Can I Use Osb To Floor My Attic

Before you start creating a floor for your attic you must make sure that it can handle the additional load.

Can i use osb to floor my attic. In attics built purely for storage purposes you may find 2x6 ceiling joists or in some cases. The previous homeowner may have simply covered the joists with plywood to use the space for storage. Adding a floor to an attic can increase storage space or create a new room. It is cheap and strong enough for the job.

You can install inch plywood or oriented strand board osb in 4 foot by 8 foot panels over existing 16 inch oc joists. Go with 23 32 osb for an attic. 7 16 and 6 00 sounds more like osb than plywood. Then you ll need to build a grid like structure that can hold up the plywood flooring.

I ve used 7 16 osb for decking in an attic. Osb and plywood are both commonly sold in 4 by 8 foot sheets but osb can be made in much larger panels up to 8 by 24 feet. It s possible to create a solid floor without investing a lot of money. Its more than stiff enough for 16 oc joist spacing.

1 2 osb would be enough as well but you are paying a premium for those precut sheets you linked. You can for instance use recycled materials. Osb oriented strand board is made from large flat chips arranged in as many as 50 layers which are adhered together with glues and pressed into sheets. It is too thin for a floor in a room but for a lightly used attic it is plenty.

The decision regarding the thickness of plywood to use for the subfloor in the attic has a lot to do with how you intend to use the attic and it also depends on the spacing of the ceiling joists. Because it makes use of leftover wood material osb tends to be cheaper than plywood and it is more uniform since it has none of the knots and other defects that may be present in plywood. Maneuvering heavy 4 x 8 sheets of plywood or osb oriented strand board up to an unfinished attic is sometimes like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Modifying an attic floor s joist system is a job for the pros.

Attic space offers many options for building storage or living space especially if you already have a well built basic flooring in place. If you plan carefully and get the right materials you can install a. To make the job easier use a circular saw to cut the plywood sheet first into 2 2 8 strips which will be much easier to handle.