Finishing Attic Walls

In most cases though the joists cannot support live loads and may not even be covered with boards.

Finishing attic walls.

The location of the top of the knee is marked and after checking the level long boards are attached to the ceiling joists. Step 1 framing of the top and sides of the knee wall. A contractor or a local building official can help you assess how the rule will apply to your attic and how modifications like dormers can resolve height shortcomings. Building code also requires that the.

Knee walls and flat ceilings running plumb from the roof rafters to the attic floor joists knee walls eliminate some of the roof s slope at the expense of less square footage of floor space in the. I sealed all the gaps in the wall with canned foam and the xps is glued around the perimeter. I used xps because it was on sale for crazy cheap and i haven t put up the ignition barrier yet. It needs a certain amount of loft to work properly.

I have a very similar attic wall to yours. Finishing the attic my preference is to push the knee walls close to the eaves creating as much floor space as possible. Enforcement varies but codes typically say that at least half of a finished attic must be at least 7 feet high and that this area must be a minimum of 7 feet wide and 70 square feet. If you re finishing your attic insulating it to the proper r value can cause a dramatic loss of headroom if you limit yourself to fiberglass batts.

Use r 30 insulation for the ceiling and r 13 for the walls. Low cabinets and bookcases fit snugly in the space under slanted ceilings. Follow the rule of 7s. Every attic is different but a few established norms and practices will guide your renovation.

I ve attached a few before and after pics. Staple insulation between the wall studs and ceiling joists image a. I tried linking panels with spray foam instead of taping. Finishing an attic turns the finished parts into standard living spaces making them subject to all of the same rules that apply to other living areas of the home.

In the first step a knee wall is installed. In rare cases especially in new construction homes the attic may have been built unfinished with the correct flooring in place with the idea that the homeowner could later on finish the space. Step 1 check the ceiling height. To meet all three goals insulating your finished attic ventilating the roof and maximizing headroom use a combination of dense batt insulation rigid foam sheeting and air chutes.

There are no special exceptions just because it s living space in the attic. For a finished attic to be to code it must satisfy the same living requirements of other rooms sometimes called the rule of sevens any living space in a home needs to have at least 7 feet 2 1 m of clearance from the floor to the ceiling and there needs to be at least 70 square feet of space available at least 7 feet 2 1 m in each direction.