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.
The joists should support your weight but the space between them almost certainly will not.
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.
How to check attic ventilation.
In most cases though the joists cannot support live loads and may not even be covered with boards.
Before you start creating a floor for your attic you must make sure that it can handle the additional load.
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.
To avoid rotting wood clumping insulation and mold your attic needs to be properly ventilated.
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.
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.
Attic floors are made with floor joists or with truss members.