Creating storage space in attic

[Anonymous]

I'd like to create a small area in the attic for storage - preferably with moderate climate control. It doesn't need to stay the same temperature as the rest of the house, but I worry that it otherwise gets too hot up there in summer. Also I would like to keep this area cleaner than our attic and I think it'd be easier if it was walled off somehow. Has anyone done this? Basically built a small room at the top of their attic stairs (we have the basic pull down stairs/trapdoor style). Would this need a permit?

[Anonymous]

What are you trying to store up there? It’s almost certainly better to purge instead.

[Anonymous]

We don't have a garage and we only have limited basement space, so it would be stuff like camping equipment that gets used 2 times a year, suitcases, a bike rack for the car, out of season sports equipment, etc. The problem now is that the attic is dark and dirty, and I don't want to just leave stuff up there to swelter. I'd like to create a closet, but I suspect that's going to be more complicated than I expect.

[Anonymous]

We finished our attic in that we had a solid floor put in and added drywall with really good insulation around the entire area (floor, walls, ceiling). We didn't add any HVAC, though - that just didn't seem like it would be worth the cost. No permit was needed and we're very happy with it. Made it a much nicer place to go in/store things and I think it helped with insects. The insulation also goes a certain way toward moderating the temperatures. That said, we have a lot of trees in our yard so while it definitely gets hot up there in the summer (which I worry about more than cold) it is not as bad as it'd be if we had full sun all day long. But for camping equipment and stuff like that, I should think you'd be fine.

[Anonymous]

We installed a vent ridge when we had a new roof put on. And then we had gable vents installed too. Those dropped the temp a lot.

The hardest thing was installing like 20-30 sheets of plywood to make a floor for the attic. We didn't put TOO much stuff in our attic, but it did create more nail pops in our 2nd floor ceiling unfortunately. So later on we had more ceiling drywall work to do.

What were we storing? It wasn't stuff we were willing to purge. We knew we wanted a 2nd and then a 3rd baby so we had tons of baby gear and clothes. We also have fold up tables and chairs that we use for birthday parties, showers, Thanksgiving, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We finished our attic in that we had a solid floor put in and added drywall with really good insulation around the entire area (floor, walls, ceiling). We didn't add any HVAC, though - that just didn't seem like it would be worth the cost. No permit was needed and we're very happy with it. Made it a much nicer place to go in/store things and I think it helped with insects. The insulation also goes a certain way toward moderating the temperatures. That said, we have a lot of trees in our yard so while it definitely gets hot up there in the summer (which I worry about more than cold) it is not as bad as it'd be if we had full sun all day long. But for camping equipment and stuff like that, I should think you'd be fine.

Did you build it yourself or did you hire contractors? Do you have an idea of what this would cost?

Ideally I would like to store old photo albums and boxes of pictures up there, but even if we did have moderate temperature control, now that I think about it I still don't think I'd trust it. I'd probably keep old photos in the basement and move something else to the new attic space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We finished our attic in that we had a solid floor put in and added drywall with really good insulation around the entire area (floor, walls, ceiling). We didn't add any HVAC, though - that just didn't seem like it would be worth the cost. No permit was needed and we're very happy with it. Made it a much nicer place to go in/store things and I think it helped with insects. The insulation also goes a certain way toward moderating the temperatures. That said, we have a lot of trees in our yard so while it definitely gets hot up there in the summer (which I worry about more than cold) it is not as bad as it'd be if we had full sun all day long. But for camping equipment and stuff like that, I should think you'd be fine.

Did you build it yourself or did you hire contractors? Do you have an idea of what this would cost?

Ideally I would like to store old photo albums and boxes of pictures up there, but even if we did have moderate temperature control, now that I think about it I still don't think I'd trust it. I'd probably keep old photos in the basement and move something else to the new attic space.

Don't store photos anywhere without good temp and humidity controls.