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Construction started today! Stuart, Ben and Todd arrived bright and early. The first thing they did was lay down a red carpet (I mean a drop cloth) up the stairs to the attic.
Next they laid some plywood decking to walk on–so much easier than balancing on the tightrope of ceiling joists. (Once, in another house with another builder, we actually had a guy miss the joists and partially fall through into the room below! He caught himself with his arms, but his legs were dangling into the study.)
Here’s a shot after the guys installed some extra lighting and went downstairs for more plywood–which they are carrying up the stairs SO carefully! Not a nick in the wall!
Some of my bilingual readers have had a hard time figuring out what we’re doing in the attic (google translation isn’t always very accurate), so I thought I would try to explain with pictures. As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words! Here’s a shot coming up the steps. The portion of the stairwell wall that has the photos on it will be cut away to make a more open feeling at the top of the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, you turn left to enter the attic. The door that opens into the attic will be removed, leaving an open area at the top of the stairs.
Just inside the door, if you turn to the left you will see the HVAC. It’s going to be moved (out of sight to the other side of the attic), and the rafters behind it will be removed to build the parents’ bedroom in the gable over our bedroom.
If you look to your right along the wall, the area between the dangling vent and the window will be the boys’ side of Narnia with two berths under the slanted ceiling.
Looking on towards your right past the window, this area will have two berths for the girls. You can see the door in the photo, but soon it will be gone.
Here’s the area behind that door. You can see part of the plumbing drains that were put in when the house was built, ready to expand the attic. The bathroom will go here, saving us a lot of money as we avoid installing new plumbing. The rest of that little corner will be unused–a good place to stuff all the loose insulation the guys are having to remove from the rest of the attic (because they need to see what’s under it.)
Now you’ve made almost a complete circle, and you are looking at the door where we started. To the left is the corner where the insulation is getting piled up. The wall to the right of the door (where the light switch is and the plugs are) will be cut down to a half wall. Beyond the door you can see my craft room. Zephyr is looking down the stairs.
If you keep looking to the right of the door, you will see the HVAC again–full circle.
So that’s what we’ve got and what we plan to do with it. As I post pictures of the construction, I’ll try to include shots that show BEFORE as well as AFTER.
It will probably be at least a few weeks before we get to the fun part where you can actually see Narnia unfolding. Today was exciting, though–a day I’ve been awaiting for four years! To make it even better, the county inspector came at Stuart’s request for a pre-construction inspection. He commended us for having an architect’s drawing and an engineer’s input; he approved Stuart’s plan for getting R-30 (or better) insulation in the ceiling; and he didn’t find any problems that would need to be addressed. I’d call that a GREEN LIGHT!
Onward and upward!
Through the Wardrobe 