The Uppening Part 1

So it's another multi-part adventure. I thought I might be able to get this project done in one week with time to spare, but somehow I am impeccably consistent about underestimating how long it takes me to do these things.

So what is this project? Well, this is the access into my attic. There's not much up in the attic except for insulation, fossilized rat turds, and some poorly done wiring, and this sort of makeshift hatch is more than sufficient for accessing that.

But I have plans for putting some actual equipment in the attic, the details of which I will cover when the time comes, and so I'll need better access than this hatch can provide. Or, to be more specific, I need an opening larger than this to even get it up there in the first place.

So let's get to work improving that access. Click through to read on.

Now you might think that the first thing to do is to chop a hole in the ceiling, but there's more steps to take care of before we get to that point, and the first of those is to clean up all the trash that's accumulated in the attic over the past 65 years.

90% of which was left there by Comcast.

I think I could pay a contractor to do the rest of the work for me by just cashing in all this copper.

But where's the fun in that?

Of course there was also bits of roof detritus, just in case you thought I'd got it all during the last project.

Anyway, things are looking much more tidy up top.

And if we look in the other direction, we can see the tidiness continues.

And if you look even closer you can see the open electrical box buried in, and stuffed to the gills with, the cellulose insulation.

We'll be seeing more of this box later.

What you'll also notice up there is some strips of half inch plywood that are about 12 inches wide and 8 feet long. They are, admittedly, slightly nicer to walk on than trying to balance on the joists, but only just barely. So, stage one is going to be to improve the walkability up here, which will make the rest of the work I need to do much more pleasant.

Thus, it's off to The Home Despot to pick up some supplies.

That's two sheets of 3/4 ply, a 12 foot 2x6 that I'll be making the lengthwise framing out of, and a not-quite-8 foot 2x6 for the crosswise framing, plus some misc electrical gubbins not shown.

And this is a good reminder of why I have a van, because I can easily fit a 12 foot long board in it without resorting to anything sketchy like strapping it to the roof or having it hang out the back.

Look, technically fitting still counts as fitting.

Anyway, the plywood needs to get chopped up into 2ft x 4ft boards, which I can do quickly with my circular saw not paying too much attention to making them square.

Because the factory didn't bother making these sheets square either.

But now that we have a stack of high walkability planks, it's time to install them.

The existing hatch is 24" by 24", minus the width of the trim that holds up the drywall panel, so these can just nicely slide up there diagonally.

Ah, so much more walkable. These are getting screwed down in all four corners to keep them from sliding off the joists, while still being removable in case I need to access something underneath.

But you might notice something up here, which is that things are looking pretty dark. Luckily I have a solution for that, in the form of these old light fixtures that were left by the previous owner.

They have a LED tube installed in them, but due to the orientation of the fixture in the enclosure the LEDs mostly shine on the side of the fixture itself rather than out into the rest of the world where it might do some good.

Luckily I have just the thing to fix that.

I think the light should have a better chance at escaping the confines of its fixture now.

Yup, that's much improved.

And then it's second verse, same as the first.

And having actual light up here is making things way easier than trying to do things by the light of just my LED head lamp.

I also took the time to install an outlet for the future equipment.

And I totally won't ever smash my head on the corner of that outlet face plate.

Speaking of face plates on boxes, a few years ago now I bought a joe box cover to put on this random uncovered junction box over near the kitchen.

So, no time like the present I guess.

The prep work in the attic is coming along well, but there's also some prep we can do to the attic ladder itself, specifically painting the underside of it, since it ships from the factory as just raw masonite.

Which means it's time to crack open this can of satin white paint.

Hmm, I guess it's been a while, better give it a little stir.

Good as new. Probably.

So, how many coats of paint does it take to cover a sheet of raw masonite? Let's see.

That's one.

Two.

Three.

And four.

So we're in the home stretch now, it's finally time to dig a hole to put this attic ladder into. Let's see what we're dealing with.

Oh, right, that electrical box.

Hmm, getting rid of that is going to be a bit more involved than I had planned. I had assumed it was just the remains of an old light fixture for the hall (which, to be fair, it is), but it's also apparently being used as a junction box for quite a few different runs which I'm now going to have to relocate, and I don't have enough spare boxes on hand to do that. So, next week will start with another trip to the Home Despot I guess, but there's still some other work I can get knocked out.

Specifically, I can square up and place the cross piece here that the hinge end of the attic ladder will mount to.

And it most certainly needed squaring up. That's not a trick of perspective (ok, it is a little), the existing framing was a half inch out of square over just three feet here. So needless to say its a good thing I checked that and fixed it.

But that's about all I've got time for this week, so I'll have to pick things up next week after I enjoy a little Californian winter R&R.

I just wish the weather was a little cooler right now so I wasn't sweating my face off crawling around in my attic in the middle of December.