Using Plywood For Attic Floor

Installing plywood for example will create a smooth floor to lay carpet in the future.

Using plywood for attic floor.

According to the us department of energy your home s attic should have an r 38 insulation valued for homes in the southern part of the. 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. Determine limitations of what finish materials you can use for plywood subfloors. Heat rises so the insulation in your attic is the most important part of your home s insulation.

Even before you start working on your attic flooring ideas check to see whether the ceiling will be able to handle the weight of the new floor along with storage and people walking around. Plywood comes in large sheets. Before putting the flooring in take a look at your insulation. Find or buy 1 2 inch plywood or particleboard sections.

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. A single 4 pack covers approximately 10 sq. But there s no real reason to use plywood thinner than 3 4 inch. Because the simplest and cheapest way to insulate an attic is to add material to the floor.

1 x 6 3 spruce is a step up from pallet quality wood but makes a fine usable floor in an unfinished attic space. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new insulation on top of the old. Attic flooring panels are easy to install with their interlocking edges. What you could do is you could put insulation down in the floor joist first then plywood over it and then you could add another layer of unfaced on top of that.

Here are the steps to consider when flooring an attic. It might seem impossible to haul it up to the attic. 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. How to install plywood flooring in an attic.

To make the job easier use a circular saw to cut the plywood sheet first into 2 2 8 strips which will be much easier to handle. Stop using your attic for storage. These lightweight easy to manage panels can be installed by even the most inexperienced homeowner in about 15 minutes. The cost savings is insignificant compared to the extra support offered by the thicker material.

It s possible to use other materials but plywood or particleboard on sale is likely to be less expensive than other wood materials or products. But you know i would rather see you just sort of map out the area in the center of the attic that you re going to use for storage and fill up the rest with insulation because that.