Building Walls In An Attic

The essential tools required.

Building walls in an attic.

Staple insulation between the wall studs and ceiling joists image a. People who have a bonus room find that it s often the least comfortable room in the house. It will not bear any loads. Cut sub floor panels to the appropriate size and install them over the joist beams.

Depending on your plan you may want to also add room dividers or supplementary knee walls to your attic. A pencil level nail and screw gun a dust mask a circular saw a utility. They re also the cause of many comfort problems especially in bonus rooms. Most attics will need a sub floor to be laid that you can build on top of.

Most of the tools can be found in your toolbox. Be sure the wall is parallel with the attic floor joists or a gable end wall in the attic. An attic wall needs to be located near the joists and studs so it can be held in place properly. It needs a certain amount of loft to work properly.

Gable walls in attics often contain a window or a louvered vent near the peak of the roof. You will require paint insulation and boards in 2by4 dimensions. Your attic wall will not be a supporting wall. You can expect to pay 375 1 500 for drywall double that number if you want drywall on the ceiling.

It s now time to install the top wall plates. Materials required for finishing the attic walls and ceiling. The ceiling load may include items like drywall ducts recessed lights bathroom fans and attic insulation. Installing walls after the drywall with a carpenter will cost about 1 900.

Osb sheets plywood of 3 4 thickness screws and nails. If building a knee wall for storage like karl did with this project make sure to insulate that area as well. Keeping your new wall parallel will make everything easier for you trust me. In the world of building science we call them attic kneewalls walls that separate conditioned space from an unconditioned attic.

What s wrong with attic kneewalls. Screw down into joists at 3 foot 0 91 m 91 44 cm intervals using wood screws. Attics that have no flooring unless expressly built so an attic s joists are meant for carrying the load of the ceiling below and related elements collectively known as the dead load.