How To Floor An Attic Plywood

1 x 6 3 spruce is a step up from pallet quality wood but makes a fine usable floor in an unfinished attic space.

How to floor an attic plywood.

The thinner plywood is acceptable when the joist spacing is 16 inches. As an alternative 3 4 osb can be used. Alternatively your attic may already have some sort of floor but this doesn t necessarily mean you can build rooms. Attics with existing flooring.

To floor an attic you ll need to install a sub floor for support before laying your plywood floor. 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. The plywood should be perpendicular to the joists so that a signal sheet spans multiple. Build a frame on 16 centers perpendicular to the attic floor joists.

You ll have to construct a wooden frame or sub floor with boards 16 inches apart to provide extra support for the floor. Full the spaces between the frame members with insulation. An attic can be floored with 1 2 cdx plywood if it is being used only for storage. Another option is to skip the plywood flooring altogether and use dimensional lumber.

Carry a piece of plywood to one of the far corners of the attic and lay it on top of the installed boards. In that case you will need to use 3 4 thick plywood. The previous homeowner may have simply covered the joists with plywood to use the space for storage. If you plan to finish the floor in the attic and turn the room into a living space however you should always use 3 4 inch.

First you ll need to measure the area you want to floor so you can calculate how much wood you ll require. However the same can t be said if you are planning on using the space as a living space. Don t use 7 16 osb as it is intended for external sheathing and isn t strong enough to be used as a floor.