Unfinished Attic Thick Board Support Weight

I would like to use the attic space above my 2 car garage for storage of items around the house and garage and if possible utilize some of the space as a small work area.

Unfinished attic thick board support weight. Ceilings are generally designed for little more than the weight of the finish material they have to support. 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. Be sure to trim the boards lengthwise so the ends land in the middle of a truss before you screw them in place. All of them are figured in modulus of elasticity.

13 2 you show 11 in photo but it is unclear if there is support at that point. If you ever need to cover them with finished flooring you can always nail down another subflooring before installing tile or hardwood. You don t want lots of different floor heights or walking in the attic will be difficult. 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.

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. The safest way to move around an unfinished attic is to create a catwalk or walking platform by attaching some 1x6 or 1x8 boards or strips of 3 4 plywood to the joists with screws don t use nails because the hammering might disturb the drywall or. Check with a builder or engineer to ensure your attic can support the extra weight. Plywood comes in 4 by 8 foot sheets with thicknesses ranging from 1 4 to 1 1 4 inches.

The joists should support your weight but the space between them almost certainly will not. Since the boards are sold in 4 foot by 8 foot sheets you may need to cut them into 2 foot wide strips to get them into the attic space. The thickness that builders use most often for subfloors is 3 4 inch and when they need extra reinforcement. The floor system in most houses is designed for 40lbs per square foot.

Generally it s one 1 360 of the span. Now that you have boards lined up across the trusses you can cap off each end of the subfloor with boards on each end. Use old boards that are close to the same thickness in a given section of the attic however. Another issue involves insulation.

The wood should be at least 5 8 inch thick to handle a heavy load. Line up 2x4 inch 5 08x10 16 cm thick boards on each end of the grid and screw them into the existing boards that you laid. Attic design includes ceiling joists that are typically designed to hold up the roof.