The higher the knee wall the greater the amount of useful wall space you create in your finished attic.
Building a knee wall in attic.
A knee wall is a short vertical wall roughly two or three feet high that blocks in that useless triangular space.
Knee walls provide the perfect way to turn an old abandoned attic into a useful extra room that can serve as a bedroom office or other living space.
Bonus rooms are often the least comfortable room in a house and the main reason is that they are the most flawed part of the building envelope especially the attic kneewalls.
In most instances they are no taller than 3 feet but some builders may custom fit them according to the roof s shape and size.
Step 9 insert dresser photo by.
Step 8 install supports photo by geoffrey gross.
Also be sure to remove any insulation.
Build the supports out of 2x4s making sure they re flush with the sill of the cutout.
Support and follow me.
In part 1 of this guide you will learn how to measure the roof and rafters to find the correct location for the walls cut off the plates for the walls and create studs to fit those walls.
However some types of walls such as pony walls that rest on a building s foundation or an attic knee wall cannot be properly referred to by both names.
Knee walls the walls that separate conditioned from unconditioned space in an attic can be a source of significant air leakage if a continuous air barrier is not provided to prevent unconditioned air from flowing under the knee wall and under the floor boards of the attic room.
Screw two support braces to the attic floor right behind the knee wall.
Yesterday i was doing a home energy rating for quality assurance in augusta georgia and the house i was in had a bonus room.
Framing basics for attic knee walls along the sides of your loft or attic space.
Use a hammer to remove any knee wall studs from the opening.
But you do so at the expense of floor space.
You can see the image below for an example of a knee wall.
In the photo at left the kneewall is the short wall with the door in it.
Doing this is just one step in finishing off an attic to make it a useful space and it helps to insulate your attic space against air infiltration from the outside.
Knee walls are short usually wooden walls installed around the sides of an attic where the rafters meet the floor.