G'day and welcome to my guide on how to open up a substantial storage area, your attic for every day use.

Storage is one of those perennial problems - we're always striving for more!

Houses with pitched roofs often have a huge ceiling area that can be used for storage. A lot of people wondering where to store all their staff that is taking significant space in the garage and wardrobes and don't even think about using the attic. With an easy and affordable DIY project you can get rid of your storage problems forever.

The easiest roof spaces to convert into ultimate storage area are those framed in the traditional way with rafters, ceiling joists, purlings and strusts. More modern trust roofs cannot be altered in any way without consulting a structural engineer. However, I have a house with a trust roof with W shaped webs and installing an attic ladder has solved all my storage problems. The trick here is to get one with a width of 53 or 55 cm (as the Australian Standard joist are 60 cm in the centre, which makes you able to fit a 53 up to 55cm wide loft ladder without any alteration).

Once you have the loft ladder installed, you can screw-down flooring sheets (17mm plywood is pretty light but strong enough) to support the stored items and also you walking around. You have to watch the weight you put on the floor as ceiling joists are only designed to support the ceiling lining.

It is also useful to get an electrician to install some sort of lightening or use a solar light as you might be able to place the panel on the roof. A solar light would save you on running cost as well as on installation as you can do it yourself.

If you are interested in how to install a loft ladder, please read my step-by-step guide on that.

Hope you found this guide helpful.