# Knee wall dresser



## cibula11

I am in the beginning stages of finishing an attic for a bedroom.  I was thinking of using the knee wall for a recessed dresser to save on space.  I have looked online at several examples of this and it doesn't look too challenging.  My question is, if I do do this, what should I do about insulating this area.  Would I attach some sort of insulating to the outer edges of the dresser?  I know I have heard that if you cut any opening in an attic wall for a door or whateve, you treat it like an exterior door.  I just was wondering how that would work if I installed a dresser instead of a door for access to behind the knee wall.


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## Daryl in Nanoose

Can you post a link to what you are thinking about doing


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## cibula11

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_organizing_other/article/0,1801,HGTV_3138_1393738,00.html

Here is the site that I saw.  I suppose I could customize the size and look as to what would fit my needs


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## Square Eye

You need to build a back wall and insulate it. Insulate the top and the sides from the attic side. More or less you're just building a box behind the knee wall and it must be insulated just like any exterior wall.

The knee wall dressers are a handy use of otherwise wasted space.


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## glennjanie

Sorry, I just have to say something for my 500th. A common error in insulating a case like this is getting the vapor barrier reversed; it should always go to the side the living space is on. In other words, from the attic you shouldn't see anything but pink, the vapor barrier being on the dresser side. Thanks, I feel better now that I have vented.
Glenn


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## flamtap

Hi,

I am thinking about doing the same thing... I have a bonus room with a knee wall on both sides. There is a small access panel into the space behind the knee wall and it's huge. I'd like to add a variety of built-in cabinets and shelves to the knee-wall. 

I think I have a pretty good idea of how to make everything work but I'm not sure of the best way to insulate the cabinets. Right now the knee walls are insulated and the space behind them is not insulated. 

I need to add a vapor barrier and insulation, right? What is the best kind of insulation to use here? Can I just get paper-faced batts and "wrap" them around the cabinets with the paper against the cabinet to act as the vapour barrier? 

What about foam sheets, that could be cut and stuck to the cabinets? 

Is there any other sort of vapour barrier (plastic?) that I could wrap around the cabinets? 

Thanks for any advice!


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## Square Eye

You can wrap them with plastic, But I prefer the paper back insulation.
There is a slight chance that the plastic could hold moisture against the wood, resulting in damage. If you have trouble keeping the fiberglass insulaton attached or if you are just worried about it, You can stretch nylon string across it and fasten the string to screws on either side of the cabinets. 
The foam is a bit like using plastic, if moisture ever gets between the wood and the foam, it may cause damage before it dries away.
Your cuts would have to be perfect to seal at the edges of the foam also.
Post a few pics when you finish. A lot of people would LOVE to see the finished product! This is a terrific use of wasted space that more people would be interested in if they could see how simple it is to do and how cool it looks and works!


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## flamtap

I like the nylon string idea... Yeah, I'll post photos when I'm done, assuming I get enough time to work on it. 

Thanks for the tips1!


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## mcguire20

does anyone have any suggestions on how to put in dressers into a knee wall?


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## Daryl in Nanoose

mcguire20 said:


> does anyone have any suggestions on how to put in dressers into a knee wall?


This is what we are discussing here
 From square eye Quote: _You need to build a back wall and insulate it. Insulate the top and the sides from the attic side. More or less you're just building a box behind the knee wall and it must be insulated just like any exterior wall.

The knee wall dressers are a handy use of otherwise wasted space_.


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## nealtw

Don't forget you need a header to hold up rafters when removing studs. never cut engineered trusses


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## BrianKiernan

A simple way to insulate the space would be to use 2" ridged foam board, you could make a box out of 3/4" plywood for the draws to go into and glue and screw the foam board to the plywood. 2" foam board can get you an R13 same as 2 x 4 wall fiber glass insulation.


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## joecaption

If you Google "framing a shed dormer" dozens of sites come up.


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