DIY Doctor review of LoftZone

[@ukloftboarding]

Used this product a number of times now, cant fault it. Its a great solution for loft boarding without compromising the effectiveness of your loft insulation by squashing it. Best product on the market and I've tried them all.

[@stevewestwood4832]

Is there any glass fibre reinforcement in the plastic mouldings. I see elsewhere that plastic lost lifters made of plastic warp over time which then warps the loft boards.

[@LoftZone]

Yes indeed. Ours are 30% glass fibre to prevent exactly that :)

[@stevewestwood4832]

@ that is re assuring thank you

[@TheEulerID]

The LoftZone beams are not "ali", they are made of zinc-plated steel. One thing to note is that the kits (which are much the best value way of buying the stuff) only include enough uni supports for half the spans. That means about half the spans are the full 1.2 metres, and I prefer to have a uni support in the middle of each span as it spreads the load a little better so I bought a few extras (and at less than £2 each, they aren't expensive). I have 600mm between joists - with 400mm spacing I'd probably add one uni support in each span and alternate which joist to use between rows as putting two between each of the main supports would be overkill. Otherwise, a very good system and, in my view, much stronger than those single plastic legs that you can get. Overall, much more stable when it's all fully screwed down. Fortunately I have a very tall loft due to a steep roofline, but it's going to be more difficult for those with shallow rooflines, but that will be the case for any system.

[@DaveRaval]

Thanks for this Steve. On your final point, there is a reduced-height StoreFloor Compact system for people with less tall lofts and less deep insulation.

[@johnohalloran915]

Does it leave the house warmer

[@LoftZone]

The insulation absolutely does! But for the insulation to work properly, it mustn't be squashed. So this allows the insulation to work properly, to keep the home warmer, whilst providing storage and access in the loft :)

[@ianrussell5367]

I note that in the instructions, it says that "at the ends of the deck you may prefer to let the board sit across the full width of the cross beam". Presumably this means that the separation of the tri-supports at the ends will need to be less than 610 mm?

[@adriandarke5393]

Hi, if the timber frames have ceiling joists 75x35 and span 4.2m,on 600mm centres, by installing this product how much extra bearing of dead load weight could the joists support?. Many thanks

[@richardthomas7839]

Hi DIY Doctor, Can you tell me the model of Makita percussion driver the Lou used in this video please. It looks exactly what I need!

[@richardfox7977]

as its going directly on the ceiling joists and are not weight-bearing what sort of weight can it take , i live in a new build and if i install it and my ceiling fails my insurance wont cover me they said my ceiling ist designed to take the extra weight , what guarantee do you give with thanks

[@LoftZone]

Hello there, ceiling joists are weight-bearing, they must be able to take some loads, e.g. of people walking in the loft or some permanent loads (e.g. for storage), in order to meet British Standards. We discuss this in depth under "Why StoreFloor won't affect a new build house warranty" on www.loftzone.co.uk/faqs/

[@TheHeirachyExploitYou]

Hi like some advice thinking of using this product looks easy and efficient. I live in a 1960 house and there isn't a vapour layer underneath the first layer of loft insulation. Is this necessary. I didn't see you mention anything about that

[@LoftZone]

Hello there. Most people don't use a vapour layer. You can do, but then any moisture in the room below stays in the room below. Most people prefer it to be released into the loft where it can be vented away by the air flow going from eave to eave.

[@waynebirch7412]

Would a wooden beam on top of the normal beams be just as good? Are those supports plastic or metal too?

[@LoftZone]

Hello Wayne. No, because wood conducts heat, whereas the BRE has calculated that the recycled plastic supports of the LoftZone system does not. So building up a structure with timber allows heat to pass through the insulation, defeating the object!

[@waynebirch7412]

@@LoftZone I didn't think of heat loss. I was planning on boarding for storage. I just though wood might be stronger than the plastic supports, but then there's a question of adding extra weight to the existing beams with extra wood. Only in the planning phase this week and trying to get as much information to figure out the best method, though it seems I need a gap between the insulation and the boards to stop moisture and aid air flow. And my current insulation is above the beams.

[@andrewnoonan5418]

on the official loft zone video it suggested a low torque for drill . Can u tell a newbie like me what exact low torque setting would it be?

