Living space from the attic of an old house. We are making a living room in the attic. Insulation with bulk materials: expanded clay

If there is an attic in the house and there is enough space there to arrange a room, then it is important to take the issue seriously so that the room becomes suitable for living by any person. In order for everything to work out, it is important to follow certain rules repair and arrangement of this premises. Interesting view the room can acquire thanks to interesting stylistic and design ideas in the interior.

Peculiarities

Any private house whose roof is not flat has a space that can serve as a second floor if desired. Often people don’t think about the attic space until it’s done. major renovation the whole house. Often after this there is a feeling of limited space, and the residents of such a house want to expand the scope of their home, remembering the room above their heads.

In order to turn a non-residential space into a room suitable for living by any person, you need to take into account many aspects, without which the renovation will be incomplete and problems will remind you from time to time.

The first thing that is important to pay attention to is the purpose of the space. Most often, a bedroom, dressing room, living room or children's room is organized in the attic, and very rarely a shower and toilet.

Once the choice has been made, you can move on to planning the size of the space.

It is worth initially remembering that there is no electricity or heating in the attic, so these issues need to be addressed first. As soon as the frame of the future room is completed, the wiring is placed in it, locations for sockets and switches are determined, and the type of heating for the entire living space is thought out. Only upon completion of this work can the body be sheathed with plasterboard and work can continue until it is completely completed.

Subtleties of arrangement

In order to make real mansions out of a lifeless space that will be pleasant to be in, you need to put in a lot of effort, and most importantly, finances. An important step will be deciding what exactly will be located on the second floor of the house. Determining the purpose of the room will help you select all subsequent elements.

If you plan to place a children's or adult bedroom on top, then it is important to take care of good lighting of the room. Can be used for living room or hall different variants design.

The interior of any room will be created according to the conditions that the space has or its modified configurations.

Finishing of any room is carried out only after everything has been done preparatory activities. If there is not a single window in the attic initially, you need to start installing them. If there is no entrance from the first floor to the second comfortable stairs, this point also deserves special attention.

Accounting for all aspects during repair work and is called planning. It helps to do everything quickly, accurately and correctly, so that all the moments for the implementation of the main task are completed.

Insulation

In order to enjoy living in a new room, it is important to insulate it. Staying on the second floor will be comfortable provided that not only the ceiling and walls, but also the floor are insulated. It is complex work that will help achieve the desired result.

The options for the material from which the insulation layer can be created can be as follows:

Mineral wool – for such work, a basalt version is used. It has low thermal conductivity, is resistant to biological influences, does not rot, is not a flammable material and is inexpensive.

One of the disadvantages is the ability of such insulation to accumulate moisture. In this case, thermal insulation will be minimal.

Styrofoam The characteristics are very similar to the first option, but are not afraid of moisture.

Despite all its advantages, it has a number of important disadvantages - it is flammable, and when heated to a certain temperature, it begins to release harmful and toxic substances.

Peonoliurethane– most modern version insulation. Is different best performance thermal conductivity compared to all of the above. In accordance with this, it can be laid in a much thinner layer.

The disadvantages include the expensive cost of the material itself and the need to call workers for installation, because in this case special equipment is needed.

Insulation work is also carried out in a certain order. The first to be processed is the floor, on which the vapor barrier film is initially laid. After this, the thermal insulation material that was chosen for the work is laid. Cotton wool or polystyrene foam should be cut into pieces that will slightly exceed the distance between the beams where it will be laid. This is important for complete floor coverage and the absence of hollow spots. The material fits completely into the compartments designed for it.

Only after this work can another waterproofing layer be laid, and then the surface covered with finishing material.

Once this work is completed, you can begin sloping the roof. Here the installation goes into reverse order– first comes the insulation, which is cut into certain pieces, and then vapor barrier material. Next, the sheathing for the ventilation shutter is installed, onto which the finishing materials are mounted.

Once the insulation work has been completed, the organization of the space is ready to take new steps to transform it from a simple attic into a new room. What exactly it will be, a studio or a children's room, is decided by the owner himself, the main thing is that the non-residential premises have become partially suitable for people to stay there for a long time.

The second floor can be a real salvation for a large family, where parents crave relaxation and privacy at least sometimes.

