mancave in the attic!

bungaro79

myself and the missus bought a townhouse (built 2007/8) and we've been using one of the bedrooms as storage/gym but want to get it back as a proper bedroom. so we're looking into the possibility of putting flooring down up in the attic and moving all the exercise stuff up there and gradually do it up bit by bit (putting insulation under the roof, put up some kinda sheetrock walls around the water tank, etc). we're not looking for a proper attic conversion, just a basic room which could take a bit of weight on the floors for the weights and stuff. to get up there we've got a staighre.

are there any other things i should be taking into account?? the insulation that is currently there is on the ceiling of the upstairs rooms, is there any ventolation issues we;d need to consider? eventually i'd like to put a few plug sockets up there too and maybe a tv on the wall so don't want to be ripping up floorboards if i can plan it in advance now!!

any recommendations or advice would be greatly received

Veni

Hi,

If your looking to add sockets later on you would be best off bringing up wires before the floor is down and put a junction box on it so you can add wire and sockets to it later. As regards to the ventilation none is needed for putting floors down. I would draw up a diagram of where wires and pipes are just to have for your own personal reference just incase anything was ever to happen.

Hope this helps.

NobodyImportant

I just finished refurbishing an old 1970's attic conversion into my man cave. Its worked out well, but I made sure to future proof it by putting down lots of sockets, burying all kinds of cables, even though I might not need them right now (like Satellite, Cat 5, speakers).

Also, before you lay the floor over the joists, think of putting down 'Silent roll' joist wool. Its just about 3mm of sheeps wool, but reduces impact sound.

bungaro79

thanks for the replies lads!

those pics of your conversion look amazing! was talking to my dad about what we're planning and he mentioned that he heard that a lot of new houses aren't built with the joists able to support a conversion, any truth in that rumour???

dodzy

bungaro79 wrote: »

thanks for the replies lads!

those pics of your conversion look amazing! was talking to my dad about what we're planning and he mentioned that he heard that a lot of new houses aren't built with the joists able to support a conversion, any truth in that rumour???

Listen to dad. Newer bulk builds ( such as typical housing estates, and i dont Just mean recent......going back c.20yrs ) with truss roof construction, are designed to hold the roof tiles and the upstairs plasterboard ceilings. No doubt, some have went down the "throw down the T&G flooring over the joists and and work away" but not advisable. RSJs wall to wall is the answer. My place has a trusse roof spanning 32ft front to back and the timber truss is less than 5" x 2". Fecking hopeless.

bungaro79

what is RSJs dodzy?? and is there any way so that we can fix this or are we screwed because of the way the joists were set??

dodzy

bungaro79 wrote: »

what is RSJs dodzy?? and is there any way so that we can fix this or are we screwed because of the way the joists were set??

RSJ is an abbreviation for rolled steel joist. Basically they are a H-shaped pre fabricated steel beams that would span from wall to wall in an attic conversion ( normally 2 per standard conversion ). These 2 beams would then take the load of the new flooring joists for the attic room. They offer rigidity / strength and take the weight associated with people and furniture normally resulting from an attic conversion. A Google search will throw up plenty of info & pics.

That said, some properties were constructed with "conversion ready" loft spaces which would save a good few quid. Post a few pics and it would be better.