I don't want to fall through the ceiling of my house

[Gmoney]

Odd subject, to be sure, but I didn't know what else to put there.

So, as mentioned in another post, some variety of rodentia has decided to sublet from us in our attic without our permission.  I'm planning on giving the strobe light a try tonight, but this leaves me with having to go up into our attic, which I'm a bit apprehensive about.

For those that don't know me, I'm about the size of a small-to-midsize offensive lineman (6'4", 300+ lbs).  Now...I don't know to what tolerances houses were/are built, but I'm wondering if it's safe for me to go crawling around the rafters of my house to plug in this strobe light, or if I'm likely to be too much stress on the frame and end up crashing through my ceiling and breaking some rafters.

Any thoughts?

[JBB]

stay on the rafters and you should be good... maybe take some scrap wood to lay across 2 or more rafters to stand on.

[Gmoney]

stay on the rafters and you should be good... maybe take some scrap wood to lay across 2 or more rafters to stand on.

There's all of about 3-4 feet between the rafters and the peak of the roof...there won't be any standing.

I don't have to go that far...the place where I need to plug in the strobe is maybe 2 feet away from what I can reach from the ladder up to the attic, but I don't see any way to get to it without putting all my weight on the rafters, and was just looking for some reassurance that it'll be able to support me.

Thanks!

[mellamur]

stay on the rafters and you should be good... maybe take some scrap wood to lay across 2 or more rafters to stand on.

There's all of about 3-4 feet between the rafters and the peak of the roof...there won't be any standing.

I don't have to go that far...the place where I need to plug in the strobe is maybe 2 feet away from what I can reach from the ladder up to the attic, but I don't see any way to get to it without putting all my weight on the rafters, and was just looking for some reassurance that it'll be able to support me.

Thanks!

You'll be fine. 

[BIER]

Stay on the joists and you will be fine.  If you are crawling on the rafters you will be hanging upside down. 

[J. Grouchy]

Plywood or a 5/4 board across three or more joists.  If your ceiling is plaster on lathe, don't be surprised if there is some cracking.  I had to go exploring in my attic several years back and ended up expanding some of the pre-existing cracks in my living room ceiling. One more reason I fucking hate plaster. 

[Village Carpentry]

Sounds like you'll only be needing to put your weight on top of or very near to the wall anyway.

[Gmoney]

Stay on the joists and you will be fine.  If you are crawling on the rafters you will be hanging upside down.

This is why I engineer chemicals and environments, and nothing that has to support weight.

[Mr.Man]

Yeah, toss a scrap of wood across and you'll be fine to crawl through there.  I went ahead and put plywood all over my attic so i could use it for storage (of junk).

[Val]

 I work at a non profit weatherization company...we have several 300 pounders that are in attics daily....just be careful to stay on the boards, lay down plywood to help!

[54 Pontiac]

Stay on the joists and you will be fine.  If you are crawling on the rafters you will be hanging upside down.

 

[Shamamama]

It's all about weight distribution.  If you're not standing, then your weight is distributed across multiple planes vs one point.

One of our carpenters was 6'8" and very large.  He was in and out of our attic all the time.  And our attic is not exactly solid at 100+ years.  I mean, boards don't always even connect and there are plenty of sistered boards.  No problem.  For goodness sake, don't put your foot down though.   

[MRice]

I guess this isn't the time you want to hear about the roofer who came through my bathroom ceiling while I was sitting on the toilet.

[Gmoney]

Update: Strobe installed (and the ceiling remained intact), no activity last night.  Fingers crossed.

[J. Grouchy]

So did you buy one of the Evictor models?  I'm curious if this sort of thing requires some particular pulse frequency/intensity that only a special device can provide or if a generic strobe light is effective.