Unlock the hidden potential in your attic.
While many an attic languishes, stuffed to overflowing with old chests, stacks of boxes and the dust of many years, each offers tremendous hidden value. Expanding an attic to offer a semiprivate room for a teen or college student, complete with closet space underneath the eaves, is a fairly simple task. While technically the closet isn't actually underneath the eaves, as the eaves are the portion of the roof hanging past the house itself, you can build it nestled against the slanting outer wall. A largely unlivable area due to the angle involved, it offers adequate storage space for a closet. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Measure the area where you wish to build the closet. If you plan to run the closet along the entire length of a wall, find the distance the front closet wall will cover only. Otherwise, determine the closet length as well as the depth. Ensure that any side walls run beneath a ceiling joist and that the front wall aligns with studs in any adjacent walls to provide stability.
2. Mark the depth of the closet on adjoining walls as well as on the floor, taking measurements for each dimension at three different points. Notate the length of the closet on both the floor and the ceiling joist, or the point on the ceiling that is directly below the joist. Run straightedges across each set of marks and draw an outline of the closet completely.
3. Build one wall section for each closet wall needed. If the closet runs full length, build one wall only. If the closet will be in a corner, create a front and side wall. You can also create a closet in the middle of the room, in which case you need two identical side walls along with the front wall.
4. Find the height, from floor to ceiling, at the font wall guide mark. Subtract 3 inches to determine the height of the studs -- the boards that form the inner wall. Taking 3 inches away from the total compensates for the thickness of the plates that sandwich the studs.
5. Divide the length of the front wall by 16 and add 2 to find the number of studs needed. Hold one 2-by-4-inch board for each stud you calculated up against the ceiling, with the wide face running depth-wise. Lay another 2-by-4 flat against the ceiling, allowing it to overlap the end of the vertical 2-by-4. The horizontal board will cross the vertical board at an angle. Trace a pencil along this intersection to create a template of the angle needed for the wall to fit the ceiling properly.
6. Cut each stud to the stud height calculated, measuring from the angle-marked end down to determine where to cut. This preserves the angled end, which must also be cut to complete the stud. Measure and cut two additional 2-by-4-inch boards to form the top and bottom plates respectively.
7. Mark the plates every 16 inches to show the placement of the studs. Leave a gap for the closet door, if installed in the front wall. Allow for the rough frame opening of the door plus an additional 3 inches for additional door framing.
8. Line a stud up with each mark on the first plate, beginning with a stud flush with the end of the plate and ending similarly. Nail through this bottom plate into each stud end with two nails. Repeat with the opposite -- top -- plate, allowing the angled ends of the studs to dictate the angle of the attached plate.
9. Cut 6-inch-long blocks. The exact number needed depends on the height of your front wall; figure approximately one block for every 2 feet of height with a minimum of three blocks per end of the front wall.
10. Insert the two additional studs previously cut beside the first and last stud, leaving just enough space to insert the 6-inch blocks. Nail through the plates into the stud ends, and drive additional nails through the first stud into the blocks. The blocking and double studs creates strong, stable corners.
11. Measure and cut a 2-by-4 to span the distance between the studs that frame the closet door. Nail the board at the height needed according to the door manufacturer's rough framing height requirements. Toenail the board -- drive the nails in at an angle, through the board into the studs -- to attach. This creates a header for the door.
12. Insert small blocks, measuring from the door header to the top plate, and nail through the plate and header to attach. Cut two additional 2-by-4-inch boards to the height between the header and bottom plate. Wedge them into place and nail. These boards help support the header and thus the door weight.
13. Erect the wall, lining it up with the guide marks you previously made. Hold a level along the wall to ensure it is plumb, straight up and down, before nailing it into place. Drive nails through the bottom plate into the floor as well as through the top plate into the ceiling joists. Toenail through the ends into side walls. Cut and remove the bottom plate in the door opening.
14. Build side walls, if needed, similarly. Mark the ceiling every 16 inches along the depth of the wall. Measure the floor-to-ceiling height at each mark. Create the angled studs needed by holding a 2-by-4 board up to each 16-inch ceiling mark and allowing another board, running parallel with the ceiling, to overlap the board. Mark, cut and build like the front wall. When complete, each stud will drop lower than the previous, like a ramp, and will fit the ceiling angle perfectly. Erect and nail them to the back attic wall, floor and ceiling as well as to the front wall previously built.
15. Insulate and sheath the wall as desired. Hang the door according to the manufacturer's instructions and trim the wall to complete the frame construction. Finish the inside of the closet as desired. Shelves, clothes rods and other accessories make the closet useful.
Tags: front wall, bottom plate, each stud, side walls, floor ceiling, plate into, 2-by-4-inch boards
