Building A Knee Wall In Attic

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.

Building a knee wall in attic.

But you do so at the expense of floor space. 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. The higher the knee wall the greater the amount of useful wall space you create in your finished attic. Framing basics for attic knee walls along the sides of your loft or attic space.

Step 8 install supports photo by geoffrey gross. 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. A knee wall is a short vertical wall roughly two or three feet high that blocks in that useless triangular space. Use a hammer to remove any knee wall studs from the opening.

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. You can see the image below for an example of a 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. Screw two support braces to the attic floor right behind the knee wall.

In the photo at left the kneewall is the short wall with the door in it. The terms knee wall and pony wall are commonly used as if they were synonymous and both terms are often used to refer to the same types of wall structures. A knee wall is a quick way to enclose those acute triangular portions of your attic where the rafters meet the top plate of the wall. Step 9 insert dresser photo by.

Also be sure to remove any insulation. Knee walls are short usually wooden walls installed around the sides of an attic where the rafters meet the floor. Build the supports out of 2x4s making sure they re flush with the sill of the cutout. 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.

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.