roof rafters

[pata]

i have a chicago brick bungalow. i am putting a bonus room in 1/2 of the attic. i have 2x6 rafters 16" oc. will these raters support hanging 3/8" drywall on them?
thanks,
pat

[RobertLangDirect]

What about the other half?

What about the floor load?

[Wgoodrich]

You lack a lot of info and concerns that are involved with this project. To properly answer your rafter question we will need the roof span of your rafters. Measure from the outside wall to the center of the floor and tell us how long that is. Then we can size your rafter for you. Problem is as Robert pointed out you did not mention the floor joists also having a question if they are large enough to act as a floor joist instead of just a ceiling joist. Then again your area dictates teh minimum insulation required for your walls and roof. These rafters even if large enough to carry the drywall probably are not large enough to get the required inches of insulation between those rafters and still maintain the required 1" air space between the insulation and the bottom of your roof decking. Tell us the size of the rafter, the roof span for those rafters, whether the ridge is center or offset, what area you are to find insulation required for walls and ceiling and also tell us the length of your planned existing floor joists and whether there is a bearing wall below in the center of the house that is sitting on the foundation supported by the earth below. Also tell us if you are installing ceiling joists above the second floor to help guide you whether your need a ridge vent or can use the attic and roof vents for the roof ventilation needed. Then again what are you going to do with the romex or knob and tube wiring laying on top of those planned floor joists. Then we can help guide you and address more of your concerns.

There is a lot more to this than I suspect you are seeing.

Be careful, do your research thoroughly now to prevent heart ache later.

Wg