[@LoftZone]

Hello Andrew. Use the lowest that you find works for you. The exact setting will depend on the quality of your wooden joists. The point of having a low setting is that you don't want to vibrate the joists too much as if you do, you may cause cracks in the ceiling below. It's the same reason why you should use screws and not nails for work in your loft. Fortunately no one has ever told us that this happened in their loft, but it's always worth erring on the side of caution. Best wishes, Dave at LoftZone

[@andrewnoonan5418]

ok thanks

[@Rick_Poole]

not sure if your still taking questions on this post. I have lots of cables running over the exisiting insulation, what would i do with these cables when fitting the new insulation with this system?

[@LoftZone]

Hello Rick. If you are in the UK, then Part P of the Building Regulations state that wiring cables should be placed above the insulation - which means using slack, if there is any, to lift them, or rewiring to provide more height. The reason for this is to prevent the insulation overheating the wires and causing them to melt. This is more of a risk the higher the current the wire carries.

[@Rick_Poole]

Cheers, there is plenty of slack on the wires to sit them on top of the new insulation, thanks!

[@mark-x9q5e]

My impression is that these are great for lifting floors without breaching regs for insulation but do nothing at all for strengthening the structure of your floor

[@LoftZone]

Hi there, they do indeed raise the floor above the insulation but they do also strengthen your loft floor, by acting as a lattice beam. However this isn't enough for a loft conversion (e.g. for a bedroom), it's not designed for that, only for storage and occasional access, whilst protecting the insulation below. Hope that helps! :)

[@ianrussell5367]

Something not covered in any video or information I have seen is - "how easy is it to cut the steel cross beams?" I doubt that full length beams will fit in every situation?

[@LoftZone]

Hi Ian, this is covered in the installation booklet that you can download via www.loftzone.co.uk/install-guide/ but yes fair enough, it's not shown on the website directly. The steel is strong from its design but actually only 0.7mm thick so you can cut it with any quality electric saw or even with (heavy duty large) tin-snips.

[@john9409]

Hi, what's the width and depth of the aluminium sections? And respectively, the width and depth of the plates we screw the boards to? I've measured out my area but want to know how close I can get the first row to the diagonal brace but obviously I don't know the width of the pieces, only the height of the supports and the lengths of the metal beams is given. Thanks.

[@DaveRaval]

Hi there: the galvanised steel Cross-Beams are 80mm wide and 50mm tall. The boards screws directly on to those. Hope that helps you.

[@adelewest2453]

Is it a similar insulation process as loft legs? Which one is better and gives more coverage and best value for money.

[@LoftZone]

Hello Adele, you can see a handy comparison table here: www.loftzone.co.uk/compare.html

[@boldertash]

Lou is walking on the plasterboard

[@Jaya365]

so you don't have to stagger your loftboards on this system then?

[@LoftZone]

That's right, the LoftZone raised deck is strong enough without having to stagger the boards.

[@darrenmaxwell3108]

So the floor will never be square????

[@MorrisUK]

What size LoftZone pack is this? I'm looking at the starter pack but not sure this will be enough. Thank you.

[@LoftZone]

Yes, this is the 1.2m x 2.4m pack that is shown in this video. Lots of other sizes are available to buy on our website or you can purchase parts individually to make any size you want :)

[@sugarplumfairy101]

They look like a very good product but you need to consider the cost. To raise my very large loft would cost over £3,000.00 (based on £600.00 for a 6.0 metre x 6.0 metre kit). At that price, I should look at putting celotex down instead and boarding straight onto the joists

[@LoftZone]

That's certainly a huge loft!! Usually our customers with lofts that big are in the USA! Well a couple of points. Firstly, do you want to board all of it? Great if you do, but not everyone chooses to do so - it depends what you want to use it for and how many possessions you're looking to store. Many people just board the highest area in the middle. Secondly, rigid foam (like Celotex) is a good insulator but has many disadvantages. You can find these summarised on the comparison table at the bottom of the page on www.loftzone.co.uk/loft-storefloor/. The top three are the risk of interstitial condensation owing to the lack of airflow, the difficulty of cutting the boards in the loft and getting them exactly the right size so that there are no gaps for heat to escape, and the fact that the joists will form a cold bridge around the insulation. They are probably the main reasons why we very rarely see this form of insulation and boarding in new build properties.

