How To Reinforce Floor Joists In Attic

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.

How to reinforce floor joists in attic.

Just installed an attic ladder in 90 year old house. However you can easily transform your attic by remodeling its floor using joists to create a safe and stable flooring system. Often existing joist bays are filled with electrical and heating ducts that will need to be relocated. It might be a good idea to make a drawing of the floor joist as a reference.

But you can still double the capacity of the existing 2x6s in the attic floor so first let s make sure that s enough for your situation. Long spans of joists in newer homes may wobble or bounce from foot traffic. In my 80 year old house the attic had 2x6 floor joists about 16 oc. Positioning the new joist adjacent to the existing preserves precious ceiling but it does come with some potential complications.

You will have to use a very sturdy piece of wood or some steel plating to reinforce the floor joists. I went to get a permit from the city to finish the attic and they said i needed to reinforce the floor since for a live load it was not strong enough for our span below about 12. Sistering installing new larger joists next to the existing ones is one way to bring your attic floor up to code. Gluing and screwing a 3 4 attic subfloor and providing solid bridging should also be considered.

Adding a 2 x 4 along the bottom chord of the 2 x 6 ceiling floor joist maybe helpful in stiffening the joist as well. Step by step guide on how to build attic flooring on joists. How to reinforce an attic floor with sister joists. Pull out all insulation and any debris from all of the joist spaces so you can see the full length of each joist including where it meets the exterior walls.

This is a great answer. My calculations tell me assuming 2 southern yellow pine joists which are common in my area that 2x6s 16 inches on center will span 9 feet 9 inches with allowable deflection being the governing factor. Also remove any blocking or bridging between the joists as applicable. Currently the joists are 2 4ã â â s real 2 4ã â â s not 1 ã x 3ã â â s.

Plan is to use attic for storage not for living. How to make floor joists stronger. After several centuries of service floor joists in older homes may sag or crack. The joists must have enough strength to support the load anticipated in the future as well.