Adding Plywood To Attic

But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates.

Adding plywood to attic.

To eliminate any potential problems with wiring or insulation use two by four or two by six lengths to create a subfloor system for the new decking. To make the job easier use a circular saw to cut the plywood sheet first into 2 2 8 strips which will be much easier to handle. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new insulation on top of the old. The solid base allows you to store items in the attic as well as to walk.

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. Then you ll need to build a grid like structure that can hold up the plywood flooring. 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 depends on the spacing of the ceiling joists. While this is not the optimal setup it is acceptable to have ceiling joists covered with plywood or osb to use for light attic storage of dead loads.

Maneuvering heavy 4 x 8 sheets of plywood or osb oriented strand board up to an unfinished attic is sometimes like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. And preferably can avoid any existing roof support. Install two by four blocking between joists or wherever needed to support edges of the plywood that do not have support from the bottom. Cut the plywood into manageable strips about 10 inches wide to make the job easier.

To properly add an attic storage deck start by measuring the largest area available that is not hindered by any ductwork. Attic flooring consists of materials as basic as sheets of plywood as well as more elaborate interlocking floor systems. Because the simplest and cheapest way to insulate an attic is to add material to the floor. In attics built purely for storage purposes you may find 2x6 ceiling joists or in some cases even 2x4 joists.

It might seem impossible to haul it up to the attic. Plywood comes in large sheets. Adding shelves around the perimeter of the room is a lot of work but can make it much easier to organize your things in the attic. Before you start creating a floor for your attic you must make sure that it can handle the additional load.

Two shelves made of 1 x 4 lumber with plywood decking and leaving some open space below work out to be just about ideal for storing most household goods.