How To Shore Up The Attic Floor Under A Heater

In the case of 2x6 joists you can pair them up with additional 2x6 joists by nailing them together side by side.

How to shore up the attic floor under a heater.

Bringing down your water heater from the attic should not be difficult. Nailing two 2x4s together will work to span about three joists unless the sag is under a weight bearing wall. Your attic can easily reach temperatures of 120 140 degrees which is optimum for keeping the water in your tank sufficiently hot without using any energy. There s usually nothing up in an attic aside from some stored items so a furnace won t take up useful space.

So why put an hvac system up in the attic at all. Walk to one end of the attic by carefully stepping only on the wooden ceiling joists. Set a hydraulic jack and post under the beam and jack up the joists about 1 8 in. If the wall will have a doorway place a double 2 6 header above the door s rough opening.

A day until they re level. You ll also free up a closet. Now a secondary line of reasoning for placing a water heater in the attic is the high temperatures that occur in an attic particularly during the summer months. An outdoor unit which houses the fan condenser and compressor and an indoor unit which holds the evaporator and fan.

Place a 2 inch by 3 inch board directly on top of the joist nearest to the edge of the attic with its largest. If you re looking for a furnace that makes less noise the attic is a good spot for it. If the closet is next to one of the bathrooms as it often is this gives you a nice remodeling opportunity. Jacking them up too fast may cause cracks in the walls and floors overhead.

Tack a beam under the sagging joists. The floor above will be stiffest if you place the wall in the middle of the joists. Sistering is the process of adding a new joist next to each existing joist. Cut a piece of 2 by 6 or 2 by 8 lumber according to the width.

Nail the block in place with 16d. Attic hvac systems save space. Find out what you can safely do with your space and which attic flooring can be installed. If the attic joists are not adequate one way to strengthen the floor for live loads is to sister the old joists.

Well mainly it s a way to save space. If you build a wall to support joists be sure to place a stud directly and tightly under each joist. Place the lumber block between the two joists. Not all attics can support the weight of a living space.