[capt Locknar]

Well I got the hole in the ceiling cut out (actually it was two holes as it had a double ceiling which I am still trying to figure out how as the Top most ceiling had nominal lumber for the rafters and the bottom ceiling had dimensional lumber, makes no sense that the "newer" ceiling would have the older wood, unless it was made with surplus wood) and the Stair Stringers are in place. Friday I will be picking up the wood for the Stairs themselves so I decided to go up and measure the new rooms. The First room will be about 12 feet wide by 10 feet long and the second room (towards the back of the house) will be 12 feet wide by 15 feet long. I don't understand why there was no staircase put in to begin with, thats a heck of alot of unused space up their.

Wife said I can use the whole upstairs for modeling. WOOOHOOOOOOOOO
So far I have about 12 hours into this and its looking pretty good. Will look better once the stairs are in place and I can walk up them. The floor and Drywall will most like have to wait about a month but that will give me the time to get the excess insulation and ventilation ductwork out (they had at one point in time and air conditioning system that was not part of the furnace but was located in the ceiling and blew the cold air down rather than blowing it up when its in the furnace, so all the original ductwork is still up their).

Its looking promising.

 

[PerfesserCoffee]

Lucky! My attic is about 4 foot high. My garage on the other hand is 600 square feet and I'm in the process of fixing it up so I don't have to spray dust throughout my living area.

 

[Chuck_P.R.]

So there are walls and complete flooring?
Lucky dog!

My house is very old and has a sub-attic as well.
They used to have two attics, one center one very small(about four feet or so) very commonly at the turn of the 20th century. Usually it would be designed so the house also had tall ceilings 12 feet or at least 10. There would be a big fan at the rear of the house that would pull air throughout the entire house via ducts in the downstairs "ceilings" and through the "sub-attic". The main attic, at least most of it, would be rarely used in houses made about the same time as mine. Not sure why or if it's just a regional thing down here, though I too wondered why it was the case. My main attic had never been opened previous to my father doing it about 25 years ago. Seemed puzzling that it was only accessible from the outside of the house previous to that.

But anyhow, have fun exploring the new territory!!!

 

[capt Locknar]

Actually there is currently no floor or walls either but thats the easy part compared to the yanking out half the ceiling and putting in completely new staircase. The original entrance to the attic was a 2 foot by 2 1/2 foot square hole in the ceiling. Now theres a 32 inch wide staircase with 13 stairs going up there. What a big fun MESS lol.

Wife is anxious for me to finish it so she "can have her house back and all my modeling crap can go upstairs" as she put it lol. I love her to death and actually got her to put together a Klingon Bird of Prey Kit so thats not too bad.

 

[PerfesserCoffee]

That's pretty cool! You can double your house just by finishing the attic. That's a very convenient place to do your modeling. Once it's insulated and finished it will probably be pretty darned comfortable!

 

[Chuck_P.R.]

What's your cross-beam support look like?

The ones in my attic suck!!! The straight left-right beams are only four feet high, and there are cross-beam supports that go from the center line up to the mid point of the roof on each side.

My house is so old and the wood so hard(to even put in more flooring up there, I actually had to drill instead of hammering!) and heavy I'm afraid of doing anything other them putting in the flooring, for fear of the roof sagging unpredictably if I raise the cross supports or replace the angled ones with vertical ones...



In theory it should be doable, but with a house as old as mine I don't think it would be a smart idea. Would probably recommend you talk to an architect if you decide to try the same thing.

 

[Four Mad Men]

And another fortress is born! Good going!!! You won't regret it. Just remember to go downstairs and eat every now and then (as well as shower, spend time with the family, that sort of thing).

 

[capt Locknar]

Shower??? Who needs a stinking shower when there are models to assemble lol.

My roof supports are actually dimensional lumber and very secure. The Ceiling rafters are dimensional too so thats no big deal. I did have to add a support wall in the Small bedroom where we put the stair case (going to use the small bedroom as an extended closet to the master bedroom now as they are connected anyway). The stairs will be finished today and then I can start on the subflooring. I am using recycled lumber from a local place that has fantastic used wood at damn near half the price of new stuff and the quality is great, almost looks new some of it does. The only thing I may have to add is a venturi vent on the roof to help with the hot air up their as I won't be doing any ductwork up their till much later and that I can run through the eaves so it won't be that difficult to add later so long as I make an access door or two to the eaves. Between me and my dad there really isn't much we aren't qualified to do. I can do electrical, plumbing and construction and he can do electrical and supervise as well.
I remember when I was a kid and we were living in des moines (before they sold that place and moved) Dad and his friend Joe built a 2 car garage with upper floor in the span of one week, finished and everything. That was one nice garage. We have the 2 1/2 car garage on this place but the Property won't support a new garage as they added a deck to this house and it comes within 2 feet of the garage now. The garage is one of the older type that won't even hold mine or kelly's truck and they stick out about a foot, so there aren't even any doors on it. Oh well, once we can afford it we plan to buy some land wayyyyyyy out away from civilization and can build whatever we want then. Just coming up with the downpayment is the hard part.
Anyway once the attic is semi finished I can get back to work on some kits, i've got a few surprises for everyone but am putting them on the backburner till this gets done. I'll be doing everything in 1000 scale now as I think 537 and 650 scale is pretty much out the door from now on. (of course 1000 scale may be out too if RC2 doesn't do anything with it).

 

[uss_columbia]

If RC2 drops it, we'll just have to keep 1:1000 going with garage stuff. I LIKE that scale! Not too small, not too big.

 

[capt Locknar]

Well the stairs are complete, 3 Sheets of Plywood are up there (another 17 or so to go) the wiring for the lights is up and I have light up there, The window Air conditioner is up there (not doing much good till the walls and insulation go up but its better than nothing) and the wall joists are up in the front section.
I figure about another 2 weeks and the whole floor will be done (working on it about an hour or so a day because of the heat up there) and then I can start drywalling the walls and ceiling. Once thats all done then I have to build the protective suround railing around the stairs. If I do that now I won't be able to get the Plywood and drywall up. I really need to hurry this up but this once a month payday stuff is for the birds.