So when we last left off on this attic ladder project, we were facing the spectre of having to deal with an electrical run that went right through the middle of the opening I planned to cut to fit the ladder into. So, let's add a quick junction box.
And another.
To reroute that line around the outside (around the outside, around the outside). I also took the opportunity to disconnect the recessed light at the near end of the hall, since it will shortly be removed for relocation later on in the project.
Since it, too, is right in the middle of where the ladder is going. This is gonna be another long one, so click through to keep reading.
For amusement sake, here's the old box that was original to the house, and presumably held the single light fixture for the hallway.
The mudring was just laying in the insulation near by, because why bother putting it back on I guess? Moving on...
Since I have a frikkin' laser now, I'll use it to help lay out the cuts on these joists, even though it's actually much slower and more cumbersome than just using a piece of string. But sometimes you have to use the wrong tool for the job because NEW SHINY TOY.
This isn't actually what I bought it for, I just wanted to play with it.
So with the layout done, let's do a little surgery.
You might think it was tricky to remove those two boards without disturbing the drywall, but they were only held down by about 4 tiny drywall nails each.
Well, we're going to need some framing in here to hold up the drywall, and the ladder, so let's get that in place.
And we'll take one last look at the hallway in its original-ish state.
Before I poke some holes in it from above to locate where to cut the new opening.
And then it's just a game of connect the dots.
And the long sides get sliced open with my jigsaw.
It's a little bit dusty but it does the job quite nicely, and is way less work than using the jab saw.
Now you might wonder how I'm planning to complete this cut without the panel of drywall falling from the ceiling, and the answer is simple: temporary supports.
I did need to drill another two holes in the middle of the short sides to start the last cuts, because I realized that my jigsaw was slightly too long to fit between the wall and the holes at each end.
Anyway, with the panel fully cut I can just lift it out of the way.
And I don't know about you, but I'm getting the feeling I just hit a point of no return on this project. Well, let's fill that gaping hole in the ceiling before any attic ghosts sneak in.
And this is, of course, the other reason I installed the temporary support boards: it's how you position the attic ladder in the opening while you secure it to the framing.
So with the footer end bolted in place and some temporary straps holding up the header end, we can pop open the ladder to reach the bolt holes in the header.
And, uh, I suddenly have questions about the quality of the hardware included with this kit.
To be fair I think I actually hit a nail here, but the good news is that they include extra lag bolts, so it's fine.
Anyway with a few more bolts in the side rails, the ladder can be trimmed up and fully extended.
And with the pull cord shortened to an appropriate length, things are really coming together.
And speaking of coming together, that drywall is definitely going to need some help staying in place, so let's add a few screws around the new opening.
Thankfully these will be covered by the trim later, so I don't need to do any drywall mudding here. The same can't be said for the old hatch, though, which now needs to be sealed up.
But that feels like a lot of work, so let's take a quick waterfall break first.
Now that's refreshing.
So, we'll first need to install some blocking in the old attic hatch to screw the drywall panel into, so we'll...
One moment.
As I was saying, I'll recycle some of the original 2x6 lumber for the crosswise pieces so that they'll serve both to support the drywall below as well as the final high walkability plank above.
Universal wood is sufficient for the lengthwise pieces, leaving a space where I drilled a hole for the electrical that will be powering the recessed light (seen in the background) once its relocation is complete.
Down below, half the trim comes off first so that I don't have to deal with holding up the panel while screwing it in.
And then the other half comes down to make way for more screws, both into the panel and the surrounding drywall, because we both saw what little support this drywall has.
Well we're definitely in the home stretch, so let's mix up some mud. I'll be using 20 minute hot mud for this, because it's what I have on hand and I don't really feel like getting a bucket of the regular air-dry stuff.
Hot mud is a little bit notorious for having bad adhesion, so I'll be using this Sika stuff to improve its clinging tenacity. It's basically just watered down PVA glue, aka "kindergarten kool-aid", and saves me the trouble of squirting some wood glue into a water bottle and shaking it up myself.
So, step one is the pre-fill, and this should be enough mud I think.
And on it goes, making sure to squeeze it deep into the gap between the boards to really stick them together.
And I think we got sufficient gap-filling.
And I managed to only have a little excess mud left over.
Having a leftover blob like this is actually very helpful, as you can poke it to test to see if it's setting instead of poking the stuff that's actually on the wall/ceiling. This came in handy today, as for whatever reason the first coat took way longer than 20 minutes to set.
But set it did, so next is the tape coat.
I mixed up a smaller batch this time, because I only really need enough to glue the tape into place and fill in around the edges a little.
And the poke test on the remaining glob revealed it setting much quicker than the first batch. Go figure.
Onto coat number 3, which serves to embed the tape and feather out the edges.
I didn't do a perfect job on this coat, mostly due to the limitations of working with hot mud. It just never gets to that "frictionless mayonnaise" consistency that you really want for a finish coat, and so I was fighting between having it looking lumpy, or tooling too much of it off the ceiling. When I was done, it ended up both a bit too thin in places and a little bit lumpy, but the good news is that we'll be doing a texture finish over top of this later that will hide all of these sins.
And just for completeness sake, here's the leftover glob.
A bit more waste than the first two batches, but I wanted to mix up extra so I didn't run short while feathering out the edges.
So the next step is to let this compound dry out for a few days and then come back and give it a little sanding, then a little texturing, then a little painting. I also need to put the trim on around the attic ladder and reinstall the recessed light in its final location, but the former needs to happen after texturing, and the latter needs to happen after painting, for the sake of my sanity.
That's basically a long winded way of saying that's all the work I'll be doing on this attic ladder for the remaining few days of my vacation time, but luckily these final tasks are quite snackable, and I shouldn't have any trouble fitting them into evenings and weekends, and I'll be sharing updates on them as appropriate.
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