Attic Remodeling & Conversion | Maryland (MD), Washington, DC …

Quickly outgrowing your home and need more space for a bedroom or a home office? Often, your home may be hiding the perfect space to carve out new rooms. Take your attic, for example. Many homes have sufficient ceiling height, a proper stairway and conventional roof rafters. This means converting the attic into a livable room is not only a great way to expand space, but may be possible at a reasonable remodeling cost, depending on a the final design.

As a basic rule of thumb for attic remodeling, features that minimize remodeling costs include:

These three features will allow you to remodel your attic in a cost-effective way. Insulation, drywall, electrical outlets, lighting, carpet and paint, along with a simple heating and cooling system are all you need to make your attic livable. Space reconfiguration like an attic conversion can be extremely beneficial and more economical than building an addition!

No matter the type of attic conversion, it's a smart way to add usable space to your home. Here are some other important points to consider when thinking about converting that dingy attic space into a beautiful bedroom or functional home office.

A New Stairway in the Chippendale Style Adds Architectural Interest to this Attic Conversion

If your home does not have a proper stair to the attic, you'll need to install one. This is a complicated process both in terms of structural floor framing and the use of space. The most efficient way to install a staircase is to place the new stair over the top of the existing stair. If placing the stair over the top of the existing stair does not fit in your home, find a location that minimizes the amount of space it takes from existing rooms. A typical house requires about ten linear feet of space for a stair. Stair dimensions are critically important so be sure to have your architect figure out the floor-to-floor dimensions along with proper risers and treads so it's safe and meets code. Avoid pie shaped treads (winders) whenever possible because they may not meet local building codes.

As for ceiling height, make sure yours meets the legal minimum; this prevents problems with current building codes and bumping your head! Also install proper handrails at the new stair and at the new stairwell opening your design-build team should specify guard rails as per code. You want your new living space to be not only aesthetically pleasing but safe and fully functional as well.

Shed dormers are a great way to increase the usable floor area of an existing attic and potentially add ceiling height. Shed dormers are typically built at the rear side of a home with a gable or hip roof so as not to harm the curb appeal of the home's faade. Shed dormers can be any width but are typically constructed the full length of the house from side to side to maximize usable space. Occasionally a small shed dormer (6 feet wide or so) will be built to accommodate head room at the top of a stair or an attic bathroom. Shed dormers are typically sloped down toward the back wall of the house, but the shed roof could be pitched up toward the window wall to achieve greater head room within the dormer.

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Attic Remodeling & Conversion | Maryland (MD), Washington, DC ...