Is It Safe To Walk In Attic

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.

Is it safe to walk in attic.

You must realize this is the time when you re most vulnerable to a mishap. 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. This entry was posted in safety and tagged falling through an attic how do i walk through an attic. Robert from winnipeg manitoba asks about the safety of walking around in his attic.

If you were to remove all the insulation you would see the drywall or plaster of the ceiling below nothing more. 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. 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.

It s not without risks but is also not all that hard. That ceiling is made from drywall or plaster which is not strong enough to hold your weight or any storage items or boxes. Is it safe to walk crawl in an attic. Then smoothly get across or to a point where you can re establish a safe posture grab your light or whatever and continue on.

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. First let s be sure not to fall into the room below. It is to keep the heat of the sun beating on your roof from overly heating your house. So the assumption that you can in fact go into it may be an erroneous assumption.

As a home inspector i walk in attics every day. More attic work and safety. 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. But jobs such as electrical work insulation removal and pest control even the most experienced diyer should leave to the professionals.

An unfinished attic is a hotspot for accidents. If the roof is built with trusses they are usually 24 apart.