Easy DIY Attic Flooring (with Attic Dek)

This post was sponsored by Attic Dek, who provided me with Attic Dek flooring in exchange for my review. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you click on an Amazon link and make a purchase, it doesn’t cost you anything, but I earn a small commission that helps me to run this blog. Thanks! (This post was previously published, but I’m re-sharing it with even more additional photos.)

Ever since my husband and I moved into our new home about 16 years ago, I’ve wanted to put flooring in our home’s attic. Our attic wasn’t built with flooring, so until recently, we didn’t store anything in our home’s attic. It was such a waste of good storage space!

My husband meant to put in flooring when we first moved in, but installing attic flooring the traditional DIY way is a big job. It’s not easy to push heavy and cumbersome pieces of plywood through a tiny hole in the ceiling. Plus, there is all that cutting. Over the summer my husband discovered Attic Dek, however, and only a few weeks later, I had my attic storage area!

Installing Attic Dek panels to create flooring in an attic is a great way to add storage space in a home for a beginning DIYer.

The below photos shows what my unfinished attic looked liked before the Attic Dek panels were installed.

As you can see, before we put in the easy to install Attic Dek flooring, there was a bunch of nothing going on in our unfinished attic!

This is another “before” shot of the attic.

It’s really a shame that our attic sat empty for so long before we discovered Attic Dek!

How to Install Attic Flooring

Attic Dek panels are lightweight plastic grids that are made to be installed in the unfinished area in an attic or over a garage.

Attic Dek grids now come in a universal size to fit between 16 inch on center joist spacing and 24 inch on center joist spacing!

Now there’s no need to measure the spacing between your attic joists to use the new Attic Dek panels. The Attic Panel panels we installed (before the universal panels were available) were designed to work with 16 inch on center joist spacing.

(Attic Dek panels are available on Amazon.)No tools or cutting are required to install the panels. You simply screw the panels into your attic’s joists. The panels are durable and can hold up to 250 pounds. They come with the screws and the instructions needed for installation.

After my husband told me about Attic Dek, I reached out to Attic Dek, and they provided me with 20 of their Attic Dek panels. (The 20 panels will provide about 427 square feet of storage space in our attic.) My husband was able to install the Attic Dek panels in a few hours, and now we have attic storage space!

My husband had difficulty installing some of the panels, but that’s because not all of our joists are spaced an even 16-inches apart. My husband was able to arrange them so everything would fit. I suspect that the new universal Attic Dek panels will be even easier to install.

We liked the Attic Dek flooring so much that I went on Amazon to easily  order more of the flooring. My husband installed the panels for me, so now we have even more storage space!

Tips for Installing Attic Dek Flooring

My husband found it relatively easy to install Attic Dek flooring in our home’s attic. He found that it’s helpful to have knee pads or a foam kneel pad during installation. You might find yourself kneeling on hard joists or on the Attic Dek grids themselves while installing the Attic Dek squares. So it’s best to cushion your knees. You should also have work gloves on hand — you most likely will be working around insulation, which you shouldn’t touch with your bare hands.

What to Store in an Attic

Now I have to decide what to store in the attic. I’ve read that it’s best to put items in the attic that you won’t need to get to frequently, like Christmas or seasonal decorations.

My husband and I have some sentimental things stored in our basement, like our kids’ plastic dollhouses and toddler toys, and some of my mother-in-law’s dishware. I’ve read that non biodegradable items like plastic, ceramic and glass store well in an attic. I’ve learned that it’s best to place items to be stored in an attic in plastic storage bins. I’m looking forward to storing some of our belongings in the attic. Our basement is filled with stuff, and my daughter and I are hoping to carve a workout space for us there. So we could really use additional storage space.

Material like fabric and paper doesn’t last well in an attic, so I don’t plan to store mementos or clothing in the attic space. I’m exited to organize our storage space now that we have thel Attic Dek panels in our attic.

Want to complete this project? Pin it for later!

 

 

If you’d like to install Attic Dek panels in your home, you can buy them on Amazon.