Construction of partitions

For those who spend the whole summer at the dacha, or even live permanently, it would be important to have a strong and reliable house in which you can live and not worry about any aspects. For those who have decided to convert the attic into a room, in order to create coziness and comfort for themselves and their loved ones, they need to correctly plan the progress of the work and purchase necessary materials for this.

You can turn an ordinary attic into a luxurious space, where the whole family will enjoy spending time. A cozy living room will be able to gather all the household members for delicious tea with grandma’s pies, and beautiful bedroom will allow its inhabitant to get a complete, and most importantly, pleasant rest.

In the event that residents country house too much and everyone wants to have personal space, it makes sense to divide the attic room into several zones. The easiest way to do this is by erecting partitions. They can be partial and only visually separate one part of the attic from another, or they can be blind, have doors and completely separate one occupant of the room from another.

Partial partitions can be made of plasterboard, fiberglass, mobile, sliding or stationary. Everyone has the right to choose what they want to see in their space. An ordinary one can serve as a partition. bookshelf or a shelving unit, which, in addition to the function of delimiting space, will also serve as a place to store your favorite books.

If one common space is planned in the attic, then it is not necessary to zone it, and the presence of partitions is not at all necessary.

Choosing heating for the attic

In order to make it comfortable to live in a house with an attic at any time of the year, it is important to provide a heating system during renovation.

There may be several options for how to heat the second floor:

Building a real fireplace.

Use of heating electrical appliances.

Use an autonomous heating system on the second floor.

Connect the attic to a fixed heating system.

Choosing each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. A fireplace is chosen by those who want to add extra coziness and comfort to the room. Heating devices are convenient in cases where living in such a room will be infrequent. Using offline heating system will require large financial investments. But connecting to an existing heating system is the most logical option.

You don't need to do this complex work, you just need to run the pipe to the second floor and connect a battery or radiator to it. The size of the attic will dictate its dimensions in order to be able to heat every area of the room.

For country houses, where people live exclusively in the summer, no heating is required; it is better to think about a ventilation system to escape the summer heat.

How to make windows?

Once the decision has been made to convert the attic into a room, the first thing you need to pay attention to is the lack of daylight. Thanks to the presence of optimally sized windows, every home has enough light and comfort during the daytime. The attic often has no windows at all, so this situation needs to be changed.

Depending on the type of attic construction, the location for future windows will be determined. If the first floor is separated from the second only by the roof, then the window openings will have to be designed directly in it. If the second floor is high enough brick walls with an almost flat roof, then windows can be made in the wall.

Walls are a little easier to work with. You need to cut a hole of a suitable shape and install it in it. window frame. After completing the work, it is important to work as much as possible on the seams between the window and the wall so that the room does not lose heat. If the window opening is on the roof, you will have to remove part of the slate or tiles and make an opening the right size. An additional frame is created in this opening, which will serve as a reinforcement of the structure. Only after this can the window itself be installed, and as soon as the work is completed, the remains of the ceiling covering are returned to its place.

Finishing work

When all the main work in the attic has been completed and it has acquired the appearance of a living space, you can safely rename it an attic. It is this room that needs to be completed so that it can begin to be used. In order to equip the room, you need to carry out finishing work.

For this you can use a variety of materials:

Lining;

Plywood;

Plastic;

Drywall.

For lovers natural wood lining is most suitable; for those who do not have any special stylistic boundaries, plywood is also quite suitable, which can be beautifully covered with wallpaper.

Plastic is used in finishing certain areas, for creating partitions, niches and other functional structures with interesting appearance. From plasterboard you can create a room of any style and interior, the boundaries of which are chosen by the owner himself and the room is adjusted to his own taste.

Using plasterboard, you can also make partitions that will fit well into the attic. You can build any structure from it that will complement the interior and have a certain functional load. Once everything is installed, the surface is leveled, puttied and then either painted or covered with wallpaper.

There is no need to perform such actions with the lining; if desired, it can only be tinted with lighter paint. This is especially important in small room, because white color will visually expand the space, and dark color will reduce it. It is worth choosing furniture of the same color for the natural color of the lining, and for painted furniture best choice there will be pure white furniture.

