Anyone with experience / advice for finishing an attic space?I have this walk-in attic above my garage. We've used it for storage for years but living in a hot / humid southern climate, stuff up there can get moldy very fast. I want to at least finish and run an AC duct to this room in order to keep it cool and dry, and maybe even turn it into a bonus room that I can put an extra bed and office in. It's a pretty small space due to the slope of the ceiling, around ~250 square feet not counting the unusable parts of the room that are too low, it's about 9 feet tall at the middle of the ceiling. Is it worth making this into an extra room despite the space limitations? The ceiling just slopes too low to make most of the room usable space, and you realistically only have about 8 feet of width that is usable the entire 30ft length of the room. the room already has electrical lines run into it, I only have to cut a hole in the rear wall to run an AC duct into it which hopefully my AC can handle cooling another 200 square feet or so. I calculate it would cost me around 4 grand in supplies to finish it, most of it going to insulation, some drywall and carpeting. I need to replace the window too which is severely water damaged from years of the vent above it leaking during windy rain. I can't modify the front wall either as the house is brick on the outside, and the window is really low to the ground. I want to turn the vent into another window for more lighting, it's round on the exterior so I'd need a round window.
>>2878843Pumping A/C into the space is only part of the solution.How will you deal with the moisture that gets up there, the return air for the HVAC?
>>2878843Id make sure the joists can support it first Storage is rated at 10psf, bedrooms 40psf which is probably why it's not finished in the first place To finish my room in attic trusses, I had to run a beam
>>2878843> prevent from getting mouldyBuy a big vaccuumm sealer, seal everything, and put a silica/oxygen absorber in each packet.I had a vaccuumm sealer, and it was so much fun, my wife got rid if it. I’d seal everything: old clothing, spare batteries, documents, kids toys, old lego, all the extra shit I overconsumed at costco, old ISA cards for my IBM PC XT, cassette tapes, coins and money, etc.I have no idea where any of that stuff is today though.
>>2878843Move your water heater into the attic by using a heat pump unit. It will dump the heat into the water and dehumidify the air putting less strain on the AC. My basement went from a humid hellscape to a constantly cool and dry space
>>2879225How do I find out what the joists can support? Basically this is just an attic to my garage. the joists seem to be 16" apart based on where the nails are on the floor boards up there. Thanks for the info, I didn't even think about that. Honestly though, a simple bonus room up there will still have less weight on the floor than the amount of weight from the storage boxes I have up there right now. Some of those boxes weigh close to 100 lbs or more, I have 4 massive tubs filled with old 4x6 photos from the 60s-00s and those weigh well over 100lb each. >>2879217It's a walk in attic attached to an air conditioned room, it sits above my garage. The floors have insulation running under it. It's about 40 feet through 2 rooms away from the intake vent for my HVAC unit. It's basically just on the second floor of my house. I have a more proper "attic" above the second floor but this one is just over my garage. I mean I guess if I do finish the room I could just remove the door to the attic and share the air with the room that already exists next to it as well as running an additional duct up there for AC. I mean could I hypothetically run 2 ducts up there, one to return air to the AC intake duct and another to push cold air inside? Or maybe just get a dehumidifier if moisture is an issue. >>2879302Wish I could, I hate where my water heater is but that would be even more complex to do than just making a room that is air conditioned up there. We don't have basements where I live either (New Orleans) so my water heater is in a utility closet on the first floor.
I was able to measure my spans too, they are 2x10s, they are probably Douglass fir which the rest of my house is made of (I think), built in the 1980s. They run a length of about 20 feet along the width of the floor. There's no other walls or any support structure in the middle of the 20 ft of length since it's a garage below. how can I figure out what this attic can be rated for?
My friends did itTurned out really nice but they had contractors do it not /diy/Someone refinished the subfloor by hand and they had an electrician rewire the whole house and just added outlets in the attic then someone came and did the insulation and drywall
>>2879252Chad vacuum sealer
>>2878843Bro literally all u gotta do is put a window ac unit in and cauck the window then put in drywall, floors, and crown molding. In regards to the insulation that shit's already insulated (but you could add another layer if u want) and if u want to strengthen the floors just throw an extra layer of plywood over that shit. Most important thing is to check for shit living up there as well as mold and leaks. There's already electricity in there so don't be afraid to install a couple outlets but check what the fuse is rated at first before you fucking burn ur house down. But ya this is an easy job for you already 90% done could cost u less than 5k if ur really willing to get thrifty. If u need a ceiling or outlets wires floors doors or something u can just take those out of abandoned buildings with a screwdriver or sum.