[@sugarplumfairy101]

Hi, @@LoftZone, I now realise that the most common solution is to simply add 90 degree battens to build up the area. Massively cheaper and very robust. Thanks

[@LoftZone]

@@sugarplumfairy101 there are disadvantages to that too, which is why we invented our product :) Again, you can see them via the link described above - these include a lot of extra weight, the inability to cope with uneven joists and (again) that the timber acts as a cold bridge. The latter is the reason why timber can't be used in the way you describe in a new build house without the builder having to add extra insulation elsewhere to make up for the reduction in the performance of the insulation in the loft.

[@sugarplumfairy101]

Hi @@LoftZone, The challenge is, of course, you are the manufacturer and seller of this product, so you naturally have a bias (most people will understand that). I've scrolled the internet and 90-degree battens with airflow is a very common practice. Many builders on KZbin explain the process and that is good enough for me. I intend to board all of my loft. Thank you!

[@squeakyd1]

What size loft boards do I need?

[@LoftZone]

It's up to you! But most people use the 1220 x 320 (or 325) x 18mm tongue and groove boards. LoftZone sells these with its packs online, or they're available from any DIY store.

[@squeakyd1]

LoftZone thank you

[@mrspudly1]

Can you tell me how the uprights attach in older style houses with narrow ceiling joists of only 1 inch or less sometimes ?

[@DaveRaval]

mrspudly1 the joists in your loft will need to be at least 1.25" wide for the plastic supports to fit. You can see info on how suitable your loft is here: www.loftzone.co.uk/store/index.php?route=extension/faq. If your joists are any thinner than that, I would worry about whether they are strong enough to support much weight of stored items, to be honest!

[@robrunz]

The DIY Doctor says that the flooring is for light suitcases etc. Do i need to strengthen my ceiling before installing this if i want to add loads for heavy boxes of books etc or is this a way of strengthening the area per sq. metre? thanks

[@LoftZone]

LoftZone does indeed strengthen your joists, as it acts as a lattice beam type of structure. However it's impossible to say how strong your joists are without getting a professional in to do an inspection. The British Standard for new build houses is that the joists should be able to hold at the very least a permanent load of 25kg/m2 plus the weight of someone walking around occasionally. In contrast, many older houses, with cut roofs, have much stronger joists. So the 25kg/m2 figure is the one we recommend, unless you know that your joists are stronger. I hope this helps. There is more information on the LoftZone website and lots of customer reviews and photos on our Facebook page!

[@HektorBandimar]

Are those joist 3 x 2" or 4 x 2" ? the attic joists in my old property are only 3 x 2" would that take the weight?

[@LoftZone]

Hi there. The height of the joist doesn't really matter - most are between 3" and 4" tall. So long as the joists are at least 1.25" wide, they're suitable to be used with LoftZone.

[@TheFatController.]

Lou looks like she is there against her will...

[@Ironbuket]

I think the idea was to make it seem easy to do, but she was treated like an idiot and given tasks as complicated as screw this in to this pre-drilled marked hole with a drill driver. A 3yr old could have done it once it has been setup by someone experienced. Could have worked better, if he was explaining to Lou instead of to the camera and getting her to do all the jobs and have her being allowed to ask questions and make mistakes as she went along so it was more realistic to a real installation by someone that hadnt used the system before

[@raylever6397]

The fat Controller )

[@psibug565]

I don’t think they have the budget to do a full in depth interview. They talked at the end and she seemed fine and said she would be OK with installing the product in her house.

[@rcrinsea]

The downsides of this product is that it raises the floor by a lot, so you lose vertical space, and the plastic stands seem wobbly to me. I wouldn't feel 100% comfortable walking on it or storing heavy items on it.

[@graemeluca]

There is also a compact kit that raises the floor by a much smaller margin (for lofts with lower roofs), however a significant space between the insulation and boards are essential to prevent condensation. As for the plastic supports seeming "wobbly", the system creates an ultra strong base for storage, tested to 500kg per square metre, without failure.

[@RestoTek]

So, if you raise a question, they will invite you to their offices and make you do all the work for a video 😅, sounds about right lol

[@macrobins]

Good system but a little more enthusiasm from both would have made it less cringe worth to watch.

[@smash461986]

He was fine. She wasn't interested but then how many people really are? Teaching people a subject they don't have an interest in is hard. Try teaching.

[@keithankers6763]

It’s my loft none of the government business how I manage it

[@michawill6599]

Too much chatting, not enough showing