Finish A Frame Attic

A finished attic weighs a lot more than boxes of off season duds.

Finish a frame attic.

Roofs in standard wood frame houses are framed with traditional rafters or with roof trusses if you ve measured your attic space and feel you have enough room to accommodate living space chances are you have rafters or you have special trusses called attic trusses which create a large open space under the peak of the roof by contrast conventional trusses have supports called webbing that. At a minimum you may need to strengthen the attic s floor joists which are often too shallow or spaced too far apart for the job. In a tight attic space finishing the walls and ceiling is especially important. This 150 year old home had very large attic that will make for a terrific new master bedroom.

Hire an engineer to inspect your house s foundation and framing to ensure they can carry the extra load. Have a pro check the structure. A properly framed attic room can eliminate most of the odd angles and awkward spaces of an. Join matt on this build show episode as he talks through the pr.

For the right home and market a finished attic can feel like a cherry. Attic floors generally need to be reinforced with additional joists and a subfloor. For a finished attic to be to code it must satisfy the same living requirements of other rooms sometimes called the rule of sevens any living space in a home needs to have at least 7 feet 2 1 m of clearance from the floor to the ceiling and there needs to be at least 70 square feet of space available at least 7 feet 2 1 m in each. The lyons used a web of 16 inch deep engineered trusses to accommodate wiring plumbing and ductwork then topped the plywood subfloor with oak or tile.

These basic step by step instructions demonstrate how to frame a trapdoor opening and install stairs leading into the attic. To meet all three goals insulating your finished attic ventilating the roof and maximizing headroom use a combination of dense batt insulation rigid foam sheeting and air chutes. Attics can be dark and forbidding spaces but they don t have to be. If you re finishing your attic insulating it to the proper r value can cause a dramatic loss of headroom if you limit yourself to fiberglass batts.

Learn how to finish an attic s walls and ceiling with these easy step by step directions. Finishing the attic into liveable space nets an average of 9 3 out of 10 joy score or sense of happiness the owners have upon completion on nar s renovation report.