Attics Joists Creak And Pop

Joists carry the weight of the walls furniture and people on them.

Attics joists creak and pop.

If your attic already has insulation it is probably useless for your intended attic remodel. Sistering is the process of adding a new joist next to each existing joist. But live loads are a different matter. Stacking joists is not nearly as stable as sistering which braces the joists against twisting.

Even a little drill in the wrong place can cause the structure to weaken resulting in annoying bounce and sag you experience every time while crossing the weakened floor. Brendan foster from louisville roofing contractors is explaining why some attics creak and crack at night. In older home attics unsettling bangs are more likely to be the sounds of trusses joists rafters and sheathing expanding or contracting as the roof heats up or cools down. Joists in attics that were never intended for the installation of flooring or conversion to a living space are often 16 inches oc or 24 inches oc.

You can probably walk across the edge of a 2x6 joist but if you stack the joists two high and try to walk across your last name better be wallenda. At night attic can sometime make loud creaking and cracking sounds. Popping is a common way to describe a variety of noises that a house makes and the causes are varied. Often minimal live load requirements are four times that of dead loads.

Metal roofs are major offenders but shingled roofs also can be quite noisy. It can ofter sound as. All attics joists can carry a minimal dead load weight i e 10 pounds per square foot. In the case of 2x6 joists you can pair them up with additional 2x6 joists by nailing them together side by side.

When a load is applied to a joist it creates a tension in the wood along the top edge. If the attic joists are not adequate one way to strengthen the floor for live loads is to sister the old joists. Think of it like this. Further the carpenter may need to add nails or reset them shim shore add joists or rafters rebrace etc any or all of these methods might indeed pull it off and get rid of the unwanted noise.