Floor finishing will be carried out depending on the coating. If carpet is laid on the floor, then it is necessary to lay a layer protective coating on the floor and lay a carpet on top. It is fixed in the corners with nails, and covered with a plinth on top. If the floors in the attic are tiled, then you need to level the surface, wait until everything dries, and then work with the tiles themselves. A special solution is applied to it and laid on the floor, after which the evenness of the masonry is checked with a level.

If you decide to lay laminate on the floor, you need to choose a suitable color, calculate the required amount of material and purchase a backing on which it is laid. Working with laminate is simple and quick, and the floor will be ready within a day. You will need to install more skirting boards along the edges of the room.

Making a staircase

Having an attic in country house and if you want to convert it into an attic, you need to make sure that you can easily and comfortably get there, for which a ladder is simply necessary.

There are several options for the material from which it can be made, primarily wood and metal. Wooden staircase you can do it yourself, and the abundance of design options will allow you to choose exactly what suits a specific room. Metal staircase will be a rather unpleasant, cold version of the climb to the top.

When planning this element of the interior, it is important to take into account the fact who exactly will be climbing, and based on this, adjust the size of the steps, the height of the handrails and the sharpness of the turns, if any.

In order for the attic to be an autonomous room, its boundaries must be delineated by a door. When building a staircase, you need to position it so that it leads to a small corridor with a door, opening which you can get to the second floor, into a room that was once an attic.

How to delimit space?

Housing under a roof implies certain changes in the arrangement of the room. If the attic allows you to accommodate several rooms, then you can fit several rooms into its frame at once, such as a bedroom, living room, or children's room. The number of rooms will depend on the size of the living space that actually exists in the attic.

Convenient arrangement of each zone involves separating it from the previous one. In a private home, this can be achieved by dividing it with furniture or using color schemes, but partitions can also be erected. The bedroom area can be separated from the rest by a wardrobe, the children's area can be divided bunk bed, put a large sofa in the living room. The easiest way to divide a room is with color. different shades painting the space of each zone. Partitions can be made of plasterboard, plastic, or simple material dividing rooms with ordinary curtains.

Whatever option is chosen, the main thing is that it matches the style of the room, is comfortable and can be easily removed if desired or necessary.

Design and decor options

A room that was organized in the attic can have any design; there are no specific trends or decor options for it; each owner chooses it based on his preferences and the purpose of the room. It is better to design a bedroom in light colors, while the walls can be painted white or pasted over light wallpaper with a floral print, these options can also be combined.

It is better to decorate a room adapted as a living room different colors , highlighting work area and shading it, and leaving the rest of the space light. Attic window can be decorated using automatic roller shutters, which will rise and fall by pressing a button on the remote control.

You can install the same system for opening a window if it is located high and you cannot reach it by standing on the floor.

Furniture should be selected for the appropriate room and the style that was chosen for it. For renovation in high-tech style, it is better to buy futuristic furniture with rounded shapes, for rustic style It’s better to take massive cabinets, chests, a bed, the nursery should be decorated with bright, environmentally friendly interior items.

It is important to create a beautiful and holistic space in which you want to live.

When transforming an attic, it is important to think through all the materials that will be used. To finish the ceiling, it is best to take plasterboard; it is light and reliable, and it will look good on the walls. It is important to take care of heating the room. A large attic needs radiators, but for a small attic you can make a warm floor, this will be enough.

When choosing an attic design, you can choose any style and direction, but it’s still better to stick to the direction that is already on the first floor country house, and continue it in a new, more improved direction. When making serious repairs in a country house, you need to get rid of everything old and unnecessary, because it will spoil the impression of finished look premises.

Beautiful examples in the interior

To create your own unique design attic, you need to take advantage of the experience of other people, then the result will exceed all expectations.

When planning the living room in the form of something unusual, you can make the ceiling round in shape, while making it airy by filling the slats not next to each other, but at a certain distance. The design of the room itself is very laconic, the color scheme of the wood is diluted color accents in textiles. The living room area is easily separated from the adjacent room using a light partition made of boards.

Light lovers and those who have a beautiful view from the attic can replace part of the walls with windows and be able to enjoy sunrise, sunset and not turn on the lights for most of the day. If there are houses nearby, it is advisable to consider a system of roller shutters or curtains in order to be able to have privacy. The filling of furniture in these conditions should be minimal, because all attention is paid to the landscape outside the window.

