I'm not the only person to consider converting my loft, how do people strengthen things so that the trusses aren't compromised?
     
  7. chippie244

    chippie244 Super Member

    Steels.
     
  8. ibanezman

    ibanezman Member

    Flitch beams, or RSJs between the load bearing walls?
     
  9. sinewave

    sinewave Screwfix Select

    Rip the Roof off and use Loft Trusses!

    [​IMG]
     
  10. ibanezman

    ibanezman Member

    As tempting as it is to haemorrhage cash by ripping the roof off and using steels to pursue this idea, in all likelihood I'm not going to. What is probably a better plan is to span the shorter width between load bearing walls with two 9x4 wooden joists, perpendicular to the trusses. I could then use extra long hangers to span between these two new joists to create a floating floor which would completely remove the possibility of any weight whatsoever on the trusses.

    It won't be as cheap as throwing down some loft boards on the trusses, but less costly than roof removal, steels etc.
     
  11. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    Look at engineered timber I joists, lighter & just as strong.
     
  12. ibanezman

    ibanezman Member

  13. ibanezman

    ibanezman Member

    Just looking at I joists too, they look just the job.
     

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