Attics – they’re dark and dingy, but great for storage if you can gain the right access, especially in a garage attic! Several years ago, we wanted to beef up the insulation in our main attic to help make our home more energy efficient. The original insulation was near 40 years old and sitting below the ceiling joists in many spots. So we added some blown in insulation that brought us up to a R-49 rating.
The only downside to doing this is that we lost some precious storage space (especially since our house does not have a basement). The new insulation rests about 12″ above the ceiling joists, so there wasn’t a good way to lay down flooring for storage without sacrificing the efficiency gain from the new insulation.
Then one day while working in the garage, it dawned on me that there was a HUGE unused space right above me! Just one problem – there was no access to it besides a small opening in an adjacent mechanical room that was just barely big enough to poke my head through.
After a quick examination of the space, I was happy to discover some sturdy looking 2 x 10’s and a perpendicular support beam that seemed up to the challenge of accommodating some light storage.
Top Tip: If you have any doubts whether this would work in your own garage, contact a structural engineer.
So I decided to take on my biggest DIY project up to that point and reconfigure the structure so that attic stairs could be installed in the main garage area.
Top Tip: If this is a project you are considering undertaking, keep in mind that you’ll need to hoist up the sheets of plywood flooring AFTER creating your rough opening and BEFORE you install the attic stairs.
The additional storage is great, but the best part is that our master bedroom closet backs up to the side of the garage attic. You know what that means?! Yup, a “secret entry” door could be be installed to allow for convenient access to the attic storage from inside the house! My vision was to add some shelves to the door to make it appear more “secretive”, but you know how these projects go…you get 95% done and then it’s off to the next thing.
To be honest, I was pretty proud of how this all came together in the end, but I am embarrassed to admit that I let the big hole in our garage ceiling (from where I had to remove some drywall) remain for over 5 years!
Well, now that I need to upgrade the light in the garage (so I can get you guys better quality photos and videos), the time has finally come to patch this up.
Since I’m still in in drywall mode (ugh), there are no new projects to share this week, but I thought these old pics might provide some inspiration to seek out some unused storage space in your own home. For us, discovering this space was like finding gold! We’re constantly in and out of there for holiday decorations, storing kids clothing and all the other random stuff that a family accumulates. It’s also a pretty good hiding spot when December rolls around!
-Chris
