How To Tell If Attic Supported Enough For Room

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.

How to tell if attic supported enough for room.

The joists should support your weight but the space between them almost certainly will not. Attic floors are made with floor joists or with truss members. If you have attic trusses not conventional trusses the members will be sized to support living space. In most cases though the joists cannot support live loads and may not even be covered with boards.

Moreover if you have asphalt shingles on the roof attic. Then you ll need to build a grid like structure that can hold up the plywood flooring. 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. 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.

If your attic joists won t bear the weight necessary to finish out a living space but the engineer cleared them to support floor decking for light storage you can install inch plywood or. To avoid rotting wood clumping insulation and mold your attic needs to be properly ventilated. Adding a floor to an attic can increase storage space or create a new room. An attic conversion requires easy access from an adjoining second story room or a staircase to provide entrance to and exit from the room.