How To Make More Room In Your Attic

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 direction.

How to make more room in your attic.

Adding onto a house ideas. Best way to cool an attic. Add ventilation for improved circulation. You ll need to make sure that the plywood can fit through your attic door.

Unlike other areas in your home there are unique tricks to finishing this space which provide a. Rafters are large internal beams that create a triangular structure with the floor at the bottom and the roof peak at the top. Building code also requires that the. It ll create the additional headroom you need to make a comfortable living space an extra bedroom studio or playroom.

Trusses are a network of w shaped boards that support the roof. If your attic has joists but no flooring take a wooden plank with you to enable you to walk around and take pictures and measurements. Seal cracks and gaps. Enter the attic to assess its condition and suitability for conversion.

Step 1 check the ceiling height. Attics don t generally offer a great deal of floor space and ceiling height. A new dormer in a cramped underused attic might just be the ticket. Indoor air conditioning unit.

Grab a flashlight and take a quick peek inside your attic and you ll know. Step 2 snap a photo of the rafters you see along the sides of the roof. Dormers range in sizes so decide which will work best for you and your existing structure. A common misconception is that it takes little more than the installation of some decking over the attic joists to ready an attic for move in.

The inside of the triangle provides an opening that s easily remodeled. At least 50 step 2 make sure the attic has a full size staircase. You can increase the space in your attic by adding a dormer which is a window structure that protrudes from the roof slope to provide more headroom space in the attic. Purchase half inch 1 27 cm thick plywood to act as your flooring.

All of the other tips listed below are good for cooling down an attic so that the rest of your house doesn t. Converting your attic into a room can be a fantastic way to fully utilize the space in your home. To determine if your attic is a viable candidate for conversion make sure the ceiling is high enough. Take the measurements for your subfloor and measure enough plywood so that you can cover the entire frame.

In some houses this may be the case. Measure the plywood and attic door. In many others.