Adding flooring to your attic is a relatively low cost project running about 5 12 per square foot about 190 for a 10 x 10 area if you do it yourself.
Adding floor in attic.
Strengthening attic joists for live loads by sistering.
The solid base allows you to store items in the attic as well as to walk.
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.
We need at least 33 inches to get above all duct work in attic.
House is a open floor plan so not a lot of support walls below.
Adding a floor to an attic can increase storage space or create a new room.
Sistering is the process of adding a new joist next to each existing joist.
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.
Adding flooring and storage on top of fiberglass insulation will compress it squeezing out trapped air rendering it virtually useless.
Then you ll need to build a grid like structure that can hold up the plywood flooring.
Go into the attic to inspect how wiring is routed through joists or on top of them for example.
Hiring a contractor to do the job will roughly triple the cost as you have to pay for their time and labor.
In a small space an accent wall pulls the eye through the room and visually enlarges the proportions.
Don t add flooring until you review wiring and plumbing needs for the future.
If the attic joists are not adequate one way to strengthen the floor for live loads is to sister the old joists.
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.
Build a new floor base with this in mind.
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.
Attic flooring consists of materials as basic as sheets of plywood as well as more elaborate interlocking floor systems.
Extreme care should be used when working in an unfloored attic.
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.