A warm attic is not only a place to store equipment, but also reduces heat loss in the house by 20%! Insulating the attic in a private house with your own hands will allow you to save significantly, especially since the whole process does not require special construction skills.

Warm and wet air from the lower floors of the house, according to the laws of thermodynamics, it rises upward. Proper insulation of the attic will determine whether all the heat goes outside or stays in the house. Hydro- and vapor barrier films will help solve the problem with excess moisture.

First of all, you should decide on the further use of the attic. If you plan to make it heated, there is no need to insulate the attic partition, nor do you need to organize a vapor barrier on the side of the lower floors. In this case, only the roof needs to be insulated.

The roofing pie from the inside out will look like this:

vapor barrier - a vapor-proof film for rooms with forced ventilation or a vapor barrier membrane with minimal vapor permeability to remove excess steam from the room;
insulation - can be anything, but with vapor permeability higher than vapor barrier;
waterproofing - a simple waterproof film for non-hygroscopic insulation or windproof film with one-sided vapor permeability for insulation that accumulates moisture.

If the attic is non-residential, the attic floor itself must be insulated. To reduce humidity levels in your home, avoid using impervious films and insulation, allowing moisture to evaporate through the attic. And so that moisture does not spoil the rafters by condensing on inside, you need to choose anti-condensation waterproofing for metal roofs and ensure that the cold attic is well ventilated.

Private construction is increasingly characterized by the use of mineral wool rolls or basalt slabs. All thanks to:

simple installation - thanks to different densities, mineral wool can be wrapped around pipes, rolled out on the floor or installed in a wall frame;
high vapor permeability - steam-saturated air calmly passes through the mineral insulation without lingering in it and providing natural ventilation to the house;
good sound insulation - dense basalt slabs perfectly muffle sounds;
accessibility - you can purchase mineral wool at any hardware store, and the variability of shapes and sizes will allow you to choose insulation for any need.

There are also disadvantages - mineral wool loses its properties when wet, so one must not allow a dew point to occur in the insulation and ensure unhindered evaporation of moisture from the thickness of the slabs and mats.

Foam insulation is also quite popular, because it:

relatively inexpensive;
easy to install;
does not lose properties when wet;
has low thermal conductivity.

But due to the lack of vapor permeability, houses insulated with foam plastic have a greenhouse effect and must be equipped with forced ventilation. If condensation forms between the foam and the wooden elements, this leads to rapid rotting of the wood.

Sprayed insulation is convenient for quick and dense filling hard to reach places. Ecowool, made from cellulose, is vapor permeable and allows wooden structures breathe. It is convenient to use for insulating small attic spaces.

But ecowool is afraid of getting wet, and to use it you will need special blowing equipment.

Polyurethane foam is a strong and durable material that is not afraid of moisture, suitable for insulating large rooms. But, like any polymer insulation, it does not allow steam and air to pass through, so it is not recommended for wooden houses. Thanks to the development of the construction industry, now the insulation of polyurethane foam does not require the use of special equipment, since cylinders have appeared that operate from construction pistol according to the principle of polyurethane foam.

Attic insulation technology

Depending on whether the attic will be habitable, the technology of its insulation also depends. For a warm attic, only the roof is insulated; for a cold attic, only the attic floor is insulated.

Insulation of a residential attic with mineral wool or polystyrene foam

If the house has already been built and you don’t want to dismantle the roof, you can do it from the inside:

After this, you can begin finishing the attic and begin to inhabit it!

Cold attic in wooden house can be insulated with a minimum of cost and effort using ordinary sawdust. This method will improve the microclimate in the house due to natural ventilation. For this it is important to ensure maximum vapor permeability attic floor:

you need to lay cardboard on the subfloor - just to prevent sawdust from falling through the cracks;
a layer of sawdust 15-20 cm thick is poured;
In no case should you cover the sawdust with waterproofing - they should be ventilated without hindrance;
the floor is laid with a small gap between the sawdust and the boards.

How to properly insulate reinforced concrete attic floors is described in detail in the video:

For comfortable stay In a private residential or country house, it is very important how warm and cozy it is.

