Greetings, comrades! A few years ago I moved from the Far East to the Crimea and instead of the usual apartment I settled in a private house. After a short time, the area of one residential floor was no longer enough, and instead of a cold attic, it was decided to attach an attic to the house. Today I will talk about how to build and finish a full-fledged residential floor at minimal cost.
As it was
If the device of an old house with an attic implies that its floor rests on the wooden beams of the ceiling of the first floor, then in my case the basis was a reinforced concrete slab floor measuring 6x12 meters, based on load-bearing walls made of Inkerman stone (local white limestone).
Otherwise, at the time construction began, the house looked like this:
- Roof - single-pitched slate, with a slope of approximately 1:10. The slope of the slope was oriented along the long wall of the house. On two sides, the roof was limited by two higher adjacent buildings adjacent directly to the walls;
- truss system - a welded structure made of a steel corner measuring 50x50 mm with a board crate laid on top of it;
- Floor insulation - bulk, approximately 100 mm of metallurgical slag.
There was no full-fledged entrance to the attic due to its low height (at the top of the roof - about 1.2 meters). In a word, everything above the floor of the first floor had to be completely demolished.
Project
It is customary to start building an attic with your own hands with the preparation of a project. The most obvious solution was to raise the pitched roof a couple of meters from its original position, but that was not the case:
- From the point of view of housing legislation, an insulated room with solid side walls automatically turned from a cold attic into a full-fledged residential floor and required registration - a long and expensive one;
- The second floor would completely cover the light windows in the wall of one of the adjoining houses.
That is why it was decided to build an attic with a gable roof. The ridge of the roof was oriented along the long side of the house.
A few project details.
- The roof was supposed to be broken. A broken mansard roof has an important advantage: with a minimum ridge height, it allows you to get the maximum attic area with an acceptable ceiling height;
- Gutters were needed to drain rainwater.. The roof slopes had to move away from the adjoining walls of neighboring houses. The vacated space was occupied by gutters made of galvanized steel sheet sealed with bituminous mastic;
- A profiled sheet was chosen for the role of the roofing. Yes, it noticeably makes noise in the rain, but it is not afraid of blows of slate plucked from neighboring roofs (strong winds are typical for Sevastopol in winter), it is lightweight and easy to install;
The lower the weight of the roof and truss structure, the lower the load on the walls and foundation, the less likely they are to deform and subside. This primarily applies to light screw and column foundations under log cabins and frame houses: in them, the attic creates a significant part of the total load.
- Gables of the attic room I decided to turn into panoramic windows. This decision had a beautiful view of the sea;
- The attic got its own entrance from the attached balcony. In a slab, you cannot simply cut an opening for an internal staircase: support columns must be placed under the slab with a cutout, which would significantly increase costs. How things are with the family budget after the move - I think it's clear without my explanations.
Construction
Staircase, balcony
They were built first.Frankly, I am not a welder, so hired workers were involved in the implementation of the project. This is what the spiral staircase and balcony consist of:
- supports: pipes with a diameter of 108 mm;
- beams: corner size 100x50 mm;
- lags: corner size 50x50 mm;
- Balcony decking: OSB 12 mm thick in 2-3 layers waterproofed with rubber paint;
- Tread steps: FC plywood, 12 mm thick, coated with rubber paint.
On the street, it is better to use bakelite, laminated plywood or, in extreme cases, more water resistant than FSF plywood. Unfortunately, at the time of my construction, none of these materials were available for sale.
Budget: 60,000 rubles in 2013 prices.
Roof
truss system
Cast Mauerlat (the beam on which the rafters rest) and all the elements of the truss system, I used a wooden beam with a section of 100x50 mm. How to make sure that the timber does not rot and does not become food for insects? Very simple: it must be impregnated with an antiseptic.
This can be done in two ways:
| Image | impregnation method |
 | brush. With a small amount of timber, the antiseptic is applied to all its edges with a wide soft brush. Impregnation is carried out in two stages without intermediate drying. |
 | garden sprayer. It moisturizes the wood more abundantly than a brush, so each edge of the timber can be treated with an antiseptic in one go. |
Mauerlat is fixed directly on the surface of the plates with anchor bolts. Another beam (bed) is laid under the break of the roof.Where the lower rafters are connected to the upper ones, racks are installed that perceive the vertical load.
Finally, under the ridge run, the rafters are tied together with crossbars - horizontal ties that exclude the roof from sinking under its own weight and snow load.
The connection of crossbars and rafter legs is carried out on bolts or studs with wide washers. Self-tapping screws do not have sufficient strength.
