Is It Safe To Walk In Attic

More attic work and safety.

Is it safe to walk in attic. This entry was posted in safety and tagged falling through an attic how do i walk through an attic. As a home inspector i walk in attics every day. The safest way to move around an unfinished attic is to create a catwalk or walking platform by attaching some 1x6 or 1x8 boards or strips of 3 4 plywood to the joists with screws don t use nails because the hammering might disturb the drywall or plaster ceiling below. Then smoothly get across or to a point where you can re establish a safe posture grab your light or whatever and continue on.

Before you set foot in your attic determine if it has its own floor. First let s be sure not to fall into the room below. Robert from winnipeg manitoba asks about the safety of walking around in his attic. It s not without risks but is also not all that hard.

You can either walk on the 2x4s laid at the truss points on either side or you can walk right down the middle where you ve got more clearance as long as you re stepping on the bottom chord of the truss. Some attics are very easy to traverse others are like a gym workout try doing a squat and walk 50 feet then turn around and walk back. It might look like the attic has a floor but unless it s made from wood floor boards and supported by floor joists that floor is really just the top of the ceiling of the rooms below. An unfinished attic is a hotspot for accidents.

So the assumption that you can in fact go into it may be an erroneous assumption. You must realize this is the time when you re most vulnerable to a mishap. If the roof is built with trusses they are usually 24 apart. Knowing how to walk around what to check for and how to maintain it is key to staying safe while you re working up there.

But jobs such as electrical work insulation removal and pest control even the most experienced diyer should leave to the professionals. Attic spaces are constructed to hold the weight of a couple of guys doing work in there in addition to the weight of the ceiling finishes insulation etc. If the inspector answers yes the attic is safe for a non professional to go in a professional knows how and where to walk in it to check for roof leaks an. It is held in place by the ceiling joists which inside the attic become the floor joists.

It is to keep the heat of the sun beating on your roof from overly heating your house. If you were to remove all the insulation you would see the drywall or plaster of the ceiling below nothing more.