Steps In Finishing An Attic
Stairs can take up a lot of space in both the attic and in the floor below so they are important considerations for planning.
Steps in finishing an attic. Cost of finishing a walk up attic. An attic can be finished and used for a variety of different rooms such as a bedroom sewing room bonus room. How to finish an attic needs to start with things outside your control. Step 1 framing of the top and sides of the knee wall.
5 steps to finishing an attic. Here s a look at some building code basics when it comes to turning attic space into living space. At least 50 percent of the attic space must have 7 foot 2 1 m clearance. Check your local building codes to see what requirements they have for finishing attic or basement space.
Measure the clearance and estimate the square footage of your attic. This old house s two minute expert explains what goes into creating a bonus room under the rafters. Look at where you can put stairs to the attic where windows can go and attic space you can use for storage because it doesn t meet height restrictions. If it satisfies this and the following criteria in this section you re good go get started in finishing the project.
Access and egress code generally requires a full size staircase with a minimum 6 foot 8 inch clearance. In general stairs must be at least 3 feet wide and provide at least 6 feet 8 inches of headroom. Remodeling an attic requires only a few specific steps. Finishing a walk up attic adds stairs and flooring for a total of 8 100 to 26 000.
The location of the top of the knee is marked and after checking the level long boards are attached to the ceiling joists. Now let s read about the steps for properly finishing the attic walls and ceiling. Finished attics need stairs that meet all of the standard staircase requirements.