Feeling of warmth, maintaining an acceptable comfortable temperature with minimal heating costs - important aspect living in a house.

When insulating the walls of a house, many people neglect insulating the attic.

Even if the attic is not residential, it is important to insulate the floor between the attic and the adjacent residential floor during the construction stage in order to reduce heat loss from residential premises.

But it is possible to insulate an already used building to improve its properties. Today we will talk about how to properly insulate the attic of a private house, the types of materials and methods of insulation.

Thermal insulation materials for attic insulation

How to insulate an attic? The following can be used as insulation: thermal insulation materials, which the construction market offers us in a wide range:

- mineral wool;
— polystyrene foam boards(Styrofoam);
— polyurethane foam (PPU);
— bulk materials (expanded clay, slag, sawdust).

Mineral wool – the most popular material in private housing construction, widely used everywhere. Mineral wool, depending on the material from which it is made, is divided into three types: glass wool, stone wool and slag wool.

Used for insulation interfloor ceilings, enclosing structures and roofing. Mineral wool is non-flammable material, with low thermal conductivity and high sound insulation properties, resistant to aggressive environments.

Perfect for insulating a cold attic, as the load on the floor between the attic and the ceiling of the living space is minimized. But the work must be done in protective clothing and a mask, since glass wool particles, when they get on the skin, cause itching and leave small cuts.

Expanded polystyrene boards are also a traditional insulation material. This is the most economical look insulation, which is produced in the form of slabs of foam granules. Rigid thermoplastic is 98% air and 2% polystyrene.

Expanded polystyrene boards almost do not absorb moisture and are resistant to fungus and rot; are light in weight and easy to process and install. The disadvantage is that polystyrene foam is flammable and, when burned, releases toxic substances harmful to human health.

Polyurethane foam (PPU) belongs to the group of gas-filled plastics. Rigid polyurethane foam is widely used in construction as insulation and sound insulation, due to its low thermal conductivity and vapor permeability.

Polyurethane foam can be produced directly on construction site, the spraying procedure is quite simple. There is a possibility of insulating surfaces complex shape, PPU is ideal for repairing old roofs and floors, but requires special equipment and skilled workers.

The simplest way to insulate the attic floor of a cold, unused attic is insulation bulk materials, for example, expanded clay .

Expanded clay is poured over a layer of roofing felt; the thickness of the expanded clay depends on the design of the floor and its thermal insulation properties, but, as a rule, it should be at least 15 cm. In this way, you can also insulate the attic in use; in this case, a 50 mm thick screed is made on top of the expanded clay or a flooring is installed from sheets of chipboard and other materials.

We carry out insulation of the attic with our own hands

If the height of the attic space does not allow you to eventually arrange a living or auxiliary space there, then it is enough to insulate only the ceiling. To do this, first of all, it is necessary to waterproof it, then lay the selected insulation between the floor beams, on top of which they overlap vapor barrier film.

The joints of the film are covered with adhesive tape or special glue. On reinforced concrete floor To lay mineral wool, it is necessary to make a lathing, the step of which is equal to the width insulating material(roll or slab), and the thickness of the bars is equal to the thickness of the insulation.

IN attic room In addition to the floor, it is necessary to insulate the roof from the inside. The work is carried out similarly to floor insulation.

Mineral wool insulation is laid between the rafters, a vapor barrier is installed on top, and then the sheathing is filled.

Moisture-resistant plasterboard is attached to the sheathing, fiberboard sheets or lining. Between the insulation and the finishing of the walls remains air gap.

If polystyrene foam or expanded polystyrene is used to insulate the roof, then an air gap is not required.

Before starting work, it is necessary to inspect all structures. Often, replacement of any wooden elements is required. Next, you need to treat the wooden elements with an antiseptic. Carry out installation work on hidden electrical wiring.

In an unused attic, ventilation vents must be provided. They are usually done on the gables of the roof. In the attic roof, vents are also installed for free air circulation under the cladding - in the ridge and overhangs.

Modern roll materials for insulation they are often produced with foil top layer, which serves as a vapor barrier. The slabs are laid in a foil layer inside the room and secured to each other with adhesive tape.

Insulation attic space not a luxury, but a necessity, since it will subsequently save energy costs and the costs will more than pay off.

