How Much Weight To Put In An Attic

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.

How much weight to put in an attic.

Dead weight essentially means an attic that is only used for storing boxes and for very limited traffic. 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. I m guessing you don t have the plans and don t know what live load the attic was designed for. Attic floors often are built to accommodate only a maximum dead weight load.

Length of the beams. Size of the beams supporting attic floor. Spacing between each beam is 14 4. If they are 2x6 you can probably get away with some boxes filled with relatively light stuff.

Joists that are 2x8 or larger can likely support more weight. I put the floor in about twelve. The joists are what support the weight. An uninhabitable attic designed for limited storage can handle 20 pounds per square foot live load.

How much weight your attic will hold depends a lot on the floor structure. I want to know how much weight i can put in the attic. Live weight load refers to the total weight carried by the floor including furnishings occupants and all other permanent and temporary objects. A floor structure supported with 2 4 joists cannot bear much weight.

Think empty boxes and suitcases.