Hello All,
I have a home that was built in 1961. It has an attached two car garage with an unfinished ceiling and attic space. The former owner had laid some old mismatched pieces of plywood over the ceiling joists for storage. I would like to finish off the ceiling with sheetrock and put down a subfloor on top of the joists for storage that would be accessed through a pull down attic ladder.
The garage is 20' wide and 26' deep on the left side of garage and 21' deep on the right as the entry way to the house is on the the back side of the right half of the garage.
The ceiling joists are 2x6's, 32" o.c. and run 21' from the front wall to the back wall on the right side and 21' from the front wall to a doubled up 2x4's extending from the back wall on the right side of garage over to the left side wall of garage. The additional area in the back left side of garage has no ceiling joists and is open up to the rafters.
The rafters are 2x6's, 16" o.c. and the ceiling joists are tied to them in the center of the garage roof line (13' from the front of garage) by 2x4's.
I have walked on these (I am 250 lbs.) and they seem pretty sturdy other than a bit of side to side wobble since there is no blocking between the joists.
I know that the joist spacing of 32" o.c. is not sufficient to properly support 5/8 rock and was planning on adding 2x6 every 16" o.c. for this.
However, with such a long span will 2x6's every 16" o.c. be strong enough to put down 1/2" or 3/4" plywood sheets for storage safely? Would not necessarily be storing anything real heavy but would need to walk around the garage attic space to access stored items.
Additionally, is the doubled up 2x4's strong enough to support the ends of the joists for the 7 foot section on the left side of garage?
Please refer to pictures for details.
I have a home that was built in 1961. It has an attached two car garage with an unfinished ceiling and attic space. The former owner had laid some old mismatched pieces of plywood over the ceiling joists for storage. I would like to finish off the ceiling with sheetrock and put down a subfloor on top of the joists for storage that would be accessed through a pull down attic ladder.
The garage is 20' wide and 26' deep on the left side of garage and 21' deep on the right as the entry way to the house is on the the back side of the right half of the garage.
The ceiling joists are 2x6's, 32" o.c. and run 21' from the front wall to the back wall on the right side and 21' from the front wall to a doubled up 2x4's extending from the back wall on the right side of garage over to the left side wall of garage. The additional area in the back left side of garage has no ceiling joists and is open up to the rafters.
The rafters are 2x6's, 16" o.c. and the ceiling joists are tied to them in the center of the garage roof line (13' from the front of garage) by 2x4's.
I have walked on these (I am 250 lbs.) and they seem pretty sturdy other than a bit of side to side wobble since there is no blocking between the joists.
I know that the joist spacing of 32" o.c. is not sufficient to properly support 5/8 rock and was planning on adding 2x6 every 16" o.c. for this.
However, with such a long span will 2x6's every 16" o.c. be strong enough to put down 1/2" or 3/4" plywood sheets for storage safely? Would not necessarily be storing anything real heavy but would need to walk around the garage attic space to access stored items.
Additionally, is the doubled up 2x4's strong enough to support the ends of the joists for the 7 foot section on the left side of garage?
Please refer to pictures for details.