Roof
On the rafters are successively laid:
| Image | Roof element |
 | Waterproofing. The film was laid in horizontal stripes, from bottom to top along the slope, with an overlap of at least 10 cm. From above, the waterproofing material is pressed with slats, which provide a gap between it and the crate. |
 | crate. In her role, a 25 mm unedged board was used, laid perpendicular to the rafters. |
The profiled sheet was fastened to the surface of the mansard roof with self-tapping screws with rubber press washers, which ensured the tightness of the fastening. Sheet connection at the top, closed on the ridge skating profile, the ends of the overhangs are protected by a U-shaped profile. The filing of the end overhangs is made with the same profiled sheet, but in a different color.
drains
In addition to the galvanized gutters between the sloping mansard roof and the walls of adjoining houses, I had to install a couple more plastic gutters under the broken roof.
The fact is that in heavy rain, water flows from the upper slopes, due to their small angle of inclination to the horizon, flooded the walls of neighboring buildings. An intermediate gutter collects these flows and directs them to common drains.
Roof insulation
I made it two layers:
- The first layer closest to the roof - mineral wool 50 mm thick. It is good because it is not afraid of strong heat. On sunny summer days, the profiled sheet is heated in the sun, and the insulation that is less resistant to temperature may suffer;
- Second, inner layer - Styrofoam of the same thickness. It is cheaper than mineral wool and, most importantly, it keeps its shape well, which made it possible to insert sheets spaced between the rafters. The remaining gaps I foamed; from below, the insulation was hemmed with a vapor barrier film fixed to the rafters with a stapler.
Warming proved to be more than effective. In winter, only 4 kW of heat is enough to heat an attic with an area of 60 squares. In summer, the sun standing at its zenith does not cause any noticeable heating of the air in the attic: it only gets hot in it at sunset, when the sun's rays hit directly into the panoramic window.
Roof construction budget: 200,000 rubles in 2013 prices.
Glazing
The total area of two panoramic windows is 26 squares. How to choose the right windows of this size without making heat loss through them excessive? I would like to share my own experience with you:
- Profile: you can use any profile system that has proven itself in the Russian market. It is not necessary to chase products of eminent German brands (Rehau and KBE): they will not give you any real advantages.In the profile, only the rigidity of the metal mortgage and the number of insulated thermal chambers are important, and these parameters are in no way interconnected with the name of the manufacturer. I chose an inexpensive Chinese Hautek profile;
- accessories: Don't skimp here. The long and trouble-free service of windows depends to the greatest extent on the quality of fittings, and only four companies can make it truly reliable: Winkhaus, Maco, Siegenia-Aubi and Roto. I settled on Siegenia fittings;
- Double-glazed windows: the best choice for Crimea is single-chamber energy-saving glazing.
An energy-saving double-glazed window is called, one or two glasses in which have a metal coating that is impervious to thermal radiation. In this case, the light transmission is reduced by about 10%.
Such a double-glazed window reduces heat loss by 15-25% compared to a conventional double-glazed window, costs the same, and weighs one and a half times less. Less weight reduces the load on fittings and profiles, which means that the window lasts longer.
I was convinced of the effectiveness of energy-saving glazing in the very first winter. With a negative temperature outside and without any heat sources in the attic, the temperature did not fall below +10 - +12 ° С. The room was heated thanks to lighting through the windows and small heat leaks from the ground floor through the ceiling.
Energy-saving glasses protect much worse from heat than from cold.They transmit almost all visible light, which, when reflected from interior items, changes its spectral composition and can turn into infrared radiation. To protect against heat, a special light-protective glass is more suitable.
Budget: 60,000 rubles in 2013 prices.
Interior decoration
The construction of the attic was roughly completed in mid-2013, and I moved on to its interior decoration.
Ceiling
I used a budget solution - a plasterboard ceiling, hemmed to a galvanized profile crate. The UD ceiling guide profile was fastened with self-tapping screws to the window frames, the CD ceiling profile - to the rafters through direct hangers.
As a filing, not a ceiling, but a thicker and more durable wall plasterboard was used. The fact is that the ceiling at the side walls, repeating its shape as a sloping roof, drops to a height of 1.9 meters. At this height, the ceiling is easily damaged by an accidental impact, so excess strength will not hurt him.
After sealing the reinforced joints, grinding and priming, the ceiling was painted with latex interior water-dispersion paint.
