Should I Cover Attic Floor With Plywood

Some experts suggest that 15 32 inch plywood should be standard if the underlying floor joists are spaced 16 inches apart or less but slightly thicker 3 4 inch plywood should be used for joists spaced further apart.

Should i cover attic floor with plywood.

Start with the attic floor. Plan to pull up the flooring and layer new. If your plywood subfloor is too thin it might not cope with the load and it might creak or squeak when you walk on it. To make the job easier use a circular saw to cut the plywood sheet first into 2 2 8 strips which will be much easier to handle.

Stop using your attic for storage. The national wood flooring association recommends a minimum plywood panel thickness of 7 8 inch for joist spans of 19 2 to 24 inches and a minimum plywood panel thickness of 5 8 inch for joist spans of 16 inches or less. Because the simplest and cheapest way to insulate an attic is to add material to the floor. The thickness that builders use most often for subfloors is 3 4 inch and when they need extra reinforcement.

But if the floor is covered in plywood you can t stuff enough insulation beneath it to do the job sufficiently not even in warm climates. Plywood flooring thickness is important for proper weight distribution. Measure the plywood and attic door. 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.

Another option is to skip the plywood flooring altogether and use dimensional lumber. Plywood comes in 4 by 8 foot sheets with thicknesses ranging from 1 4 to 1 1 4 inches. Cut the plywood to fit so that each end of the plywood boards lands at the exact center of a floor joist. 1 x 6 3 spruce is a step up from pallet quality wood but makes a fine usable floor in an unfinished attic space.

Adding flooring to your attic is a relatively low cost project running about 5 12 per square foot about 190 for a 10 x 10 area if you do it yourself. Hiring a contractor to do the job will roughly triple the cost as you have to pay for their time and labor. Attic storage might be a good idea but other issues such as insulation joist spacing and intended usage should be taken into consideration. Take the measurements for your subfloor and measure enough plywood so that you can cover the entire frame.

Extreme care should be used when working in an unfloored attic. You ll need to make sure that the plywood can fit through your attic door.