Finishing Attic Bedroom

Every attic is different but a few established norms and practices will guide your renovation.

Finishing attic bedroom.

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. Spend extra on the ceiling. In rare cases especially in new construction homes the attic may have been built unfinished with the correct flooring in place with the idea that the homeowner could later on finish the space. Financially even though an attic bedroom will reduce ventilation most people consider finishing an attic to be a good decision.

When done without proper planning or adherence to local building codes it can actually reduce the value of your home or stall a sale. Finishing the attic 1. Here are some must do tips to follow when finishing your attic. Finishing your attic can add space and utility and increase the value of your home as long as it s done properly.

Instinctively eyes will be drawn to the sloped ceiling in most attics so it s a good. Adding a staircase will take up space in a room below the attic so consider converting a closet. If it is and you plan to provide heating and cooling to the finished attic space you need to remove. The attic floor which is the ceiling of the living space below often already is insulated.

This required completely rewiring to electrical in the attic moving fixing plum. A contractor or a local building official can help you assess how the rule will apply to your attic and how modifications like dormers can resolve height shortcomings. Enforcement varies but codes typically say that at least half of a finished attic must be at least 7 feet high and that this area must be a minimum of 7 feet wide and 70 square feet. 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.

A ladder is insufficient. In most cases though the joists cannot support live loads and may not even be covered with boards. Finishing the attic into liveable space nets an average of 9 3 out of 10 joy score or sense of happiness the owners have upon completion on nar s renovation report. Follow the rule of 7s.

Prime and paint the walls. Before you put up wallpaper or decorate. Having a finished attic whether it is a bedroom or another kind of space will increase the house s ability to retain heat thereby reducing energy costs. So if you re planning to get a few years of use out of it the investment might make more sense.

You may be able to regain that storage space by using space under the new staircase.