A Question About Finishing Attic Space


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Old 01-13-13, 05:02 PM
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A Question About Finishing Attic Space

Hello, I'm currently rehabbing a house to flip. The "Master Closet" is an unfinished attic space. It has a makeshift floor and walls. The space is open to the roof joist, I plan on putting in insulation & then drywall. My question is, there's 2 roof vents on one side of the ceiling. What's the proper way to go about finishing the ceiling? Should I eliminate the vent or leave the vent & not put insulation in that gap? There is one other vent on the end/side of the house. This is a picture of one of the vents. Thanks in advance.

 
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Old 01-13-13, 05:41 PM
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To answer the question, you would first put in styrofoam baffles, and then you would need adequate insulation under them.

Problem with your idea is that anytime you turn an attic into a "room", you are usually ignoring all sorts of energy standards, as far as attic insulation and ventilation are concerned. What size are those rafters? 2x4's? I can't understand why anyone would try and squeeze r-11 insulation into a 1 1/2" space (which is about all that's left after you install those baffles) and then think that you're going to have a nice cozy room that's not hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

Is there any heat source in this room? If not, it's not going to be very warm in the winter. Is there air conditioning? Insulation does not stop heat from the roof.

By closing off those roof vents with baffles and installing drywall directly on the rafters, you reduce them to ventilating the one stud cavity that they are in. Currently they ventilate the entire open attic space.

Just talking through this, trying to help you see that building a usable room in an attic is more than just putting up walls, insulation and drywall. There has to be ADEQUATE insulation, adequate ventilation, and both heat, air conditioning and circulation of that conditioned air in order for it to be comfortable and usable.

I understand that this may just be a closet, and I may be ranting a bit, but I think you need to be warned about the possible harm you may be doing to the entire house ventilation and also the disservice you may be doing to the next owner who may not know what he's getting until it's 100F and he opens up that closet door and gets a blast of not-so-fresh air.

Welcome to the forum... if this brings more questions to mind be sure and ask, our goal is to help.
 
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Old 01-13-13, 06:35 PM
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Thanks for the reply XSleeper. The rafters are 2x4's. There is a floor vent for central air/heat.
I agree this is not a good idea but it's what I've got to work with in this house without doing major remodeling. The house was built in the 40's, it will list for around $65k in a small rural town. There's 3bed/1 bath downstairs. The would be Master bed is above the garage & then you step up into what is the attic but has been turned into a small but full bath & through that is this closet or storage space which is about 10'x15'. The master bed is too small due to the slanted ceilings to frame in a closet. The only option to have any sort of closet is this space. I could leave it as storage but I figured if I could finish it out as a massive walk in closet it would help my resell.
There is an attic fan setup on the end vent. Doesn't look like it's worked in years but I could get it working to operate off of a thermostat to help in the summer. With that working and baffles installed on the gaps with vents, would that be "acceptable" ventilation?
 
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Old 01-13-13, 07:21 PM
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If I was doing it I would probably recommend the homeowner agree to install the styrofoam baffles in EVERY rafter bay over the finished room ceiling, and would suggest they abandon the single can vents (lomanco 750 roof louver vents, or similar) in favor of continuous ridge ventilation (at a minimum, I'd install this over the new finished area). Then I'd suggest you fir your existing rafter down to give them more depth, so as to accept more insulation. Having a company spray foam would be best as far as R-value is concerned.

I'm not a big "fan" of power vents. They can turn what would otherwise be an exhaust vent into an intake, which can potentially draw in rain and snow. I agree with those that say soffit/ridge ventilation should not be used in conjunction with gable end or any type of power vent.
 
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Old 01-13-13, 07:41 PM
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Thanks XSleeper! That sounds like a plan. I appreciate all the advice.
 
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Old 01-13-13, 07:47 PM
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Glad to help. Check back often to see if the others here have any further advice- sometimes what someone else sees can be helpful as well.
 
 

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