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Fourth bedroom 2012

hickslawns

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In the spirit of the DIY section, I thought I would share our project. This one is a little bittersweet. When we added onto our house about 5 years ago I made some mods to the plans. Didn't really cost us much in additional materials at the time and left us with options down the road. Initially my thoughts were: Man Cave! The wife thought she could put her elliptical trainer in there to collect dust instead of the basement. The kids thought they were getting a play room. In the end, it became a collect all. Some because we really didn't NEED to finish the room. Some because I am a tight wad and didn't want to spend the money. Partly due to procrastination. And lastly because once I realized nobody wanted to use the room in its unfinished condition. . . it sort of WAS my man cave. haha Nice to spray cleaners and clean muzzle loaders in there when you really can't hurt the floor or anything.

Our needs have changed. We are bringing a family member into the home to stay with us and we are now in NEED of a fourth bedroom. Here are some pictures of the room with most of the stuff cleaned out of it. I also added a picture of some insulation I layed out today. It would be much much easier to do now while it is all accessible than to wait until we have drywall done. The section of the attic already had some insulation, but it was old, crappy, and done pretty poorly. Amazing how much benefit you can get from not a lot of money in insulation. I don't think a lot of people realize how quickly it pays for itself in energy savings.

Insulation 1-1-2012.jpg

Next is the view as you come to the top of the stairs. As you can see, I already had it framed, wiring 75% done, and insulation in place before the project began. With the ceiling shaped the way it is, the room should have some nice character.
View as you crest stairs.jpg

Next is the view to the south or the front of our house. There is a dormer and window for natural lighting. We will probably either put a desk, bookshelf, or possibly a bench seat with piano hinge for storage under the window. To the right of the dormer we will have some built in shelves in order to increase usable space in the room. It is only a 10x10' room plus the area of the dormer, so we need to maximize storage space as much as we can here.view south floor.jpgview south floor 2.jpg

Last view is the view to the north as I was standing in the dormer shooting the opposite view. I ended up moving the vent one rafter to the right as you look at it in the picture. We will also be using this area for more built in shelving or cubbies. We had considered moving the kneewall back a couple of feet prior to finishing the room, but the way the rafters are supported, we could have only gained 6-9" and did not feel the additional work on our short time constraints would have been worth the efforts. I don't know. Worth the efforts for 9"x10' in an area with already reduced head room? We just didn't think so.view north floor.jpgview north ceiling.jpg

My Dad came over tonight and we readied everything for tomorrow's work. I said the wiring was 75% done. Well, it was run and most of the outlets were installed. The feed wire was there. We just needed to test everything to ensure it was done properly since it has been around 5yrs since we have thought about it. Some of the outlets were moved because there will be a closet going in. The light switch was moved to the other side of the door. Nothing major, but stuff which certainly needs to be addressed PRIOR to drywall being hung. Tomorrow, Dad is coming over to frame up the closet and work on the built ins. My foreman and I are going to be starting the drywall. Any gaps, spaces, or questionable areas in regards to insulation will be addressed. Did I mention I think insulation is the quickest payback you will ever get in your house? lol I am a stickler for a tight home. I think it is often overlooked. Small details we address tomorrow prior to drywall on the insulation will either save us or cost us money in energy for as long as I own this home.
 
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"J"

Git Off My Lawn
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Phil, looks good... If I was closer I'd be over giving you a hand.... Not an expert on anything but am a good laborer and follow instructions well :smiley_crocodile: I have some experience and always look too learn new stuff..... Looking forward too the finished project.... Give updates with pictures.... Is Geoff goiing too be helping out???? Probably be a good project too get him involved in since the finished project will be his space.....
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
Phil, looks good... If I was closer I'd be over giving you a hand.... Not an expert on anything but am a good laborer and follow instructions well :smiley_crocodile: I have some experience and always look too learn new stuff..... Looking forward too the finished project.... Give updates with pictures.... Is Geoff goiing too be helping out???? Probably be a good project too get him involved in since the finished project will be his space.....

Thanks J. I appreciate it. Yes. All three kids have been helping actually. Kinda getting in the way more than helping, but you can't let them know that. lol

Favorite line yesterday was when we were adding extra insulation and the boys were helping. Graci wanted in there. Geoff says "This is dirty work for guys. You don't want to do this." Graci never missed a beat. Without hesitation she says "Well maybe I want to get dirty too." I smiled and let Geoffrey know there was plenty of work for all of us and there is nothing wrong with girls getting dirty or working hard just like there is nothing wrong with him or Garrett helping out with the laundry, vacuuming, or dishes.
 

hickslawns

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Project stalled out. Snow does that to you. Everything takes a back seat to working for your customers during snow. Ready for bed. Then onto reloading trucks with salt and invoicing. Hope to get back onto the project by Thursday.

