Categories: Closets & StorageDesignFraming

Creating Storage Room with Attic Trusses

Attic Trusses Create Attic Space

An inexpensive way to create additional storage space in your new home is to use attic trusses instead of conventional “common trusses”. Most modern homes that are built today use a common truss that doesn’t really leave any usable space for storage. Older homes were framed using rafters and collar ties leaving significant attic space. Trusses are much more cost effective today and their use is considered the standard today.

One way to get the best of both worlds is to specify an attic truss. Trusses can be designed to produce an open attic as shown in the picture. We specified attic trusses and ended up with a storage area in the attic that is approximately 48′ long by 18′ wide. As you can see we put a layer of plywood down to create a very nice storage room. Typically this type of upgrade will run you about $2 a square foot. That will take care of the extra cost in the truss, plywood sub floor and labor.

As you can see we used blown in cellulose insulation for the attic. The plywood sub floor was already in place. The insulation crew just blew the insulation under the sub floor until it came out the other side.

To access the new attic space we used a pull down attic ladder in the kids play room. The ladder has a thin layer of Styrofoam insulation on it. I plan on building an insulation box above the opening at some point to improve the insulation value.

Todd Fratzel

I'm full time builder for a large construction company in New Hampshire. I run their design-build division that specializes in custom homes, commercial design-build projects and sub-divisions. I'm also a licensed civil and structural engineer with extensive experience in civil and structural design and home construction. My hope is that I can share my experience in the home construction, home improvement and home renovation profession with other builders and home owners. I'm also the Editor-in-Chief and Founder of Tool Box Buzz. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, suggestions or you'd like to inquire about advertising on this site.

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View Comments

candace says:
February 24, 2008 at 2:19 pm
This is a great way to capture usable space in your home. But you might want to check the Feng Shui of angled and low ceiling before you decided what to do with that space. Check out
http://www.ArtOfPlacement.com
for Free Tips on Feng Shui.