Use the attic in the new city villa

Hello,

we are currently planning the construction of a 170sqm town villa with a hip roof and a roof pitch of 30°. Is it at all possible to use the attic because of the roof structure? We would only use it for storage (boxes, furniture, etc.). But if there is a beam every approx. 1m, is that actually possible? The attic, of course, still has insulation, which still needs to be covered with panels...

Best regards
Jan

Not really - why do you even want to insulate the attic & also clad it? You won't even be able to stand there.

We have a 35° pitched roof and there is not even 1.50m of standing height to the ridge... it is insulated with Pavatex boards, but no rafter insulation or integration into the airtight envelope. You can really save yourself that.

We covered about 30m² with tongue and groove boards in our 125m² city villa. However, you can only stand fully on about 16m², but you can easily push the boxes under the sloping roof. On two sides, we installed half-height Ikea shelves. If you want to store furniture, the stairs are likely to be the problem. With your 170m², the usable area should be by far larger.
If you need more space, you should not choose a truss roof construction.

Regarding laying out the attic. If you have a cold roof, you should keep in mind that OSB boards act as a vapor barrier. Therefore, it is better to use tongue and groove boards or ventilate the OSB boards accordingly.

Or ESB boards

We covered about 30m² of our 125m² city villa with tongue and groove boards. However, you can only stand fully on about 16m², but you can easily push the boxes under the sloping roof. On 2 sides, we also installed half-height Ikea shelves. If you want to store furniture, the staircase is likely to be more of a problem. With your 170m², the usable space should be much larger by far. If you need more space, you should not choose a truss roof construction.

Regarding laying out the attic: If you have a cold roof, you should note that OSB boards act as a vapor barrier. Therefore, you should rather use tongue and groove boards or ventilate the OSB boards accordingly.

Aha, that’s already something. So it’s not out of the question to use the attic in a city villa... Currently, we also use our attic through an attic hatch – for a few bulky things that works. But comfortable is definitely something else.

What is an alternative to the truss roof construction?

Aha, that’s something already. So it is not excluded to use the attic in a city villa...

It is definitely not excluded. At the beginning, I only assumed 16m² and was ultimately even surprised how much space I created up there. If you want to store heavy things up there, you should mention that during planning.

Currently, we also use our attic through an attic hatch – for a few bulky things that works already. But comfortable is definitely something else.

Take a look at a pull-down attic ladder in real life. You already have problems bringing up large boxes, because either the stairs, spring tensioners, or your own hands are in the way. I’m not even talking about whole wardrobes. I don’t know if there are different sizes for the hatch to make that more comfortable. For long items, the roof can also be in the way again.

What is an alternative to the truss roof structure?

According to Google, I would say a collar beam roof. But I have no idea.