Hi, I’m thinking of moving into a new room with a false ceiling. I would like to be able to store stuff up here, and climb in to escape zombie invasions. How much weight do you think this ceiling will be able to hold? 
Please ask me if you need any more pictures or measurements, but I am able to suspend myself from the ceiling hatch without the ceiling bowing down much :dubious:
If those are 2x4 joists, and they’re solidly anchored, then you probably won’t have any trouble using them for storage, unless you’re storing extremely heavy stuff like books and old phonograph records. If you were, then if I were you, I’d measure the span and find some deflection calculators on-line and plug in the numbers.
Caveats: a. Keep away from that spaghetti of plumbing and electrical wires.
b. As any number of sitcoms have taught us, if anything heavy, like your knee or foot, for example, hits the plaster between the joists, you might regret it.
put some light planks or particle board across those joists so you have a level surface to put things on, and especially if you’re hoping to hide from zombies up there. You should easily be able to store a bug-out backpack and “survival equipment.”
didn’t look.
you also need to include your weight in the total for what you can put up there unless you hire midgets or kids to put it there.
That is not a false ceilng - that is a normal ceiling, with 2x4 joists, as noted.
It is how most US homes are built.
Put down some plywood (cut into as large pieces as possible to get into the space. Secure them alone the edges DO NOT HAMMER NAILS! JUST TRUST ME! Use a nail gun or put a srewdriver bit in a variable speed drill and run drywall screws along the edges.
The fasteners are to keep it from bowing under the load. If you want to use 3/4 plywood, or 1" dimensional (1x6, 1x7, etc) the fasteners won’t be required.
Now stack light-to medium - Finagle makes the point of books and vinyl.
Vinyl (and anything else likely to be harmed by heat) are also excluded unless that is not the top floor. I’m guessing it is, and the "ceiling of the space is your roof.
Thanks to everyone for your replies! I’m glad my friend suggested this forum, and sorry for a strange first post!
It’s a first floor room actually, and I’ve never seen a ceiling with a hatch in like this before. I’m guessing I won’t be able to climb up there, but it looks good for storage 
If I was you, I would be seriously investigating just how
those 2X4 joists are. You can’t assume that the size of the board implies any given load bearing characteristic. If it’s attached to rotted wood, if it’s held in by old nails, if it’s butted up against the drywall and screwed in crookedly with a rusted screw, etc.
If the 2X4’s are NOT properly secured, then you’re in for a disaster. Look at these here fancy pictures:
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See the top piece there? If that’s your joist, then the load gets carried down through the uprights (your walls) and is only limited by the breaking strength of the top piece. In your case, the “top piece” is a 2X4.
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See the dashed line there? If that’s your joist, then the load is carried down through the “walls” but is only as strong as the breaking strength of the fasteners. If you use boogers and glue, then obviously it won’t hold much. That’s an extreme example, but it illustrates the point. Poor fasteners, poor method of fastening, all the same thing.
Since the joists appear to be in good condition, it’s less about the material of the joists, and more about how they’re fastened.
And if you do, please post more pictures.
I am builder in Canada not the US, but as far as I am aware, that is a false ceiling, built to cover up a a very obviously older ceiling cluttered with mechanical which is hidden in the walls usually during construction. It is true that modern roof truss systems and older stick framed roofs commonly use 2x4 bottom chords/rafters, but what we are looking at is not part of a truss. I assume this is an older building that had a bunch of plumbing and electrical upgrades done, hiding the mess with this false ceiling.
The 2x4 rafters are simply nailed into ledgers, which will be nailed into studs. This is common for a false ceiling and can be surprisingly strong, but is not meant as a load bearing structure. The rafters are typically ‘toenailed’ (nail angled and driven in from exposed side) which is simple and quick and adequate for the purpose but not reliably strong. If it was meant to take a load the rafters would be on metal hangers, and have cable or wood ties into the joists above. The way this is built it may seem strong enough but is likely to have weak spots. ** I would not climb on this if I could avoid it. ** The hatch is there for access to the mess of mechanical up there.
You could probably store light items up there but with that tangle of poorly secured cables and plumbing, that’s probably not a good idea either. The grey plastic piping looks to me like PolyB; a discontinued, failure prone, leak waiting to happen. I do not recognize the particular fittings used in the picture but PolyB fittings have a bad habit of popping off with mild disturbance. I would avoid disturbing that plumbing unless you like the idea of water gushing out of your ceiling.
If you do not want that ceiling cracking or separating from the wall, or do not want water gushing out of your ceiling, do not climb or store crap up there.
There has been a massive water leak in the past in this room, I’ve included some more pictures for enjoyment anyway!
I’m not going to store anything up there now, my friend has been kind enough to let me put my 15 boxes of computer crap in his basement!
That water damage could just as easily have come from the condensation from hot showers - to me it looks more like that.
A water leak originating above the ceiling would probably be a bit more brown, because it originated from above, and had time to grow mold or stain the material before it all evaporated. It would also have a defined center, the origin of the leak.
So you were going to store 15 boxes of computer stuff above the ceiling in your bathroom?
Don’t take offense at this please - but that’s a bad idea. Condensation will wreck the uninsulated electronics. Even if it’s above the ceiling - unless that “hatch” has a perfect air tight seal, condensation will get up there. Your friends basement is just barely a good second choice. Unless it’s finished - it’ll be moist air there too.
(bolding mine)
Uber_the_Goober is absolutely correct on this. 
I should add that the load bearing capabilities of the joists pictured will be less in the middle of the ‘span’, especially if the joists are longer than 10’. You didn’t provide any measurements concerning the size of the room, so I’m assuming that it’s at least 12’ x 12’. (That’s a pretty long span for a 2" x 4".)
The other posters are correct, in that what is pictured will hold light weight stuff.
Basement. That’s where my boxes of computer crap, books and old vinyl records were lost when it flooded. 
I’m going to go with Fluffy Bob on this one. Those are not ceiling joists nor rafters. They’re simply drywall nailers that are toe-nailed into ledgers nailed into the wall studs (or toe-nailed into the studs themselves), and certainly qualifies as a suspended or false ceiling. If the span is short, it will support significant weight, but I wouldn’t trust it over an eight foot or longer span.