Danger Room

• Before
• Demo
• Electrical
• South Window
• Footings
• West Window
• Insulation
• Subfloor
• Drywall
• Floor
• Finish

I wanted a nice, south-facing window with some descent solar heat gain. I also wanted to get rid of the west-facing window which like an oven in the summer. Since I was going to be working on the two exterior walls I figured I might as well remodel the entire room. Get rid of the flamible ceiling tiles and the nasty carpet, replace the 70's era insulation with modern stuff, and fix the floor.

old and proposed windows	cruddy attic access	bought new door way too soon	west-facing summer heater
	original door	original closet system	What is BAHT!

Demo

I removed the carpet. Then a couple of great friends helped me remove all the rock wall (plaster on top of drywall). Then I removed the ceiling and insulation.

Removed paneling	Removed carpet
Removed rock wall	2.5inch rock wool from pueblo, CO	bathtub on the other side	3 5/8 inch fiberglass too

Electrical

This was also a good time to remove the old breaker panel and re-wire for grounded 14/2. I left two 12/2 cables in the attic labeled spare A and spare B. These go to the junction box and not all the way to the service box. I am not sure what I will use these for, perhaps when I remodel the kitchen.

Old breaker box used at patch box	Old breaker box removed	pics/IMG_20170702_091404.jpg	New 14/3 Romex run in attic
and run under floor		wall between bedrooms	new junction box
label circuits	rats nes of old and new	patch old breaker box hole	other side of bathroom

South Window

I wanted a nice south-facing window that would allow some solar heat gain.

South Wall exterior	South Wall interior	unmounted window	framed opening
Hole cut	Hole cut	window mounted	with flashing tape
	Check that they open properly	Stucco	Needs paint

Footings

Some of the orinial footings are just 2x6 lumber on some rough concrete. These two had seen some water/weather damage, so I added better ones.

Original 2x6 footing

4x4 on concrete footer

Install two of them

West Window

This is the west-facing window. I never liked to wide and squat look of these windows. They had apparently been replaced once already as these were 80's style, double-pane, aluminum frame windows in what is clearly a 70's house. It was also very hot in the summer. Since I was installing a new, south-facing window, I didn't see the need for two windows so I just had them wall up this one.

Old window inside		Old window outside	closed up
Stucco	Bad texture match	Stucco drying	Needs paint

Insulation

One of the big reasons I opened all the walls was so I could remove the old 2.5inch 70's rockwool, fur-out the 2x4 studs into 2x6 studs so I could the install 2010's 5.5inch R-21 fiberglass batts.

Some 2inch, R10 extruded polystyrene

Subfloor

The old subfloor was weak in some places and unlevel in others. I removed some old 5/8 plywood, sanded parts of the joists to make things more level and installed new 19/32 plywood, glued and screwed. Getting things level took a long time.

Drywall

I hired someone to hang the drywall. I've done it before. It's not that hard, it's just heavy and I am weak. I think all of this was 1/2inch. The ceiling probably should have been 5/8inch because of the 24inch on center. The blue is just a different brand of drywall a friend gave me. I asked them to do a low, roll-on texture. I think they should have sanded more before adding the texture. Some of the mudlines are still visible.

Floor

I went with Pergo Montomery Apple laminate flooring. I also used some floor leveling concrete where necessary. I used simple pine baseboards with some polyurethane.

Finish

I replaced the old door with a solid-core, six-panel, interior model with frame. The trim around the door doesn't quite match the baseboards but nobody's perfect.

Trim around attic access

I don't like closed doors

simple window frame