We increase the living area by building an attic with our own hands

Features of the construction of the attic

The roof of any private house has a specific construction and very often it can be used as an attic, additionally equipped with a balcony.

This additional area in any case will not be superfluous and will find its application.

Meanwhile, in order to be able to equip an attic in an old private house, it is necessary to check a number of technical issues.

First of all, you should make sure that the foundation of the house can cope with the additional load without problems.

If there are questions and doubts, then you will have to think about additional reinforcement in order to transfer part of the load from the attic to the walls.

This can be done if you erect special columns or arrange supports, in addition, in some individual cases, the load can be shifted with the reinforcement of the foundation.

You should also determine the shape of the future attic from the outset, since this will largely depend on the appearance of the building.

Special attention to the design of the attic in the old house should be given to the state of the rafter system.

Do not count on the fact that if the roof can withstand the load of the roofing, then it can easily cope with the additional load from the attic.

It should be remembered that when erecting an attic in the house at the dacha, the walls begin to experience an increased load.

This is mainly due to the fact that the rafters change the angles of inclination, and the beams move.

It's best before you start on your own to build an attic in a private house, discuss its design and construction with professional builders who have already done similar work many times.

The roof and the structure of its rafter system should be changed only after the calculations have been made, the additional load has been determined and all the necessary drawings have been completed.

In the photo above you can see a gable roof with an attic and a balcony.

Selection of construction technology

At present, you can find many different houses in the country, which have a clearly distinguished design of the attic.

It should be noted that it is easier to equip this extra space if the house is built from scratch.

In this case, the roof is originally designed under the attic, in addition, the type of foundation and the construction of the walls are selected, which can easily cope with the additional load.

If the house has already been erected, and initially its roof did not provide for the attic, then in this case there will be a difficult and painstaking work, which, mainly, will be based on a change in the old rafter system of the house.

It is easiest to remodel a gable sloping roof under the attic, the design of which in this case is practically unchanged.

Below in the photo you can see a double-sloped broken roof of the house, in which the attic is neatly arranged.

It should always be taken into account that no matter what the structure is at the roof, arranging additional space in the attic will have a colossal load on the house.

Even if the roof has a broken double-girder structure that is optimally suited to the construction of the attic, it will still have to be strengthened by installing additional bearing supports, which in turn will add loads to the walls and foundation.

Do not work if the walls of the house are weak enough and can not cope with additional vertical as well as horizontal loads.

The technology of erection of additional space in the attic is based, first of all, on the correct redistribution of loads throughout the construction of the house in the country.

Of course, for every single house in which the relevant work is planned, there will be some nuances and subtleties.

How to build an attic yourself, is detailed in the video, which is located below.

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Changing the roofing system

The attic device assumes that the attic space will change in size, both in height and width.

This is mainly due to the fact that the thickness of the walls, the ceiling, and the floor will change due to the additional lining of the insulation, as well as the finishing material.

Meanwhile, in the first place, in any case, it is necessary to put the safety of the roofing system.

It is best to sacrifice a certain part of the useful area and additionally mount reinforcing beams that will prevent the destruction of the frame.

You should also use only high-quality materials that can easily perform their functions for their intended purpose.

Since after all necessary construction works in the attic space there will be a new living space, it is necessary to cover the roof with the most durable roofing material.

In the photo below you can see the metal tile, which can be used as the roof of a house with an attic.

The device of a crate for an attic is determined based on the type of roofing material used.

In the event that it is planned to cover the roof with soft-type material, it is best to perform a continuous crate.

In turn, if the roof is laid, referring to the hard type, the crate must necessarily be executed in a runaway.

When constructing or changing the roofing system, it is necessary to carefully consider the arrangement of those places in which the windows will be located.

In addition, it should be at the design stage to determine and with the method of fastening the window frames themselves.

In any case, the roofing system in its design should easily cope with its functional purpose and freely withstand a variety of external loads.

Device of auxiliary elements

Any type of attic has both basic and minor elements in the structure.

Professional builders refer to the basic elements of insulation, as well as rafters and all load-bearing structures.

In turn, the second type of window frames, door structures and, accordingly, drainage systems. As a rule, the most difficulties arise with the arrangement of windows.

In this case, you need to have them not only convenient, but also as functional as possible. For mansard roofs, window constructions of inclined or vertical types are suitable.

The main advantage of sloped windows is that they are able to let in the interior space of the house the most natural light.

However, in the winter season they can cover the snow cover, and this in some cases leads to violations of their technical condition.

In turn, the doors under the attic should be chosen as strong and with high thermal insulation.

Neither the doors nor windows in the attic of the attic should be distinguished from its general interior and style of execution.

In addition, attention should also be paid to the design of the drainage system. Of course, if windows of vertical execution are installed, then in this case, the outflows will be the outflows themselves.

If you want to install windows inclined execution, it is recommended to carefully consider the arrangement of the gutters, since their quality of installation will largely depend on whether moisture will enter the interior space of the dwelling.

The attic with its own hands is not only a labor-intensive task, but also a technical one.

When building it, you should pay attention to every detail and carefully think over all the elements of its design.

In the video posted below you can see how to make the attic not only correctly, but also technically competent.

Video:

Arrangement of thermal insulation

When designing and planning the arrangement in the attic space of residential space, it should be taken into account that the roof slopes will be directly affected not only by wind loads, but also by temperature changes.

This requires that the attic on all sides must be densely layered with quality thermal insulation.

This is especially true in the case when metal roofing material is chosen as the roofing material.

So, for these purposes, the plates made of mineral wool, which have not only a high density, but also a sufficient thickness, are excellent.

In addition, this thermal insulation material has good environmental performance, and also has tremendous heat resistance.

It should be noted that the thermal insulation of mineral wool has high fire resistance. With such plates it is easy to work, and their installation takes relatively little time.

On the video below, you can see how the heat insulation of the attic room in a private house is carried out.

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Installation of thermal insulation in the attic must be carried out in accordance with the generally accepted technology.

When you lay it, you should definitely create a small distance in the space between the roof itself and the insulation material itself.

This will ensure effective natural ventilation, and, accordingly, increase the service life of the thermal insulation material itself.

For the attic room, the best external thermal insulation is considered.

In this case, the chosen insulation must be installed, and also the vapor barrier layer should be laid directly on the roofing system itself before the roofing material is laid.

This will make it possible to make the coating monolithic and help to avoid the occurrence of so-called cold bridges during operation.

Despite all this, very often the insulation is made from the inside of the attic room, when the heater is laid between the rafters.

The attic gives an opportunity to increase the living space of a private house.

Meanwhile, its construction must be carried out in strict accordance with the technology and the rules for the implementation of the relevant work.

Every detail of its design should be thought through carefully and only high-quality materials should be used.

The video, which is placed below, will help you to build the attic yourself in accordance with the generally accepted technology.

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