attic!

[solarbird]

So the HVAC built a bunch of platform - by which I mean "floor" - in the attic, both to do the AC ducting installation and to provide service access later, and some of it was really quite well done (where they were working most of the time and where they'd need to stand if they needed to do service) and some of it was iffy and a little of it was frankly terrible, so today I got up there and made it all properly sound.

It wasn't that difficult, just had to get creative with lumber, subfloor glue, and screws. But now there're no more "butterfly" platforms (secured to one joist in centre with the sides flying free like wings) and no serious soft spots and if something looks strong it actually is and if something seems kind of weak it probably is but it's stronger than it looks.

(All of it is, obviously, much improved.)

Anyway when I was done I realised that 1) we have a proper attic now, as one bloody well should, one with a floor and lighting and even an outlet and 2) that means we now have a FIVE level house because it has a floor and it's full height THAT MAKES A ROOM ON A NEW LEVEL AND THAT MAKES A STOREY

sorry that's just the rules FIVE STOREYS even if one of 'em is staggered so some people might call it four and a half but that's bullshit and besides I got news there's ANOTHER hidden staggered floor level that's half-height (the crawlspace which is on its own level) so that's ANOTHER half storey so that's FIVE EITHER WAY.

I don't make the rules i just exploit 'em

five storey house

fuck yeah

Comments

[vatine]

Five is more than four. There was actually a Swedish kids' TV program whose name immortalised that fact ("five ants are more than four elephants").

[solarbird]

nice

also now i want a sub-basement

for the elephants

[gorgeousgary]

Don't shout that too loudly. By code, 5-story house = commercial building. Different building code. Much more stringent building code...

(OK, depends a bit on where the stories are. You're limited to 3 above grade if you want stay within the code for houses. But you can build as many sub-basements as you want!)

[solarbird]

Depending upon how you define "below grade," that makes it two. If the definition is "not above grade on all sides" then it's definitely only two.

No, seriously. That's how steep our hill is. We're built into the hill, not atop it.

I could see a legitimate argument for three. Our main floor is only half-underground in back and it's above ground on the other three sides. But the ground floor is only halfway above ground in front (and completely below in the rest) and the basement/garage is, well. It's above grade in front, where the doors are, but that's it.