Adding Plywood To Attic

Plywood comes in large sheets.

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. 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. It might seem impossible to haul it up to the attic. Adding a floor to an attic can increase storage space or create a new room.

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. Attic flooring consists of materials as basic as sheets of plywood as well as more elaborate interlocking floor systems. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new insulation on top of the old. 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. And preferably can avoid any existing roof support. In attics built purely for storage purposes you may find 2x6 ceiling joists or in some cases even 2x4 joists. Because the simplest and cheapest way to insulate an attic is to add material to the floor.

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. Cut the plywood into manageable strips about 10 inches wide to make the job easier. Flooring your attic is the best way to add space to your home at a low cost. Then you ll need to build a grid like structure that can hold up the plywood flooring.

To properly add an attic storage deck start by measuring the largest area available that is not hindered by any ductwork. 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. Stop using your attic for storage. Install two by four blocking between joists or wherever needed to support edges of the plywood that do not have support from the bottom.

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.