Convert Truss Attic Living Space

Technical issues such as locating a safe staircase and the distribution of additional joists required to accommodate the new load bearing and stress factors.

Convert truss attic living space.

Now that you ve done the preliminary research here are a few ideas for converting your attic into usable living space. I ve got a question i would like to convert the attic above my garage into a living space. Tim great reading your tips. A guide to convert attic space to living space.

This truss is designed to leave an open space inside the attic by using the bottom chord as the floor joist and the spacers as the walls of the room to be converted. Access is not an issue as it s also in front of another room upstairs that i can put a door in the wall. Use a chalk line to draw a line along the floor parallel to the lower edge of the roof from one end of the attic to the other on both sides. Converting an attic into a living space is a great method of adding another room to the house but it is not a job for the average diy person.

My understanding please correct me if i am wrong is that the following needs to be taken into consideration. That means you ll need 2x10 floor joists or maybe 2x8 in rare circumstances and at least 2x12 roof rafters. Measure in from the lower edge of the roof to a point 1 4 the width of the truss on either side of the attic. There s plenty of room to make a 12 x 12 room with 10 foot ceiling at its peak.

If you have trusses it will be next to impossible to reconfigure them to allow for clear space. Ironically though it s the rafters that provide a better environment for an attic conversion because of the clear space. Once you convert attic space into living space you need to bring it up to the standards of modern building codes. Meanwhile if you need to change the roof structure as well you need to pay for another usd 42 000.

Trusses are considered a superior method of framing a roof because of the additional support. Measure the width of your roof trusses from inside to inside. This leaves a rectangular space free in the middle of the roof truss making it possible to create a brand new living space in your attic with some renovation work. The role of the horizontal beam is to tie the truss together and carry the load that would otherwise be sustained by the support and vertical timber also known as the king post.

Attic conversions are now possible by replacing the truss rafters with a shaped trusses or horizontal beams which in return create additional space. If you want to convert your attic into a dormer loft so the floorspace would be more useful you can pay for another usd 22 000 at least.