Construction of an attic or a full-fledged second floor - what to choose and how to get the maximum usable area

When developing the project, I thought for a long time about the advisability of a full-fledged second floor. I took into account the experience of friends who lived in a house with an attic and complained that the low slope of the roof takes up a lot of usable space. As a result, I decided to build an attic floor, but I tried to make it as functional as possible.

After completing the bricklaying, he laid reinforced concrete slabs on the first floor, having previously created an armap belt around the perimeter. He continued to lay brick on the concrete base, only the height of the side walls, along which the slopes of the roofing structure pass, did not 2.80 cm, but 1.60 cm (at the top point). Thanks to this, the entire space in the attic floor has become fully functional.

In the process of laying, he laid metal studs to install the rafter system. Thanks to my decision, there is now free access to the side walls, while there is no need to even bend over, furniture can be installed there.

When erecting the walls, where it is planned to arrange the gables, I used brick, made the thickness of the masonry the same as on the first floor. The height at the top of these attic walls was 2.80cm. For the construction of gables in the attic, I used aerated concrete blocks. Many people make such walls from plywood and other not very strong materials, but I made a choice in favor of reliability and durability.

As soon as I completed the brickwork on the side walls, I equipped the Mauerlat - I laid roofing material on the surface, then a wooden board (I strung it on studs and fixed it with bolts). The next step was the creation of a rafter system, which made it possible to equip a functional attic above the attic floor.