How much weight you can safely hang from ceiling joists

—FIONA MCGLYNN

WHEN IT’S TIME to pack away deck furniture, canoes, and other summer gear—or assorted junk your cousins won’t toss—you may be eyeing the overhead space in your boathouse or shed. But how much weight can you safely hang from those ceiling joists? And can you add a bed up there for the kids to sleep in next year? “All roofs are designed for self-weight—that’s finishes and insulation—plus snow load and sometimes wind. There isn’t really an allowance for hanging things, other than small lights and fixtures,” says Nick Smith, a structural engineer at Tatham Engineering’s Orillia office and a cottager in Grand Bend, Ont. Truss roofs in particular tend to be very tightly designed. “Any modification​—sometimes as little as a bolt hole in a wood member—may impact a truss’s performance,” says Smith. Some…

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Cottage Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, September/October 2023

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