Loft Closure

Darren Wright

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We've had this project scheduled for a while, but the contractor just got free to start on the job today.

Our house is kind of like a lake house, but no lake to be found. There is a "loft" area on our second floor that is really too small to serve as a loft. It has really been more of a nuisance with the sound echos and heat loss than the aesthetics really provide. With the sun-room that we once had on the back of the house, I wonder if it was more of a 80s - 90s convection heating concept than anything.

Either way, we've decided that the square footage was more valuable to us than the aesthetics, so we're closing it off. We're also correcting a sag in the floor of about 1 1/2" as the main beams were undersized.

I stayed around long enough to get him in, but came home to several changes already in the couple of hours he was here.

Two major changes was removing the railing and the duct work that the previous owner added. The original duct work for downstairs was buried under the concrete floor. So I'm guessing you can imagine what happens with buried duct work in an area with a high water table. :eek: As a matter of fact, the duct has become part of the sump pump system for the lower level of my house. :doh:
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We'll be dropping the entire ceiling downstairs. I've found some questionable work done by the previous owner and besides the spray texture doesn't quite match between some work he had done and the original ceiling texture. Again, the contractor dropped the duct work addition today and removed all the railing for the loft.
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I'm hoping he'll get the loft closed up prior to this weekend or we'll be chasing after the grandson and making sure he's staying away from it this weekend. We've learned that the phrase "Pops, you think I can make it?" is the 3 year old equivalent of "here, hold my beer". :doh:

More to come as he gets the ceiling open. I was hoping to inset the steel beam we're having added, but had a revelation as I realized the main electrical and gas line for the house both go through the existing wood beam that we may not be doing that and setting it below the existing.
 
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Got some pics from the contractor after he dropped the drywall today.

Between the HVAC guys cutting out about 3"-4" of all 3 2x10's that make up the beam and it being a bit undersized explains the sag in the floor. There was a 1/4" steel plate laminated in with this beam, which has helped keep it from falling through all together.
5391087721.jpg

The other end of the room had some nail shear on the joists that someone tried repairing from above. They didn't appear to use any joist hangers originally, so the joist pulled the nails over time and dropped about 1/2" or so.
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We originally planned to inset the beam, but with the main electrical, gas line, and all of the hvac going through the existing beam, it looks like the new steel beam will be installed below the existing one. So it looks like we'll be doing some coffering to the ceiling to help disguise it.
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:lurk:

Wow good thing you're pulling this apart. :eek:

Could you get a little height back by sistering the steel beam in up as high as you can fit it, or maybe pulling the wood beam altogether and putting in the steel beam (maybe with a top plate)?
 
:lurk:

Wow good thing you're pulling this apart. :eek:

Could you get a little height back by sistering the steel beam in up as high as you can fit it, or maybe pulling the wood beam altogether and putting in the steel beam (maybe with a top plate)?

Well, original bid was to do that, but moving electrical and gas line wasn't considered. I did get a quote on re-venting the room upstairs and re-ducting the downstairs which came in at about $2800, I'd be pretty much eliminating the hvac work by leaving the current ducts in place which I could put towards a split unit for the sun room where we've lost a vent. Though, we really don't need it for cooling, it's mostly heating. So may consider running some base board heaters in there instead. We also have a ceiling fan and the pellet stove to keep things warm and circulated down there. We're mostly planning to just wait to see if we really need to do anything at all for that area.
 
Well, original bid was to do that, but moving electrical and gas line wasn't considered.

Yeah I was looking at those and they ?seemed? to be in the top half of the beam so was wondering if there was some way to basically put the steel beam up to closer to that height (reclaim the bottom half of the existing beam more or less). I don't know what that would look like for hanging the joists though.. Mostly idle speculation from afar :)
 
Yeah I was looking at those and they ?seemed? to be in the top half of the beam so was wondering if there was some way to basically put the steel beam up to closer to that height (reclaim the bottom half of the existing beam more or less). I don't know what that would look like for hanging the joists though.. Mostly idle speculation from afar :)

Ah, good point. May not make the beam come down as far, that is a good idea. It's a 8" beam going up, should be about 10" when it's done, but it's still 4" shorter than the duct work cabinet that was there prior. My wife has kind of latched on to the idea of the coffered ceiling looked, so now just have to figure out a pattern that works with all the other elements in the room (openings, fire place, lights, etc). I've been thinking that some faux beams of various heights may be my best option as the actual beam is offset to part of the room where it may be hard to get a good balance visually
 
I've been thinking that some faux beams of various heights may be my best option as the actual beam is offset to part of the room where it may be hard to get a good balance visually

Faux beams seem like a nice idea.. You could box in the steel beam easily enough, I'm thinking a U shaped boxing of some sort would look reasonably decent.. wow there are actually some decent looking pre-built things now. The worst part about doing trim like that is the vast plethora of options to choose from.
 
Faux beams seem like a nice idea.. You could box in the steel beam easily enough, I'm thinking a U shaped boxing of some sort would look reasonably decent.. wow there are actually some decent looking pre-built things now. The worst part about doing trim like that is the vast plethora of options to choose from.

No kidding, We have a friend that has theirs done and they just did simple boxes, but where the bottom was inset about 3/4" and the sides were rounded over with 1/4" round-over bit. Theirs were at multiple levels and looked nice, but completely for esthetics.
 
No kidding, We have a friend that has theirs done and they just did simple boxes, but where the bottom was inset about 3/4" and the sides were rounded over with 1/4" round-over bit. Theirs were at multiple levels and looked nice, but completely for esthetics.

Yeah that (basic) design was my first thought.. but then I started looking at a google image search for "faux beam" and wow lots of neat options!! I even saw someplace that had plastic/rubber "metal plates".

Of course the structural bits are the most important but lots of fun options afterwards.
 
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You have more experience and good ideas about the ceiling than I ever will, but I just had to chime in to say the embedded SketchUp is very cool!
 
Thanks, it kinda does. ;)

So last night I spent taking up the laminate floor from the loft area. He wants to remove some subfloor and some shims that were added and relevel the floor correctly by moving the joists back up with new (correct) hangers.
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We had the electrician there this morning to get him in the loop and on the schedule for next week for moving some can lights and adding a few plugs.

My wife looked at the first ceiling layout and said she wanted a second beam the length of the room added, so here is the latest drawing
FamilyRoom_cofferedCeilingDualBeam.jpg

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/a2200af4-680f-4b1c-bfec-0d469c5c57f9/dual-center-beam-ceiling
 
Oh boy you sure know how to look for work. :D What a large job. Hope it all works out as you wish. You not planning on selling after this, be sad day given what you have put into that home.
 
Well it sure looks like a lot of work from here.

But i can say pretty certainly that you'll both be beaming once you're done!! !!

:)

Oh boy you sure know how to look for work. :D What a large job. Hope it all works out as you wish. You not planning on selling after this, be sad day given what you have put into that home.

I can't say that I go looking for it, it usually gets assigned as you very well know. ;)

So tonight I come home to the smell of fresh wood in the house. Things seem to be moving along.
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Yep, lots of work!
Looking at the holes cut for the HVAC in the original beam just scares the heck out of me. Not only are they way oversized for the beam, they are cut in at the second worst possible place of the beam, they are essentially a notch, not a hole. Only place worse would have been a notch in the bottom of the beam.
 
It reminds me of the saying that I heard while framing houses that the carpenter builds the house and then the electrician, plumber and heating guys tear it down.

Oh, I think that was the case, the carpenter did a few things wrong, but most of this damage is from the other three and the previous owner.

Only place worse would have been a notch in the bottom of the beam.

Oh? Like this? :doh:
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