Tuffy- It is decided. Our nephew Geoffrey will have the room. Our kids already have their rooms.
 

hickslawns

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Still playing catchup from the little snow event we had. Split and stacked a couple cords of firewood today. Got all the trucks washed. Completed about 75% of my invoicing. Emptied the pole barn of the remaining 9 pallets of salt we had left and swept it out. Took delivery of a semi load of salt (18 pallets), stacked and stored away in the barn to include the "old" pallets. Walked back to the house around 7pm. Was a good day of work for me and the guys. I was ready to finish my invoicing, shower up, and hit the sack. Guess who's truck was in the driveway? My good ol' Dad. He came over to work on the room, God love him. Impeccably horrible timing, but I was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He came over on his own time without any prompting because he had finished building the built in shelves and wanted to install them.

Here is what they looked like. I must say, dad was not posing for that picture. He basically turned around and I caught him by surprise. lol
built in shelves on N wall.jpgdad finishing built in shelves on S wall.jpg

When I wasn't helping him on the shelves I was prepping the dormer with nailer boards to secure the drywall to and placing insulation in there.
dormer insulated ready for drywall.jpg

We still need to finish a bit of insulation. We also need to frame up the closet. Outside of this, we are ready to hang drywall.

Is it just me or do those shelves look like they are going to make AWESOME places to store reloading equipment, fletching jigs, and other cool things every "man cave" should have? Ironic when you consider this was originally supposed to be my man cave. dang.
 
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Huckleberry Finn

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Phil,

He's like what, 11? That's 7 years before you get your man-cave!

The shelves look really nice. When I was a kid my room had the truces and kicker walls like that (actually, most of the upstairs did) and whoever built the old warm house made doors on the kicker walls and made that back empty space closets. There was enough room for a hanging bar, at least for kids' clothes (I doubt my suit would fit now!). Just an idea, not sure what you have planned for that space, but it's useful space!
 

hickslawns

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This is why we put the shelves in there that we did Huck. Question is: How many shelves do you do? I don't think it would look right to make the whole dang wall in shelves and such. I think there is enough to add some character and useful space. Any more added and it is going to look a little tacky I think. I dunno?

And yes, he is 11. Trust me bubba. 7 yrs will go by like a fart in the wind once you have kids man.
 

aholdren

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This is why we put the shelves in there that we did Huck. Question is: How many shelves do you do? I don't think it would look right to make the whole dang wall in shelves and such. I think there is enough to add some character and useful space. Any more added and it is going to look a little tacky I think. I dunno?

And yes, he is 11. Trust me bubba. 7 yrs will go by like a fart in the wind once you have kids man.

Yea that.
 

hickslawns

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Progress has been a bit slow. Then again, time to get in there to work has been limited. Next three days aren't going to accomplish much either. Momma has to work the next couple nights and that means no work until the afternoons and evenings. Mix in some more snow in the forecast and it will probably be put off a few more days. Here is what was accomplished in a few hours today. I finished insulating the knee wall. We got a bit of the drywall started. We will try to hang some more drywall tomorrow, but I am waiting on my Dad to give me a hand with the framing on Saturday. He is much more skilled at framing and such than I am. He is the brains and I am the dumb grunt in this department. I can do basic framing, but a closet? Ehh, I think I will wait considering we are tying it into the angled rafter.
 

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hickslawns

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Two days straight with a pair of 2 hour catnaps. The rest has been plowing snow or directing traffic. The boys worked hard and cleaned everything up. Just got in from salting and checking all the lots for drifts. Dad will be here in a little over an hour to frame in the closet with me. Guess I better get the coffee pot brewing another round. :smiley_coffee::smiley_cry::smiley_dead:
 

hickslawns

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Snow snow snow. I won't complain, but it sure has brought this project into a major slowdown. I am up early again today because the guys are out salting. I would be out as well if Momma wasn't working.

Got a bit more drywall hung. I believe all but one small drywall piece of the ceiling is done now. Pretty much just have the walls to hang, and mud/sand/mud/sand/mud/sand/paint remaining. Then we can knock out the trim and flooring. Short window to finish this project.
 

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hickslawns

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Yesterday- Up at 4am. Hunted in the cold. Home and working on drywall by 11am. Hit it hard all day. Wrapped it up, took a drive to road scout, drop the son off to basketball, eat, and fuel up the Jeep. Came home and my Dad stopped over. We were taking a look at things and Dad says "You have the rest of the drywall up here ready to hang? Let's get some done." I said sure and next thing you know, it is 930pm. Awesome. (Sarcasm.) Dad rolls out. I still have to take a salt spreader off a truck, hook a trailer, pull it out, use the skid loader to pull the 12' snow pusher box off the trailer and load up the skid loader for the morning. Peachy. Finished this task up and my sweeper truck operator shows up. Get him rolling. Perfect. By then it was nearly midnight and I was sitting down to eat. I crashed hard last night, but was up and rolling again this morning. Name wasn't in the obits. Oh well. Job got knocked out today. Now I am taking a breather to regroup while cruising TOO. I think i will finish up my paperwork and slap a coat of drywall mud on the room tonight after I get the kids to sleep.

Here are some pictures. Something tells me this room is not going to be "move in ready" by Friday.
 

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