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Flooring
Insulation and Laying A Floor
How should the blown-in insulation be distributed when laying plywood floor in an attic
for a storage space?
Do you mean that it presently is higher than the tops of the joists? If so, you will have to move it aside to anywhere
else to allow your plywood to rest on the joists. Don't squish it down. And you just have to give up the level
of insulation you are displacing.
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Floor/ Wall Installation in Attic
I have a circa 1964 home that has a 120 square foot attic/crawl space. I was thinking
of putting in a new floor over the existing joists and insulating and dry walling the walls. The "walls"
are actually a sloping roof on 2 sides.The other wall is the chimney. There are supports that attach to the joists
and then are cemented directly into the chimney (earthquake support?) My goal is to build a little play room for
my kids. I am concerned about air flowand general safety of the kids. Any tips??
As far as safety is concerned, make sure the joists in the attic are adequate to carry the load of a new floor,
furniture(?) and the kids. If it's an unfinished attic, the joists are there to hold up the roof structure and
may be2x6 or 2x8. You might need 2x10 or better for a finished space.
I added 2x4's perpendicular to the 2x6 joists and tied them into the studs where I could.
I don't
think there will be much weight up there other than a few 9-11 year old kids. Also, I was advised to bore holes
into the rafters for air circulation, which I did and am going to vent the drywall in those places. I am not going
to attempt electrical myself...I will contract that out.
Weak Attic Floor
The lumber in our attic floor is undersized, rendering the attic useless for storage.
How can we make the floor stronger? Should we add joist hangers or double the lumber? The house
is a 1915 bungalow.
Best bet would be to have an architect take a look. I would be reluctant to say how is best for your house, only to guess that increasing the size of the joists would be most like having built it to support a floor in the first place. But the strength of load bearing walls etc, can only be determined for sure by an on site inspection, and building trusses to hold the floor .. really needs a good close look.
Walls
Adding Walls in Attic
I want to put up some sort of walling in the attic and was wondering if drywall
is the only way to go. I think it would be pretty hard to get those sheets up there!
Drywall may be the ONLY type material you can use according to our local building code because
of it's modest fire resistance...Check your local code enforcement officer for details.
Getting it up several flights can be tricky..The best way to approach this is to remove an existing window in a
gable end of the house and have the drywall company send a boom truck to send the sheets thru the opening...If
there is no opening, try to have them go thru the next level so you only have one flight to navigate.
