Our preferred method is to use a kit which lifts the floorboards up from the joists enough to get a good amount of insulation down but still allow a good ventilation flow to avoid condensation.
How to put floor down in attic.
You also need to ensure that the joist spacing is adequate.
For an easy attic flooring start with a simple laying down of wood planks.
If you try to put the plywood flooring directly on the joists it will crush the insulation down and you ll end up with the equivalent of r 15 regardless of what you started out with.
You don t want lots of different floor heights or walking in the attic will be difficult.
Attic joists for live loads.
Attic dek flooring is an easy to install floor option that provides additional storage space supporting up to 250 lbs.
To solve this problem add another course of 2 x 4 or even 2 x 6 stringers either on top of the existing joists or attached to the sides of the truss.
If you keep these close together you will not have to worry about any gaps.
If you ever need to cover them with finished flooring you can always nail down another subflooring before installing tile or hardwood.
Joist dimensions are only part of the equation.
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.
To floor an attic you ll need to install a sub floor for support before laying your plywood floor.
There are several different types of attic flooring you can use.
Wear long sleeves and pants since fiberglass insulation irritates the skin if it comes into contact with it.
Use old boards that are close to the same thickness in a given section of the attic however.
First you ll need to measure the area you want to floor so you can calculate how much wood you ll require.
Raise ceiling joists also if the attic insulation is thicker than your ceiling joists you can raise the height of the joists to above the insulation by attaching 2 3 s to their top edge before you attach the attic floor.
Another way to add attic flooring is to secure plywood sheets to the floor.
You ll have to construct a wooden frame or sub floor with boards 16 inches apart to provide extra support for the floor.