new house, empty loft

In my last house (1950's bungalow) there was a loft hatch which we had to pop open with a stick and pull a ladder down. It was heavy and unwieldy - you could lose your teeth if you weren't careful.
In my new build the loft hatch is impossible to open, and goodness knows I've tried. The Christmas tree is kept in a small cupboard under the stairs. along with shopping bags, a step ladder and other things like the recycling.
On top of my wardrobes I've got boxes which look untidy - I simply haven't much space and this is the most difficult thing about down-sizing. New houses are just that little bit too small which will always niggle me.

We converted the loft of my parent’s house when we joined households so that I could care for my father . The top floor then became his . It was a huge relief not to have a place to put “ just in case “ things and I appreciate the mental space decluttering has given me .

We lived in an old house for 12 years and stored a lot of stuff in the loft. When time came to move, my daughter and son in law climbed up to clear it. Over the years mice and bats had ruined almost all of it. I vowed never to have a loft again.

Ensure that you won't be making the NHBC warranty null and void if you board it or use it for storage. Our builder told us that lofts aren't made the way they used to be and if we do anything with the it it could affect our warranty.

One of my joys is my empty loft. Took a painful decision and action to achieve it but, in all of those years I've only ever wondered about two items (yes, out of 100s!) one of which I replaced. No regrets whatsoever and much relief on a daily basis.

We had to empty ours when we had better insulation put in and keep it empty now. I have awful memories of having to clear my mother's loft when she went into a residential home. It just added to the nightmare. There were even cushions from an old three piece suite from about 30 years ago!

Trying to imagine an empty loft.
thinks very hard
No, sorry, just can’t get there.

Just ignore it.

Ignore it!
If not it will be full of 'stuff' in a few weeks.
We cleared our loft completely when we were having new insulation put down- it was lovely. Now it is full of rubbish we should have slung out all over again. We agreed that only Christmas decorations & big suitcases would be allowed up there. Yeah right!
DH has filled it again with heaven only knows what.
Get your loft snugly insulated & forget it's there.

I agree keep it empty we always used to have loads of stuff in the loft which never saw the light of day. We moved to a new house with huge insulation in the loft and the builder recommended it be kept empty for maximum efficiency. We have two large suitcases (for long holidays) in there only.

Ignore! board over!
The loft and garage is the bane of my life.
If you have managed without one thus far dont go there.

We have access to a loft in our bungalow which is easy to get into,the ceiling is low level and we store suitcases/christmas decorations I class it as a bonus as we don't have a lot of storage otherwise.

I would love proper stairs , I would still like to go upstairs to bed . Now I am feeling my age , ... no rugs , trip hazard, don't plant that , don't carry this .... grrrrrrrr

If you could use the storage, I would install a decent wooden loft ladder with decent treads and handrail, eg www.amazon.co.uk/Deluxe-Wooden-Loft-Ladder-Handrails/dp/B001O3CJ8S/ref=sr_1_20?keywords=loft+ladder+with+handrail&tag=gransnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1549962340&sr=8-20 makes getting up and down so easy and comfortable. If it isn't boarded then get that done by the person installing the loft ladder, only need to board the area you need round the ladder.

Ours has suitcases, Chistmas decorations (a lot of those!) and two clothes rails with plastic covers. One has my evening clothes, for the rare occasions we go on cruises or to black tie dinners, and the other currently my summer clothes, which will be swapped for my winter ones in early May!

Our loft is empty except for deep insulation. Only plumbers, electricians etc. go up there with their own ladder.
You will only fill it with things that you will never use if you can't access it easily.
The only way to be able to use it is to have it professionally converted with proper stairs.

I am in a new build single story , the loft is empty , no way can I climb up the ladder .

Before we moved to our current house, we had a loft full to the rafters with stuff. Our stuff, the adult children's stuff, random stuff. We decided that once that had been emptied, our new loft should have nothing but Christmas decs and suitcases.

It feels liberating not to have all this stuff on top of us, mentally weighing us down with procrastination and indecision.

But it does make me think about stuff, and how it accumulates. I'm sure most of us don't start our adult lives thinking of how we can gather stuff around us, but in the end most of us do. The collection of pottery animals, the china tea-set from great aunt Flo, the children's toys that you cant bear to throw away. And so it goes on.

I dread to think how much money our loft stuff cost us when new, and having given away/sent to charity shop/recycled a ton of it, how much then went into landfill.
Sometimes I wish I could go back and tell my newly adult self with an empty loft-DON'T LET STUFF ACCUMULATE

So, my advice is-keep it simple, keep it empty.

I saw this loft conversion recently.

Why spend money kitting out more storage space? I’d ignore it. You probably don’t need it anyway and you will be tempted to fill it with clutter. Once it’s up there it’s out of sight and out of mind anyway - remember your last loft!

Re boarding and weight bearing -
You may need access to the loft for roof or other issues such a wiring for first floor lights , full boarding is much safer all round than balancing on joists!
If this new house does not have much storage, why on earth ignore what you have available?

I agree, leave it empty. When we downsized a couple of years ago, we cleared our loft of 30 years accumulated junk!

We vowed to keep the new loft empty!

Get lighting up there plus boarded out and a decent ladder. Will be useful to store suitcases, Christmas decs, etc.

I'd aim to keep it empty!

Pretend it is not there.

I’ve recently moved into a small new build, with an empty loft. For the size of house, other storage is adequate. So the loft will remain empty.
During the moving process, I let go of a huge amount of stuff and have no intention of gathering more.

If you do decide to board it out and make it useable, I would recommend you discuss it with the builders to check out plans and weight bearing issues first.