How To Tell If Attic Supported Enough For Room

The floor joists in an attic may not be strong enough to support a living space and could require additional support which can be expensive and reduce the available ceiling height in an attic.

How to tell if attic supported enough for room.

Attic floors are made with floor joists or with truss members. If you have a rafter framed attic the floor joists may or may not be large enough for living space and may need to be reinforced or replaced. Then you ll need to build a grid like structure that can hold up the plywood flooring. In rare cases especially in new construction homes the attic may have been built unfinished with the correct flooring in place with the idea that the homeowner could later on finish the space.

Adding a floor to an attic can increase storage space or create a new room. If you have attic trusses not conventional trusses the members will be sized to support living space. How to check attic ventilation. An attic conversion requires easy access from an adjoining second story room or a staircase to provide entrance to and exit from the room.

In most cases though the joists cannot support live loads and may not even be covered with boards. The safest way to move around an unfinished attic is to create a catwalk or walking platform by attaching some 1x6 or 1x8 boards or strips of 3 4 plywood to the joists with screws don t use nails because the hammering might disturb the drywall or plaster ceiling below. Moreover if you have asphalt shingles on the roof attic. Before you start creating a floor for your attic you must make sure that it can handle the additional load.