If your attic joists won t bear the weight necessary to finish out a living space but the engineer cleared them to support floor decking for light storage you can install inch plywood or.
Attic storage weight limits.
Another garage attic storage flooring option is to lay down 2x6 planks and screw them to the tops of the joists.
Make sure items are spaced so that the weight is evenly distributed over the chords.
The joists are what support the weight.
Just like plywood if you re worried about your attic weight limits then don t use 2x6 planks.
This is probably easier than wrestling with plywood but when it s finished it ll weigh even more than plywood.
An uninhabitable attic not designed for storage can handle a 10 pounds per square foot live load.
Its a one floor family style house got plenty of space on the attic with an access ladder to it.
This goes for manufactured roof trusses the kind assembled with metal gussets if you have traditional site built roof framing your storage capacity depends on the design of the framing.
Access to attic storage.
In the example the joists have a spacing of 16 inches and a span of 11 feet 2 inches.
I m guessing you don t have the plans and don t know what live load the attic was designed for.
Next consult a span table to cross reference the spacing and span to find the required fb value for that table s load limits.
If the attic has the potential to become a regular living space talk with a contractor about adding a fixed stairway.
The span table for a 30 psf live load 10psf dead load floor indicates a required fb value of 1 315 and a minimum e value of 1 800 000.
The past few days i have been organizing the terrible mess on my two car garage.
Garage attic storage space weight limits.
If you want to use your attic on a regular basis or to store large items you may need to enlarge the access opening and install an access ladder or drop down stairs.