We had originally thought that a open air feeling via cathedral ceiling over our living room would add of a roomy feel to our small house. It was one of the few splurges we spent our efforts on while building our house. We had hoped to build an addition on to the side of the house this last summer but we didnt get it done. We were still in need of more space before we could get the addition done next summer. So we decided to make some more room another way. We decided to put a floor in, spanning across the beams of our cathedral ceiling. and to take out the Bannister and build a full wall around the stair case. We had to take the stove pipe out from the wood stove and bring the insulated pipe (metal Bestos) down past the new floor for safety reasons. So we did this project, while we were putting in the new stove. While we had things taken apart any ways.
We put 2X8’s crossing our 10.5×10.5” beams. They worked nicely. We covered them with 4×8 sheets of OSB (oriented strand board) that was a little cheaper in price than regular ply wood. This works nicely to displace weight across more than 2×8 at a time and does not let dust and light, filtrate between and fall below.
Judah Zachariah has been a big help on many of our projects. He loves to help as do all the children! He is getting really good at driving nails, getting tools and supplies and help holding stuff. He has his own tape measure and many other tools. We truly thank the Lord for him and his willingness to help. We have been sneaking math in to our projects with him. It helps to have a practical reason for why you are doing a math problem a certain way. Homeschooling never ends as we strive to make life our lesson book.
Judah practicing his nailing
It has turned out to be a nice solid floor. We are using some of our new found space to put in our family closet. We built a traditional closet with a main closet rod and half of it has a second rod for shorter stuff. We are putting all the rest of the families dressers and clothes together there. This will make putting laundry away for all of us much easier. We will do an article on a family closet latter as we get ours working. Until then you can do a web search on google for family closet.
