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A Man Cave in the Attic
Topic Started: Nov 17 2008, 10:48 AM (873 Views)
QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
My current construction project (a mud room, a new linen closet, a new and bigger deck with new french doors from the dining room, etc.) is almost finished.

What better way to celebrate than by starting a new one?

So, here's the deal. My attic is HUGE. It has a peaked ceiling that is, at the top, over 15 feet high, and there's room in the middle for an attic room ... roughly 20 feet long, the center portion 14x14, and another 6 feet or so that would be 8 feet wide.

And, in addition to that, there's room for a nice big walk-in closet (a cedar closet).

The room will have 8 foot ceilings, with a little bit at one side slanted a little lower to follow the roof line. We'll put a couple of skylights there.

And, because the existing stairs are a set of pull-down attic stairs, we'll put some real stairs up to the attic.

The real benefit is that I get a man-cave out of this. My girlfriend can't stand the clutter and disorganization of my office. Presto! My new office is twice as big, and it's in a part of the house she never, ever has to visit. She's in favor.

Aside from the fact that I'm totally crazy (my house is already far larger than I should reasonably need), what else should I be thinking about? Here's your chance to give me ideas ... construction begins after Thanksgiving. (My contractor, an amazing good referral from Beelady, has a very large project starting in January or February, so this is my window, or I lose him for several months).
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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George K
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Finally
Photos, please!
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
I wouldn't touch those stairs. You're going to want to be able to quickly dispose of them without messing with the structural integrity of your house in case you have to dig in during Zom-Def. Also, get yourself some canned goods up there, a genny and maybe some diesel to power it, a CB (or satellite phone if you can swing it), some bottled water, a rifle or two and a machete or something for anything melee.

Also, get some pressure treated wood slabs for when you'd have to close up the attic windows.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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Luke's Dad
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Aqua Letifer
Nov 17 2008, 10:55 AM
I wouldn't touch those stairs. You're going to want to be able to quickly dispose of them without messing with the structural integrity of your house in case you have to dig in during Zom-Def. Also, get yourself some canned goods up there, a genny and maybe some diesel to power it, a CB (or satellite phone if you can swing it), some bottled water, a rifle or two and a machete or something for anything melee.

Also, get some pressure treated wood slabs for when you'd have to close up the attic windows.
I agree. Attic is definitely the way to go in cases of Zom Infestations. I know people traditionally like to go down to the basement, but an attic with stairs that can be pulled up are definitely the way go.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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JBryan
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I am the grey one
Read this as A Cave Man in the Attic. I must be lysdexic or something.

I suppose it is better than Zoms
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


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Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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brenda
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..............
Quirt, we have a third floor in our house with its own stairwell. It was supposed to be the ballroom. It was never completely finished until we did it.

We chose to make it a movie room with a small kitchen. It is the perfect party room at about 25' by 30'. There are two small rooms, too. One for the mechanicals, including the air handler for the central air. The other room will be a bathroom.

We use it as a family room/home theater today. With the kitchen and bath, it can serve as a place for daughter to stay when she visits us as an adult. It's almost like an apartment, and would make it more appealing for her to bring her future hubby and kids.

When we built it (we did the work ourselves), daughter suggested she would like to live on the first and second floors with her future hubby and kids. She joked that Daddy and I could live on the third floor. I looked at my hubby and said, "Geez, ......... we better make this nice."

If you have questions about heat, etc., send them my way. Chances are we had to resolve some of the same issues you may face in creating your space.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
Don't attic spaces tend to get unbearably hot in the summer?
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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OperaTenor
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QuirtEvans
Nov 17 2008, 10:48 AM
My attic is HUGE. It has a peaked ceiling that is, at the top, over 15 feet high, and there's room in the middle for an attic room ... roughly 20 feet long, the center portion 14x14, and another 6 feet or so that would be 8 feet wide.
You know, Quirt, I used to like you.

