When it comes to whole home remodeling, the attic tends to be a neglected space. Commonly thought of as a “throw away space,” it tends to remain both unfinished and uninhabitable, even in newer homes. It rarely is considered for a renovation, unlike the bathroom, laundry room, or living room. And this makes sense because while the average family in the U.S. does 8–10 loads of laundry each week, they rarely store things in the attic.
Here’s how making your attic a usable space can be quite the benefit you shouldn’t neglect. Furthermore, having a usable attic can increase a home’s resale value down the line and be a boon for any homeowner. Far from being a “throw away space,” the attic should be an essential component of whole home remodeling.
Retrofit Your Attic into a Usable Space
Retrofitting your attic into a usable space might be one of the best decisions you can make. By calling the right contractors and being willing to designate the appropriate funds, any homeowner can make an attic into a spare bedroom, storage space, or activity room. Attics can totally go from “drab” to “fab” within a couple weeks of concerted effort that are well worth your time.
If you can install a window or lighting in your attic space, you’ll be well on your way toward making it an amazing space. Natural light is loved by almost all, but even compact fluorescent lights can make a formerly grim space into a usable room.
Turing an attic into a spare bedroom or activity room can also be as easy as finishing the insulation and installing some modern features. By making it into a room that has the ability to be climate controlled, or can hold and support a bed, dressers, and a mirror, you can turn a formerly unlivable space into a guest bedroom. If you’d rather have it as a game room or something else, you need only to install some electrical wiring or a pool table to have it turn into an amazing space. The choice truly is yours.
Climate Control Your Attic for Better Use
When you’re pursuing whole home renovations, but concentrating on an area such as the attic, it can be difficult to think about how all your rooms interact with each other. But a key aspect of whole home remodeling is knowing how the climate of your home can be affected by other parts, sometimes drastically. Since the attic is the top part of a home, it tends to collect the most heat (no matter what the season is). In winter, this can be a blessing, but in summer it can be a burden. Knowing how to counteract or limit this can actually be beneficial for your entire house.
By placing a climate control system in your attic, you may be able to route your home’s air in a fashion that lowers your heating/cooling bill while actually increasing airflow around your house. By talking to a home addition contractor and specifying how you want your attic to function, they may be able to build a plan that circulates hot air from your attic to cooler parts of your house while allowing the hot air to rise back up into the attic. In turn, you may have lower heating bills by simply taking the hot air from your attic and putting it in other areas of the house instead of having to create heat yourself.
Another bonus of climate-controlling your attic is that it will enable you to store sensitive items, such as photos and documents. You’ll need to get the specifics from whole home remodeling contractors, but there is usually an optimal temperature for an attic to maintain so that it functions as a long-term storage unit. Once you figure out what this is, you’ll be good to go and may no longer have to pay for a separate storage unit elsewhere. This may also increase the value of your house to future home buyers, knowing that you have a “functional attic.”
