Adding Floor In Attic

Extreme care should be used when working in an unfloored attic.

Adding floor in attic.

Attics are a top pick when homeowners decide to gain some extra storage or add a guest room but not all attic flooring structures are up to the task of supporting the weight of a new living space. Build a new floor base with this in mind. Attic insulation between roof trusses. Attic flooring consists of materials as basic as sheets of plywood as well as more elaborate interlocking floor systems.

Block all vents in the attic floor with baffles making sure to extend the baffles at least four inches above the planned thickness of your insulation. House is a open floor plan so not a lot of support walls below. Hiring a contractor to do the job will roughly triple the cost as you have to pay for their time and labor. Strengthening attic joists for live loads by sistering.

We need at least 33 inches to get above all duct work in attic. Adding a floor to an attic can increase storage space or create a new room. To add both architectural interest and texture to this attic bedroom interior designer alexandra hernandez created a custom headboard wall made up of individual burlap upholstered plywood cubes. In the future you may want to construct a small apartment or master suite in the attic.

Go into the attic to inspect how wiring is routed through joists or on top of them for example. Adding flooring and storage on top of fiberglass insulation will compress it squeezing out trapped air rendering it virtually useless. In a small space an accent wall pulls the eye through the room and visually enlarges the proportions. Then you ll need to build a grid like structure that can hold up the plywood flooring.

The solid base allows you to store items in the attic as well as to walk. Also since the attic insulation rests on top of the drywall it will be much thicker than the bottom 2 4 chord of the attic truss. Before you start creating a floor for your attic you must make sure that it can handle the additional load. Lan to use 2x4x36 upright screwed to ceciing joist every 24 to hold 2x6x12 s up above duct work.

That creates a problem in support for storage floor and only using support walls below. Sistering is the process of adding a new joist next to each existing joist. Don t add flooring until you review wiring and plumbing needs for the future.