How To Make A Truss Attic Suitable For Storage

How To Make A Truss Attic Suitable For Storage
  • Author: Farhan Khan
  • Posted On: September 26, 2022
  • Updated On: July 11, 2023

It’s a great, affordable option to add more space to your house to convert your attic into a storage area. It can be challenging to add storage space to an attic without damaging the trusses and the structural integrity of your roof, so we’ve provided some advice to help you succeed.

It would help if you didn’t cut trusses while creating attic storage because they are an essential component of a house’s structure. Installing flooring and constructing straightforward plywood shelving between the trusses will create storage space.

Check if your truss attic can hold the added weight before adjusting. Nobody likes to waste their attic space.

Is It Suitable To Store Stuff In Attic?

A truss attic can be recognized by the large wooden framework that supports the roof and the attic walls and is located beneath your roof. The truss in an attic takes up a lot of room, and wooden beams that cross open spaces and can support floors are sometimes present.

Although it is feasible, protecting your house and your new space requires careful planning and expert guidance. Don’t assume you can copy your neighbor’s truss attic conversion just because they have one because each attic is unique.

Before you consider making your new floor space by weaving around your attic storage trusses, here are some home repair projects to complete. Check your attic firstly for the following considerations before using it for storage;

Truss Strength

Before putting flooring, two things need to be thought about—the strength and insulation of the truss and the attic. Always keep in mind that trusses are designed to support the roof. Inspecting your truss initially should be done ideally by a professional. Additionally, they can tell you how much weight each beam can support, such as floors.

If the truss can’t handle it, you’ll need to make major changes inside your attic. It’s also important to think about insulation. It’s possible to compress the insulation if you install attic flooring. Insulation that has been squeezed also performs less well in controlling temperature.

Ventilation In Your Attic

The attic’s temperature and humidity must also be taken into account. Its interior qualities will influence whether you can use it as a storage area. In particular, prolonged exposure to high humidity might harm some items.

Valueless items should not be kept in a humid attic. Many things suffer from high temperatures. Before you convert your attic, you should check the temperature and humidity levels. If not, you’ll need to relocate your storage or remodel your attic.

Steps To Make Attic Suitable For Storage

Inspect Attic For Damages

Make sure that no prior harm has happened before making any changes to the appearance of your home, especially when it comes to the roof’s trusses and attic supports. Before constructing the trusses’ surrounding area, evaluate the attic area.

Also, try to clean the crawl space in your attic. Check for water damage before covering the trusses and beams. If you don’t properly address water damage, mold can swiftly spread throughout the attic.

Additionally, a compromised truss wouldn’t benefit from having more weight added to it.

Use Loft Lodges

The area between trusses can be used as a shelf for storage by adding loft ledges. Both hardware stores and the internet have loft ledges for sale. The kit comes with shelves made of chipboard or plywood, brackets, and screws.

It just requires drilling the trusses, tightening the brackets with screws, and setting the shelf on top. Be careful not to press the insulation; doing so is bad practice, and you risk ruining your insulation.

Install Shelves

For this, you may alternatively use already-made adjustable shelves. There are shelves for truss attic storage on the market. This method’s advantage is that it gives you flexibility in terms of storage capacity.

The shelf includes two racks. The space on the bottom rack can be adjusted to be greater than on the top rank. You can stack large boxes at the bottom and little ones at the top of the rack.

Add Attic Flooring

The addition of flooring is another long-lasting method of converting the truss attic into a usable storage space. For this, you would require fiber panels or plywood. Fiber panels are simple to put together and take apart. When the insulation needs to be replaced, it will be useful.

No cutting or nails are required for the fiber panels. They provide pre-determined screw locations that make installation easier. They are not, however, as robust as wood panels. Make sure to avoid compressing the insulation when laying flooring.

Make room between the flooring and the insulation by using loft legs.

Bottom Line

It is a good idea to look into air sealing the attic now that you have read about converting your truss attic to a storage area. Air sealing the places you might be covering up is a good idea if you add more flat surfaces and wood.

Next, consider the recommended level of insulation for the attic area. Understanding what insulation to replace or whether to add extra will be necessary before you can cover up various portions of your attic.

As you work in the attic, adhere to all safety precautions and wear all required protective gear. It is better to avoid working in confined spaces if you have breathing difficulties and prefer to outsource the task.

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Author: Farhan Khan

Farhan is a highly experienced civil engineer from the Southern side of Texas and has been associated with ConstructionHow since 2020. Over almost a decade, his wide span of expertise enabled him to bring forth his fair share of stories and experiences related to the most iconic engineering examples worldwide. He has also contributed to online and offline publications on requests. Engineering is his passion, which is why he chose to become part of our honorable team of industry experts looking to provide authentic and credible guidelines to the reader.

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