Mine doesn't deserve to be called an "attic" - I call it an overhead crawlspace, although that doesn't even do it justice, because there isn't room to crawl, even down the peak line.

:veryangry:


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brenda
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..............
Red Rice
Nov 17 2008, 11:35 AM
Don't attic spaces tend to get unbearably hot in the summer?
Insulation, my man, insulation. Venting is part of the solution, too.

We have an attic above our third floor.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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VPG
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Pisa-Carp
I vote for a circular stair well, I love them. They have character.
I'M NOT YELLING.........I'M ITALIAN...........THAT'S HOW WE TALK!


"People say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look."
Ronald Reagan, Inaugural, 1971

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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Sounds very cool. before and after pix!
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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QuirtEvans
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OperaTenor
Nov 17 2008, 11:38 AM
QuirtEvans
Nov 17 2008, 10:48 AM
My attic is HUGE. It has a peaked ceiling that is, at the top, over 15 feet high, and there's room in the middle for an attic room ... roughly 20 feet long, the center portion 14x14, and another 6 feet or so that would be 8 feet wide.
You know, Quirt, I used to like you.

Mine doesn't deserve to be called an "attic" - I call it an overhead crawlspace, although that doesn't even do it justice, because there isn't room to crawl, even down the peak line.

:veryangry:
Just think of it as the "OperaTenor Memorial Guest Room".

Or, since it won't have a bathroom, "The Bell Tower to Which the Quirtlet Will Be Banished When OperaTenor Takes Over Her Room".
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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George K
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Finally
"OperaTenor Memorial Guest Room".

:weeping: I didn't know he died! :weeping:
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
In memory of his visit, George. It was his first miracle.
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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George K
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Finally
Ah! A distinction with a difference! Voila!
A guide to GKSR: Click

"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... "
- Mik, 6/14/08


Nothing is as effective as homeopathy.

I'd rather listen to an hour of Abba than an hour of The Beatles.
- Klaus, 4/29/18
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brenda
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..............
So Quirt, tell us what you want in this space. How do you envision its uses? You already are talking of it as an office. Any other potential uses?



“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
An office/exercise room/hiding spot. Mostly, I envision a bolt lock on the door, a couch big enough to sleep on, and a big screen television.

And a computer, of course.
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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brenda
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..............
Electrical should be easy. Sounds like there won't be any plumbing needed. What type of heat do you use? Will you use the same for this space?

We use hot water radiant heat for floors 1 and 2, but for the 3rd floor we went with a gas fireplace. Maybe that would work for your place.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
QuirtEvans
Nov 17 2008, 01:29 PM
An office/exercise room/hiding spot. Mostly, I envision a bolt lock on the door, a couch big enough to sleep on, and a big screen television.

And a computer, of course.
What, no bar?
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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brenda
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..............
That must be the hiding spot, LD.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
QuirtEvans
Nov 17 2008, 01:29 PM
An office/exercise room/hiding spot. Mostly, I envision a bolt lock on the door, a couch big enough to sleep on, and a big screen television.

And a computer, of course.
Liek a treehouze --- NO GIRLZ ALOWED!!!! :whome:
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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OperaTenor
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Pisa-Carp
QuirtEvans
Nov 17 2008, 12:49 PM
In memory of his visit, George. It was his first miracle.
For some reason, I sense a shoe dropping in the near future....



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brenda
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..............
Gee, OT, you do miracles?? Please tell me more about this.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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OperaTenor
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Pisa-Carp
brenda
Nov 17 2008, 08:50 PM
Gee, OT, you do miracles?? Please tell me more about this.
Beyond rescuing forlorn, unloved pianos from the landfill, I'm not sure what he's referring to.

:whistle:


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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
QuirtEvans
Nov 17 2008, 01:29 PM
An office/exercise room/hiding spot. Mostly, I envision a bolt lock on the door, a couch big enough to sleep on, and a big screen television.

And a computer, of course.
:thumb: Sounds awesome.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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