Budget: 18,000 rubles (for 2013).
side walls
The basis of the walls is FC plywood 12 mm thick, hemmed to the posts under the break of the rafters. The fine finish is made of MDF wall panels, seated on a spot-applied sealant. Part of the space between the side walls and the roof is used for niches and cabinets; adjoining the ceiling is decorated with a foam baguette.
Budget: 20,000 rubles (for 2013).
Partitions, bathroom walls
The basis of the internal walls of the house on the attic floor is a frame made of a rack and guide profile 50 mm thick.
For greater rigidity of the frame, the racks were connected in pairs; plasterboard sheathing is made in one layer. The partitions are installed:
- door to the bathroom, made from MDF;
- Door between bedroom and office (metal-plastic, with a mirror double-glazed window);
- light window in the bathroom wall.
Partitions are painted with the same paint as the ceiling.
Budget: 25,000 rubles (for 2013).
Floor
In order not to increase the load on the ceiling, I refused to fill the leveling screed. The floor is laid on wooden logs. Material - OSB 15 mm thick.
The finished floor is laid like this:
- Substrate - foamed polyethylene 3 mm thick;
- Finish coating — laminate 31 class.
Budget: 35,000 rubles (for 2013).
Ventilation
It has been made compulsory.A duct fan with a diameter of 100 mm and a capacity of 105 cubic meters per hour is responsible for air exchange with the street. A few features of the ventilation of my attic:
- Material: ventilation is laid with a gray sewer pipe. It is noticeably cheaper than a special low-noise pipe for ventilation ducts;
- Conclusion: a ventilation duct with a deflector is brought out just above the level of the roof ridge through the top of the gable above the panoramic window;
- Attic air extraction: most of the air is taken from the bathroom through the grate in the ceiling. The smaller one is from the space between the plasterboard ceiling and the roof. Fresh air enters this space through grilles located along the perimeter of the ceiling near the windows; ventilation does not allow the rafters and insulation to become damp.
Budget: about 2000 rubles.
Power supply
All wiring is done in skirting boards with a cable channel. Sockets are installed directly above them. This wiring makes it possible at any time to connect an additional outlet in any desired place.
The cross section of copper wiring is calculated as 1 square millimeter per 10 amps of peak current (2.2 kW of power). For a socket with a maximum power consumption of 3.5 kW, a wire with a cross section of 1.5 mm 2 is needed.
To completely eliminate the heating of the wiring, I spread the sockets with a wire with a cross section of 2.5 square millimeters, and connected the most powerful consumer - a flowing water heater - with 4 millimeters of copper.
Budget: about 3000 rubles.
Plumbing
In the combined bathroom with an area of 5 squares, the necessary minimum equipment is located:
- Bath - acrylic corner, size 120x160 cm;
- Toilet with a lower tank Cersanit President - a simple, reliable and maintainable product made of easy-to-clean earthenware;
- Hydrant for washing hands, installed on the side of the bath;
- Flow water heater with shower head;
- Reserve tank volume of 100 liters. It fills automatically and provides the house with water during short-term shutdowns.
The sewerage was brought out of the attic through the bottom of the pediment and laid to the septic tank right along the facade: the warm climate of Crimea allows for open laying of communications. In case of rare frosts in Sevastopol, the pipe is equipped with a cable heating system.
Budget: 14,000 rubles at the prices of the beginning of 2014.
Air conditioning
Last but not least: heating.
For air conditioning in summer and for heating in winter, one device is responsible - an inverter air conditioner. With a performance of 12,000 BTU, it is capable of delivering up to 4.1 kW of heat.
Why was the air conditioner chosen as the heat source?
- It is 3-4 times more economical than any electric heater. Electricity is spent by the air conditioner only for the operation of the compressor and fans, while the air from the street becomes the source of thermal energy;
- It does not require the constant attention of the owner. Care is reduced only to cleaning the filter of the indoor unit and removing dust from the external heat exchanger every 3-6 months;
- It maintains the set temperature with an accuracy of 1-2 degrees;
- It provides even heat air: when the fan and dampers of the indoor unit are operating, it is mixed throughout the entire volume of the heated room;
- It is this inverter model (Cooper&Hunter CH-S12FTXN) continues to work for heating at outdoor temperatures down to -25 ° C. For the climate of the Crimea, this is enough with a margin.
Budget: 27,000 rubles in 2014 prices.
Conclusion
I hope that my experience will help the dear reader in his own construction and allow him to save on materials. As always, you can find more information in the video in this article. I look forward to your additions and comments to it. Good luck, comrades!
Did the article help you?