Useful video

The desire to expand the living space in a private house often comes to mind for private developers. One of the most economical and simple ways– make the attic habitable. To realize this opportunity, it is necessary to correctly design and calculate all future structural elements, forming the attic space.

The main steps in creating a residential attic

Before you begin the direct actions associated with remodeling the attic space with your own hands, you need to draw up a plan. It should include all the main activities related to the arrangement of a residential attic.

The list of main stages includes the following components:

DIY attic floor

When converting an attic into a living space, it may turn out that the heat insulator located in the ceiling has become unusable and lost its thermal insulation properties. Reasons for loss performance qualities can be very different: from local leaks to poor ventilation of the attic and, as a result, wetting of the insulation from the condensation formed. Damp, rotting boards can also cause the entire floor to be refinished.

Remodeling the ceiling begins with installing additional sheathing between the floor beams. Most often, pine beams are used as lathing, which are secured perpendicular to the beams using metal corners or other in a convenient way. To prevent the penetration of condensate from the lower room, a layer of vapor barrier membrane is laid. Stone wool slabs are often used as insulation, which, depending on the required thickness, can be laid in two layers.

When laying heat insulation in two layers, the joints should not be located at the same level. The insulation is laid in a checkerboard pattern.

A second layer of vapor barrier is laid on top of the slabs. The membrane is secured using a construction stapler. The basis for the subfloor can be slabs made of tongue-and-groove moisture-resistant chipboard. They are tougher and stronger conventional slabs, and are also environmentally friendly. Thanks to the longitudinal projections and grooves, installing the slabs is easy and convenient, and the surface is perfectly flat. For the finished floor, laminate or linoleum is used.

Thermal insulation of the roof in the attic

Roof insulation is the most important stage. When doing thermal insulation with your own hands, you need to perform a thermal calculation to select the thickness of the heat insulator. Most often, ready-made tables and climate maps are used to select the thickness of insulation. For pitched roofs use basalt materials with a density of at least 35 kg/m3. This minimum density is necessary to retain the insulation when it is spread between the rafters.

The steeper the roof slopes, the denser the insulation you need to use.

A vapor barrier film is laid on the side of the room. On the roof side, it is better to put a superdiffusion membrane on the insulation, which allows moisture to pass through from the heat insulator.

Those who begin to build within the city limits or the nearest suburbs know firsthand that the price of land can reach several million. Because of this, it is much more profitable to expand the living space of the house upward, rather than horizontally.

The most economical yet functional way to expand usable area buildings - living room in the attic. This room can be used as an additional guest bedroom, nursery or office. At the same time, a well-equipped attic is not inferior in comfort to an ordinary living space. In this article we will figure out how to arrange cozy attic under the roof of the house.

In a private house, converting an attic into a room is quite simple if you approach this matter wisely. For the first time, the idea of using the under-roof space as a living space came to the French architect F. Mansart, after whom his invention began to be called.

Practical French began to build houses with attics everywhere, suitable for living in all seasons. In order for the room under the roof to be used comfortably, it must have the following characteristics:

High ceilings. For living and relaxing in the attic, the ceilings must be high enough. It is believed that for a person of average height to move comfortably, the distance between the ceiling and floor should be at least 2-2.2 meters. It is advisable to use the space in the lowest part for organizing storage areas.
Heating. The living space under the roof will need heating so that it can be used during cold weather.
Daylight. Required condition residential attic equipment – availability natural light, that is, windows in sufficient quantity to accommodate such an area. The type of windows in the attic can be any: they can be mounted directly inside the roof slope or on the gables.
Thermal insulation. When arranging a residential attic, the under-roof space is insulated. This insulation is installed directly between rafter legs frame. Heating efficiency, if insulation is not provided, is much less.
Ventilation. When insulating the attic space, you need to take care forced ventilation premises, which will not allow the insulation to become damp due to the formation of condensation, and also provides access fresh air. A smoke exhaust system is also usually installed.

Note! To equip a residential attic, you need to do attic roof. Moreover, its frame must be powerful enough to withstand the weight of insulation and other engineering structures.

Disadvantages of the technical solution

Before making a room in the attic of a house, you need to calculate that this event is usually associated with serious financial costs. The area of the attic roof is larger than that of a conventional roof, so its arrangement requires more roofing material and boards for mounting a wooden frame.

