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stephen_perkins12

Attic Conversion - Making It Liveable

Stephen Perkins
11 months ago

Hi Everyone -


Appreciate any input/feedback you can give on this attic conversion I'm considering.

I purchased a great home in Western PA last year that was originally built in 1926. It’s three stories, with the top floor being a finished attic space. We recently completed a nearly whole house renovation and tackled every floor other than the attic space, which is next on our list. The attic space is large enough to form two bedrooms. It's currently finished, but was poorly done.


The current finished attic gets INCREDIBLY hot in the summer. I’m talking easily +90 degrees on hot days. I haven’t been up there on single digit days in the Winter, but I’m sure it gets cold as Hell in there then as well. There are windows on each side of the attic and I’ve tried putting window units in each one during the Summer, but they don’t make a real difference. The rest of my house has central air, but the second floor won't cool because the heat in the attic can get so high.


The house has a slate roof, no gable vents, soffits or ridge vents. The only ventilation that I’m aware of is a mounted vent on the roof that seems to be controlled by a thermostat. There's a switch for that fan in the attic. I have no idea where the thermostat itself is located though. It seems like it may turn on when the heat gets to a certain degree. The attic has kneewalls and no ductwork.


If I were to “re-renovate” this space - meaning, completely tear everything out of the attic and start over - what should I do to make sure the space if liveable from a thermal perspective? Is there a particular type of insulation system or product that would work best for this situation? I'm not able to run duct up there, so I'm planning on installing a dual mini-split (handlers in each room) once the space is finished.


If helpful to know, the home is brick, with lathe and plaster throughout.


Thank you!

Comments (7)

  • beesneeds
    11 months ago

    Get in a heating and cooling person. They should be able to help you get ventilation in, sounds like you need it. Depending on what you need to get installed that might include a bit of roofing if it needs to vent out that way. It might be able to be vented out the side or something too. They will also be able to help with heating and cooling options. If the attic isn't insulated, get it insulated. Depending on your ceiling heights, you can install ceiling fans to help move air.

  • PRO
    Charles Ross Homes
    11 months ago

    It's a safe bet that your attic living area is subject to significant radiant heat gain. A vent fan isn't an effective way of dealing with that. You'll need to insulate the underside of the roof deck and do so in a particular way. I suggest maintaining a vented air space behind the slates incorporating both soffit and ridge vents. I'd install furring strips to create an air space, then install rigid foam insulation air sealed to the rafters and supplemented by spray foam to provide the required R-value for your climate zone.

    If you plan to use the space for bedrooms, keep in mind that the window(s) in each bedroom will need to meet code requirements for emergency egress and the floor structure will need to meet code requirements for sleeping areas.

    Stephen Perkins thanked Charles Ross Homes
  • res2architect
    11 months ago

    photos?

  • User
    11 months ago
    last modified: 11 months ago

    You probably need to have it be an unvented attic assembly, rather than a vented one. To get proper insulation into an attic often involves reducing head space, to get enough R value, which makes it go below code minimum height. Insufficient insulation also makes it not achieve code as well, but is more difficult to see or enforce.

  • millworkman
    11 months ago

    Also need to be certain that the loading is adequate. Most attics are not framed (floor system/ceiling joists) with the idea tha this will be turned into living space. Unfortunately the time to investigate this and plan it should have been before you remodeled the lower levels as you may need to rip the roof and second floor ceiling to get to the mandated code compliance and make the "attic" safe.

  • PRO
    Charles Ross Homes
    11 months ago

    "You probably need to have it be an unvented attic assembly, rather than a vented one." The converted attic space will need to have insulation in the sloped portions under the sheathing/skip sheathing. While ventilation isn't always required, for example, when spray foam insulation is applied directly to the underside of roof sheathing, my guess is that there is nothing between the slates and the sheathing. In that case, you'd need to allow for drying to the interior or risk rotting the sheathing. A vent channel the full width of the rafter bays does that. It's the most forgiving assembly and it allows for an easier replacement of the slates in the event they are installed on skip sheathing versus spray foam applied to the underside of the skip sheathing and slates.

  • res2architect
    11 months ago

    Not enough information. We need the following:

    - a section drawing through the attic space showing the span, size and spacing of the floor joists as well as the size and spacing of the rafters and the ceiling heights.

    - a floor plan showing the dimension of the spaces.

    - ceiling heights where different from what is shown on the section.

    To save time and effort you could start with the joist and rafter information in case they're not adequate for the intended loads.

    You will need all of the above listed information when you apply for a permit.