Mains, PSUs and other goodies.

[Rogue]

Another, better, option is to add a second joist on top of the first a 4 x 2 on top of a 4 x 2 will make a huge improvement, however it does mean that you'll have a step up into the room, headroom is reduced and inward opening doors have a bit of an issue - but this is whats often done for loft conversions.

...surely if you can spread the load by placing the benches on their own 'joists' running perpendicular to the existing joists the area...

They say that great minds think alike, but then again they also say that fools seldom differ. This is the first thing that occured to me when I read the post. Can the joist be on top of the floorboards? Basically creating a raised platform at one end of the room? Hopefully Jonathan and I have great minds but I must admit I'm not doing our side any justice at the moment.

Edited to add: Ahh, I guess you mean the extra joist being lined up exactly on top of the old joist, not perpendicular to it? Still, same question applies!

[Rogue]

I'd hazard that you sitting at your substantial workbench is close to exceeding that.

Ahh yeah, forgot to mention. I suppose this won't be helping either?




Except now it's got a 2m long double layer of MDF (that was only a temp worktop for the picture) and a pillar drill on it...

[JAZZCNC]

ah ha ah . .bet there's more bloody timber in them 2 bench's than the whole floor . . lol

[Rogue]

ah ha ah . .bet there's more bloody timber in them 2 bench's than the whole floor . . lol

Probably - if the floor ever collapses the benches will come out intact, and that's the important thing. The only thing they contain in greater volume that timber is woodglue

I wonder, is there likely to be enough of a gap between the floorboards that I can poke something thin between them to find the edges of the joists to work out the width? If I can get something with a bend in it then I can find the bottom and work out the height as well.

[Rogue]

On a sidenote, I was rather surprised with the workbench in that photo. I put a PC on it to test something and the whole thing vibrated like a drum. I didn't really worry about sound when I built it because it's not for "noisey" stuff, but I didn't expect it to amplify the vibration and it felt like it transmitted it straight into the structure.

Lots of experimenting to be done with isolating and dampening, I think.

[Rogue]

Worst case scenario, I can cut out some of the ceiling and put up some support poles then decorate them to blend in. I'll tell the kids I built them a jungle gym for their room, and tell the wife I bought her some poles for dancing in our room...

[Rogue]

Hmm, I had a brief bit of time just now but only enough to move a bit of the carpet. No nails in sight and my plan to wiggle something between the boards hit a snag - there appears to be some kind of filler between the floorboards. Still, found one that was slightly looser and had a dig!

Found two joists. Each was 65mm wide. Distance between closest faces was 340mm, so centre to centre would be 405mm. What I'm wondering is that, because the measurements were taken close to the stairs, whether this is representative of the rest of the room or whether the gaps are different because of the stairs. Somehow. Or maybe not.


Measurement was taken about a foot away from the wall, roughly in line with the middle of the radiator.


The stairs, viewed from the uncovered part of the floor. The joists I found would be roughly in line with this.

I don't know if the gaps might be different further out to the middle of the floor but didn't have enough time to check. An awful lot of moving might be needed!

The plot thickens.

Edited to add: I plan to check the depth of the joist but I'll need to find something thin and bendy first. I guess the depth is a more critical bit of information.