Changing Attic Joists For Living Room

The attic space is 22 on the side parallel to the trusses 28 on the other side.

Changing attic joists for living room. Once you convert attic space into living space you need to bring it up to the standards of modern building codes. A vaulted ceiling also turns a large volume of former attic space into living space that must be heated and cooled. Positioning the new joist adjacent to the existing preserves precious ceiling but it does come with some potential complications. Attic hatch or door.

Blocking solves the problem. Think of it like this. 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. Pull down stair or ladder.

Add weatherstripping around the perimeter and a sweep to the door of a walk up attic. You can probably walk across the edge of a 2x6 joist but if you stack the joists two high and try to walk across your last name better be wallenda. I ve got a question i would like to convert the attic above my garage into a living space. The new attic plan needs to provide access to each part of the attic.

Use a zippered insulated tent to keep the enclosure draft free attic tent at 7 attic cover insulator 120. Converting an attic to a living area yields a modest return on your investment. An attic bedroom exploits roof space previously devoted to high school yearbooks and nesting sparrows. Not so with stacked joists.

Tim great reading your tips. It s a 12 12 roof so that s a good 11 at the ridge which even with new floor joists and a 5 knee wall should be plenty of room for a nice space. Often existing joist bays are filled with electrical and heating ducts that will need to be relocated. Reclaiming the space under your roof also avoids many zoning and easement concerns common chores when adding onto a house.

Access is not an issue as it s also in front of another room upstairs that i can put a door in the wall. Stacking joists is not nearly as stable as sistering which braces the joists against twisting. There s plenty of room to make a 12 x 12 room with 10 foot ceiling at its peak. Technical issues such as locating a safe staircase and the distribution of additional joists required to accommodate the new load bearing and stress factors.

The trusses are double cantilever style. Converting an attic into a living space is a great method of adding another room to the house but it is not a job for the average diy person.