Construction of temporary floor for renovation around stairs

[WarraWarra]

Hello everyone,

I'm about to start renovating the hallway and I need an opinion on my plan to build a new wall and wallpaper the staircase.

This is what the stairs down to the basement look like today


The left wall is the backside of some built-in closets that will be removed and a new wall will be installed. All that white wallpaper will be removed and new wallpaper will go up. I'm having trouble seeing how this will be accomplished, especially installing drywall on the new wall without a temporary floor at the top of the stairs.

My plan is to screw in battens (black in the image below) into the wall on both sides and then screw cross battens (green in the image below) into these with appropriate spacing. Then I'll place floor chipboard on it.



First and foremost, I wonder if this is a reasonable plan at all? The width of the stairs is about 900 mm and the "black battens" will be about 2 m. The house has a wooden beam structure, as you can see in the image below, where the left wall adjoins the right wall of the stairs.


How would you dimension the temporary floor? CC measurement, timber, etc.? Of course, I will load the temporary floor very carefully.

 

[Pumabjörnen]

Hello everyone,

I'm about to embark on renovating the hallway and need an opinion on my plan to build a new wall and wallpaper the staircase.

This is how the stairs down to the basement look today
[image]

The left wall is the backside of some built-in wardrobes that will be removed and a new wall will be placed there. All the white wallpaper will be removed and new wallpaper will go up. I'm having a hard time seeing how this will be done, especially to drywall the new wall without a temporary floor at the top of the staircase.

My plan is to screw in battens (black in the image below) to the wall on both sides and then screw cross battens (green in the image below) to these at an appropriate distance. Then I place floorboards on top of it.

[image]

First and foremost, I wonder if this is a sensible plan at all? The staircase's width is about 900 mm and the "black battens" will be about 2 m. The house has wooden joists as seen in the image below where the left wall adjoins the staircase's right wall.
[image]

How would you dimension the temporary floor? Center-to-center distance, lumber, etc.? I will, of course, load the temporary floor very carefully.

45×95 lengthwise and then 45x70 crosswise, however I would use a 15mm plywood instead of chipboard and screw the 45x70 battens only in the plywood to easily place and remove the cover.

I did something similar when I gutted my house, then built it so that the entire cover was a hatch with hinges so I could go up and down easily. This held without problem for me 95kg on a small stepladder when I built the stair wall. Everything depends, however, on what you have to fasten the 45x95 to.

 

[WarraWarra]

45×95 lengthwise and then 45x70 across, however, I would use a 15mm plywood instead of particleboard and screw the 45x70 battens only into the plywood to be able to easily place and remove the cover.

Did something similar when I gutted my house and built so that the entire cover was a hatch with hinges so I could go up and down easily. This held without problem for me at 95kg on a step ladder when I built the stairway wall. Everything depends on what you have to attach the 45x95 to.

Hi,

Thanks for the answer! When I knock along the wall in the stairs it's more solid at the top of the stairs. It should be a joist from the floor frame that the walls are sitting on, right? Maybe I should drill a bit to see.

 

[Pumabjörnen]

Hello,

Thanks for the response! When I tap along the wall in the stairs, it's more solid at the height of the top of the stairs. Should be a stud from the floor joist that's there where the walls stand? Might have to drill a bit to see.

Of course, you can also set in one or a couple of 45x95/70 as support down to one or several of the staircase steps if it seems uncertain, they will align with the wall and won't hinder any potential accessibility in the staircase. Most likely, as mentioned, you have one of the floor joists lying there behind any staircase wall cladding, and should the wall potentially pass the joists, there should be fastening possibilities in the upright wall studs.

 

[WarraWarra]

It is of course also possible to set up one or a couple of 45x95/70 as a support down towards one or some of the steps in the stairs if it seems uncertain. They are level with the wall and thus do not obstruct any potential accessibility in the stairs. Most likely, as I said, you have one of the floor joists located there behind any cladding on the stairwell wall, and should the wall possibly pass the floor layer, there should be fastening possibilities in the standing wall studs.

Yes, I was thinking of securing it with some legs down to the steps as well. Thanks for the detailed answer!

Happy continuation!

 

[WarraWarra]

Updating the thread with what I did in case someone else finds the thread in the future with the same problem.

I built a floor joist of 95 x 45 beams. First, I screwed long beams along both sides of the stairs with robust assembly screws after pre-drilling in some places to ensure there was something to attach to.

Then I secured cross beams with joist hangers at 600 mm centers.

To be extra safe, I attached legs from the beams in four places to the stairs. These don't seem to bear any load but feel like good insurance.

Then I laid 20 mm floor chipboard in three sections to create a hatch to the basement. I secured the hatch with a piano hinge.

Open hatch

Closed hatch


Has worked very well for the purpose.