I thought it was time I posted about my 'lofty' ambitions to upgrade our loft into a space that will have a slot car track along with some storage and a bit of space for other fun stuff, or even a temporary extra bedroom for when friends come to stay.
I'd like it to be clean, bright, warm and a decent space to spend time in, along with being a decent constant temperature so my slot stuff doesn't get ruined by excess heat/cold.
It will be as low cost as possible, so no Velux windows or anything like that, but we will be insulating the space because that should benefit the whole house
So that's the plan.
We moved about 2 years ago and I started the project last year. I'll start by bringing us up to date with photos of progress so far, spanning the last year of hell fixing plasterboard solo at 45degs above my head, (discovered 'Her in Lane 2' is allergic to plaster dust so couldn't help out), rewiring and re positioning a lot of the upstairs lighting while I had access from the loft above before boarding over the loft floor, and generally being frustrated at not being able to have a good old play of slot cars for fear of getting thick plaster & fibreglass dust on my beautiful slot things!
To start with here are some 'before' pix, from when we looked at the house before buying. Obviously a decent sized loft was a buying factor!
Sorry for poor quality, they're vid grabs. More updates to follow.
Richard
Don't forget to insulate the roof panels... keeps heat down in summer and warmer in winter...
If you want to save the need for all that plasterboard cutting to get it in the loft hatch... this product both insulates, stops dust and comes in easy to use panels...
You just push them into the gap between the rafters and they just shrink to fit... Finish "looks ok" and flame retardent... used by a friend and me soon(ish).
I am just in the process of sorting my loft for slot cars too. Its already boarded out so the floor is good. I have just been looking into the foil bubble insulation. Seems decent stuff.
Hi, Here's the next few pix...
We got the eves insulated with the foil covered hard foamy stuff, which works brilliantly, but left quite a lot of mess in the loft.
You can see it at the back of some of these pix. It pushes between the rafters, looks similar to what you're talking about there Sean.
It's quite a bit more expensive than lagging the floor with rolls of Glassfibre, but so far seems to be worth the cost as it's keeping a fairly even temperature summer & winter. At the moment I definitely need a jumper up there, but there's no heating other than leaving the loft hatch open, (and warm hand controllers/motors) which I reckon is pretty good.
I then plaster boarded over it, doing a fairly rubbish job with the wrong type of plaster board. One of the most hateful DIY jobs I've ever done... just gritted my teeth & kept my eyes on the prize!
all most the same place I am except you have boarded the ceiling, i'm having electric and a light switch put in on friday for the strip lights then I can get on 'hiding' the rubbish up there - I must take some pictures - and start a blog
looks like you have done a great job so far though !
what are your track plans regarding the purlins running through at waist height? Mines the same and its posing a bit of a head scratcher! My purlin is 880 underside to about 1050 so its a bit high to make the 1050 the level of my track boards.
Yeah, those bl**dy bits of wood in the way! I've whacked my head on them sooo many times trying to duck under them.
AND a cold water tank right in the middle of the loft... whoever designed these houses 60 odd years ago wasn't thinking about the future needs of geeky slotters.
Jimk, they're at waist height, so the boards for the track will lay across them. Works out to be a good height, as the layout is long and thin, so 'reach over' isn't a problem.
Richard
At about this point the new loft ladder went in, with a larger loft hatch for ease of access.
And while it was still a mess up in the loft, I alleviated my frustration with a bit of rug racing in the spare room.
Aaah, thats better - putting some laps in...
It was at about this point that I realised my knees might not approve of having a track on the floor of the loft...
QUOTE yihaa rug racing rocks \m/ (Except for the knees issue)
PSRRFH- would that... \m/ ...be horns or is it me on my knees trying to get up?
I believe 'The Horns' were invented by the Dark One to measure the distance between slots using index and little finger.
It was only much later that it got taken over by Metalists.
Ya I understand about problems with knees. my loft is too low for anything much, I suppose you could always stand on the ladder and race from there, of course that would only work if your a lone racer.
Anyway great job so far, cant wait to see the end product.
excuse me for butting in, but have you fitted a vapour barrier between the insulation and the plasterboad.
apologies if you have.
but essential if you haven't.
regards Malminor
Er... no. To be honest, there's a chance we'll do a proper loft conversion in a few years, so it's not quite as 'permanent' as the title suggests. The investment in insulating the eves was on the basis that it will stay if we do convert, but the plasterboard is just screwed to the eves, and will be left bare. I don't plan to cover joints, paint, etc, so it should be fairly easy to remove when (if) necessary.
This project is more about making the loft a useable/warm space for storage and fun and games over the next few years.
Thanks for the tip though, and thanks to you all so far for your nice comments. Seeing what others have done to their lofts on the forum has been inspiring to me, so I hope that documenting what I'm doing might be useful to others too.
Keep looking at your loft pics and thinking you must have the same design house as me!
Here's what I've got up there now - sorry about the rubbish photo montage, I'm waiting for someone to buy me a new camera
There's room for four drivers and three marshals... just wish those damn beams and the chimney weren't there. Still it's surprising how well you can make yourself drive so that you don't have duck about to get to the far end.
Still got a lot to do (especially changing to some decent controllers), but it's generally there. Perhaps I should ask the Mrs if we could move to someplace larger - I've got about the same amount of track to use again
Lap times are around 4.75 secs (non magnet) with a slot-It or Ninco.
Just been up there for a few laps... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr freezing
QUOTE Keep looking at your loft pics and thinking you must have the same design house as me!
Hi Abbo, ours is a post war 3 bed Semi, so I guess it will look similar to most people's loft!
I don't think I'll be spreading the track out like yours, as I've go to pretend that the loft is for more than just slots.
At least for the time being.
Richard
Have started on my loft now Richard so will be getting a thread up soon. After speaking to a builder I am removing the large wooden beams through the middle and adding loads of smaller ones above head height. Just taken delivery of all the insulatiion and plasterboard.
This started me thinking about including a high speed oval type track, with the main track cutting through it using cross roads. Two tracks on one board with separate power & control, but intertwined. Maybe a pacer on the oval, to get hours of endless drifting.
Just a thought at this stage. Might give it a try though for fun.
Richard
Rug racing fun over, too much of a distraction and too much still to do in the loft!
Here's some more pix showing the plasterboard detail at the very top.
The rather fetching lights were in the lounge when we moved in, but 'we' didn't like them.
I think they look lovely in the loft, which at this point is starting to look a bit like a useful room. How exciting!
Looking good Richard... although unless you're going for a Gothic theme of some kind, do you not think a couple of double strip lights would give you better illumination?????
ABBO
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