In addition, additional installation work on frame sheathing, wiring and ventilation will be required. In the process of arranging an attic roof, the following difficulties may arise:

Greater weight of the structure. Due to work related to thermal insulation and larger area the weight of the roof can be 1.5-2 times higher than a regular one. Because of this, it is necessary to provide a stronger foundation and a massive frame.
High price. Due to the large roof area, the need for thermal insulation, installation of ventilation and the high cost of dormer windows, the arrangement of a residential attic is usually quite expensive.
Increased installation complexity. Arranging a room in the attic with your own hands is quite difficult. Therefore, most often installation work attract hired workers, whose services are quite expensive.

Note! To make a residential attic comfortable to use, you need good lighting and a staircase. It is more convenient to use a stationary ladder that is wide enough and stable. There are also railings at the full height of the stairs to ensure safety.

Advantages of the attic

A well-equipped attic is no less comfortable for permanent residence people than any other room. There you can arrange an additional bedroom, a living room, or use it for a children's room, there are many options. The advantages of a residential attic space are considered:

Low cost of 1 square meter of living space. If you calculate the costs of building an attic, then square meter living space costs 2 times less than when building an additional floor.
Saving free space on the site. By building an attic, you can save space on the construction site for a bathhouse, gazebo or setting up a small garden.
Aesthetics. At home with mansard roof it looks very interesting and elegant, acquires harmonious proportions, and stands out against the background of its more squat neighbors.
Great design possibilities. The design of a room in the attic can be so original and unusual that it will become the most favorite vacation spot for all household members.

Interestingly, in order for the attic to be convenient and comfortable, you need to choose in advance optimal angle roof slope, as well as choose a design rafter frame, which frees up attic space as much as possible. Usually a frame with side posts is used, located in places with minimum height ceiling.

Work order

Experienced roofers note that the main advantage of equipping a residential attic is that it can be equipped both in a finished house and only in a house under construction. Of course, in terms of ease of installation, it is better to plan the nature of the use of the attic space at the design stage.

This will allow you to choose the optimal clone and roof structure, and perform insulation with materials that will reliably protect you from the cold even in winter. Typically the work is performed in the following order:

First, standard external roofing work is carried out using scaffolding or high stairs. Moreover, if necessary, they immediately crash into the slope skylights. They must have a reinforced profile and strained glass, since in winter period an increased burden falls on them.
Then the attic is insulated. Typically, two-layer thermal insulation of roof slopes is performed. One layer of insulation is laid between the rafters of the frame; this work is more convenient to do from the inside. The second layer is laid directly on top of the rafters to avoid the formation of cold bridges. Recommended to use mineral insulation thickness of at least 150 mm. Some experts also advise insulating the ceilings and walls in such a room in the attic.
After this, the frame is sheathed. Racks are used as a frame rafter system. The drywall is fixed after installing the frame using special screws. It is better to use moisture-resistant reinforced drywall.
In places where the most low ceiling, it is better to equip storage areas, since walking there is inconvenient.
Next we proceed to finishing walls and floor. It is better to arrange the attic with the help natural materials, which allow air to pass through well.

Important! Professional roofers believe that insulation can be done from the inside or outside, depending on the stage of work. If thermal insulation is installed after completion roofing works, then there is only one way out - installation from the inside, otherwise you will have to remove the roof.

Room design

It's always good to have an attic that can be used as an additional bedroom, office, or children's room. If used when decorating an attic, use designer designs in the interior interesting ideas, you can turn this room into a comfortable, beautiful, living space.

When arranging a room under a roof, designers follow the following rules:

Better to use in the interior bright hues, natural shades. Rooms decorated in a single color scheme, including 2-3 colors close in tone, look more successful.
It is better to decorate the attic in fairly simple styles that do not imply strict symmetry or pomp. Colors and styles should be calm, natural, light.
In the interior it is necessary to use a minimum of furniture, only the most necessary, so as not to clutter up the free space.
All storage areas should be closed so that the room does not look overloaded with small parts.

When considering the design of the attic, keep in mind that everything depends on the right choice style and color scheme. You should try to keep as much free space and light in the room as possible to make it look spacious.