Is my loft safe???

Question

My bedroom is in the loft of my house, i recently started to hear loud pings as if they were coming from the steel beams that i assume are on the floor or ceiling. I have lived here for over a year and this only started recently. I have a fair bit of weight up here including two chests of drawers, a small multigym with weights, my bed, me, my girlfriend, and other bits and bobs.

Does anyone know how safe this is??

I have asked one loft company and they said loft flooring is normally stronger than the other floors in the house!

I find that hard to believe any info would be much appreciated, as i cant find any anywhere.

Answer 1

It might be just that the loft is shifting? The pings do sound scary, though.

Are there any wires that support the beams? Make sure they are connected.

You might measure the distance from the loft to the floor every day, and see if the measurement changes appreciably -- that would tell you if the beams were bending. (Keep a chart! Don't rely upon your memory!)

If you don't feel safe, you should move, definitely. Just for psychological reasons.

But in general, lofts are engineered for a good deal of weight.

If you decide to stay, I'd move the mini-gym downstairs, though. Just in case.

Good luck with it. What you need to do is discuss this with the builder of the loft -- you can check the Better Business Bureau (or similar) to see what complaints have been lodged against the builder of the loft. Any answers here would be like consulting a psychic, I think. Simply not enough information.