Putting Floors In Attic
It s possible to create a solid floor without investing a lot of money.
Putting floors in attic. Strengthening attic joists for live loads by sistering. Heat rises so the insulation in your attic is the most important part of your home s insulation. Before putting the flooring in take a look at your insulation. If the attic joists are not adequate one way to strengthen the floor for live loads is to sister the old joists.
The decision regarding the thickness of plywood to use for the subfloor in the attic has a lot to do with how you intend to use the attic and it also. Build up the height of the joists prior to installing flooring when the insulation reaches the tops of the joists. How to install plywood flooring in an attic. You ll have to construct a wooden frame or sub floor with boards 16 inches apart to provide extra support for the floor.
First you ll need to measure the area you want to floor so you can calculate how much wood you ll require. According to the us department of energy your home s attic should have an r 38 insulation valued for homes in the southern part of the. To floor an attic you ll need to install a sub floor for support before laying your plywood floor. What size plywood for an attic floor.
Whether using loose fill or batts put the vapor barrier closest to the warm side of your installation where hot moist air would get in facing the house s interior in cold climates beneath floor insulation and the attic s interior in hot climates on top of floor insulation. Attic flooring for storage space above trusses. You can for instance use recycled materials. Installing attic flooring for light storage only.
1 put on work gloves safety glasses and a dust mask before entering the attic. Because of this installing a floor to an attic always involves some level of disturbance. 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.