Finishing A Trussed Attic

Nail them to the rafters and angle nail the center support to the top edge of the horizontal brace.

Finishing a trussed attic.

If you ve measured your attic space and feel you have enough room to accommodate living space chances are you have rafters or you have special trusses called attic trusses which create a large open space under the peak of the roof. I have this above my own garage. Before you put up wallpaper or decorate. If the roof slope is steeper than 9 inches in 12 inches of run it doesn t take much width to end up with a nice room 12 feet wide with an 8 foot ceiling.

Prime and paint the walls. Most codes require a specified minimum amount of headroom and it s tough to meet this requirement when insulating a finished attic especially since most codes require insulation equal to r 38 or more. If you have this type of roof framing you cannot finish your attic without rebuilding the roof. By contrast conventional trusses have supports called webbing that zigzag through the attic space.

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. Cut the ends to the same angle you used for the pony wall studs. Spend extra on the ceiling. It may take 2 to 3 coats to cover the new drywall.

Attic trusses have a rectangular shape inside each truss. Instinctively eyes will be drawn to the sloped ceiling in most attics so it s a good. The lyons used a web of 16 inch deep engineered trusses to accommodate wiring plumbing and ductwork then topped the plywood subfloor with oak or tile. Cut a 2 by 4 to fit horizontally from rafter to rafter on each truss.

Your attic is now ready for finishing.