How Much Weight To Put In An Attic

Spacing between each beam is 14 4.

How much weight to put in an attic. A floor structure supported with 2 4 joists cannot bear much weight. I m guessing you don t have the plans and don t know what live load the attic was designed for. The joists are what support the weight. Think empty boxes and suitcases.

Size of the beams supporting attic floor. 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. A floor structure that is not solid enough cannot hold up much weight and the floor structure can only be sturdy enough if strong and large joists support it. I want to know how much weight i can put in the attic.

Length of the beams. Attic floors often are built to accommodate only a maximum dead weight load. I put the floor in about twelve. Live weight load refers to the total weight carried by the floor including furnishings occupants and all other permanent and temporary objects.

Joists that are 2x8 or larger can likely support more weight. As a very general guide if the joists are only 2x4s don t plan on storing much in the attic other than very lightweight items. How much weight your attic will hold depends a lot on the floor structure. An uninhabitable attic designed for limited storage can handle 20 pounds per square foot live load.

Dead weight essentially means an attic that is only used for storing boxes and for very limited traffic.