Finally, I can post about this. Before we even moved here, there were whisperings about remaking the attic in the Jackson home. In fact, when we were here during Christmas 2008, we were starting to get things ready, even though I hadn’t been accepted here yet.
The attic was, of course, used for storage. During Christmas we mostly just moved all of the storage boxes and bins from this attic to the attic in the barn. Between then and July, when we came. Katie’s dad and brother Erik worked on the floor and brought in equipment like tools and a table saw. I can’t say much for that because I wasn’t here, but from what I hear it was a beast to do because they had to bring about 70 pieces of wood up, one at a time.
Bringing things into the attic from outside was no trivial task. The main stair case has a very sharp corner, making it difficult to make the turn when you are carrying something long. So, we had to go through a side door in the house, come up some metal stairs, then through a door into the second floor, then up into the attic. The entire process takes a while without carrying anything at all. But, that’s how we got everything up the stairs from the 30 rolls of insulation, 80 pieces of sheet rock, 50 pieces of beams ,30 pieces of particle board, tile, flooring, ceiling wood, and finally furniture.
A ballpark guess at how big the floor space is about 40 by 60 feet. It’s quite large, but that also includes the entry way which takes some floor space, and the two chimneys that come up through the floor. There are four windows that face west and two that face south. The north side connects to a middle area that connects to the Scheune and barn area. Being directly under the roof, it tapers all the way up until the two meet in the middle, probably about 30 feet above the attic floor. Between the attic floor was another apparent level, but there were only some beams to walk on, no real floor.
After I got accepted into the program and we were making plans on coming here, we were getting phone calls on what the plan was, and whether or not I could do it. I didn’t say it then, but I really had no experience building anything like they were going to build. I have helped in several projects, but I’ve never hung a door or made walls before. But, how hard could it be?
Then I got here. At first look, it really appeared to be a big project. Being built in 1830, the walls and supports don’t stand flush and straight. It was dirty and there were wires and nails everywhere. No matter. The day after we got here, I began to work. I got onto the second level and swept off the dust, then vacuumed it off the floor, then I vacuumed the second level and it wasn’t enough. Dust and dirt would be our constant companion as we worked from then on. After a few days of taking care of dirt, I went around with several tools and cleaned up the nails that were just sticking out of various places. We had a few rolls of insulation which I used up in a hurry, filling in just one column between roof beams- one column out of about 30.
In these pictures, you can sort of notice how there are two levels of the attic, the floor level and the upper rafter-type area (First three are the ‘before’ pictures). This gallery has all of the pictures on this post, some of them show up again later on.
After two weeks of getting things ready, we finally went to the Baumarkt called Practiker in Kaiserslautern and make an order for insulation, plastic rolls, sheet rock, and wood for the walls. We tried to busy ourselves in the attic with some of the things we had until the shipment would come, but what we really needed was the shipment. Despite it taking three weeks, no body noticed that the wood we ordered for the walls cost over 20 euros per piece (we bought 50 of them) and it was too late to change our order. When Erik and I were looking for the right wood for the walls, we found some and thought they were 7 euros each, but they ended up being 7 euros per meter, 3 meters long. Yikes. At least we know that our walls have solid wood in them (and they really do).
Finally, the supplies came. We had the missionaries over to help us haul everything up to the attic. Now our attic was full and we had little room to work, but that didn’t last long. Over the next week Erik and I worked on the insulation, all 30 rolls of it from the floor to the very top where the roof meets. It was dangerous, actually, because when we worked on the upper level, one person had to hold the small scaffolding that we had so it wouldn’t tip while the other put in the insulation. Because the upper level didn’t have any flooring, we had to take up some thick plywood to put the scaffolding on. Really, it was as big as the scaffolding, so one would be standing on the scaffolding, about 25 feet above the floor, and it sometimes got wobbly. We never worked on insulation alone, just in case. In some places, the column beams were too far apart, so we had to get creative with nails and thin boards to hold in the insulation. We would always come back filthy from working on the insulation and it seemed like no amount of showering would take away the itchy feeling, despite all of our preparations. Also, being in August, it wasn’t pleasant to work in the attic. But, in a week’s time, we were done with the insulation, the worst part of the project.
Of course, with insulation done, but we weren’t done with it yet. Meaning, it was still exposed, and we still had to work next to it. The next step was to put plastic over the insulation with a nail gun. Sometimes it was pretty fast going, other times it was difficult to keep the plastic straight, or pull it behind some of the support beams. But, as with the insulation, it took about a week and we got it done all the way up to the point, again using the scaffolding.
With insulation and plastic in place we were ready to somehow get sheet rock where it needed to be, but first we needed some small wood beams to attach the sheet rock to. These were cheap, but we had to drill holes and then use screws to attach them to the house beams. This took some effort and we had to do our best to guess what would make the sheet rock flat and flush, which was a tough task. Erik got to be pretty good at this part (see picture with Erik, you’ll notice the skeleton wood for the sheet rock). Then, we put in the sheet rock, then plaster. There. Just like that, in a few sentences I told you about a long, difficult process. The outside walls were complete to the point they were going to be until everything else was done before we painted.
The above gallery only shows the process of the outer walls (which is really the roof), but that is only a small part of the story. Next, we built the walls and hung the doors (4 of them), keeping in mind where we wanted the windows (2 of them). The overall plan had changed several times, so we wanted to be sure of what we wanted before we put in the walls. In the end, we wanted two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a ‘front’ door. Here, you can see the doors for the two bedrooms and on the right you can see the front door.
This picture actually shows a lot. You’ll notice the chimney that we had to work around. On the base of it you’ll see the only three electrical sockets in the attic that we had to use until the electrician came. In the same place are the incoming pipes for hot and cold water and the drain pipe. We had to build everything around this chimney, which is why the bathroom is there in stead of next to a window. We decided to build it out and put in a nice, big shower. You’ll notice where the walls are. We couldn’t build a wall then lift if up and into place. No, we had to build the top and bottom extremes, then add in the beams. We did our best to keep things straight and true, but as we were working with an old house, some of the places we had to follow were less than straight, but things worked out quite well.
Somewhere along the way, Katie’s dad and I made a trip to find an alleged wood mill in the area at a very small village called Niederalben. We finally found it and decided that we wanted to use the wood for our ceiling. They later ordered the wood and had it delivered, another project for myself and the missionaries. It took Erik and me about a week to get the ceiling in, but it made a huge difference once it was done.
With walls in place, we were ready for electricity and plumbing. The plumbing included the heating system, a radiator by each of the 4 west windows, one in the kids room, and one in the bathroom. To do this, they had to go from the chimney, up along the second level, and back down in or along the walls. They also did part of the bathroom plumbing during this time. The electrician had us put in one wall, then he added in plugs and switches (the orange spots), and hung wires for the lights.
Then came the bathroom. We had issues with the bathroom because the plumbers ended up being young men who did strange things. Well, they were able get drain pipes and the pipes for the sinks in so we could get the floor done. The floor had to be raised above the pipes. We knew this in advance, but it ended up being a little higher than we anticipated. We put wood around the pipes and in various places around the floor for support then put very thick particle board (that’s what they have), two layers, to hide the wires and pipes and still be strong enough for a tile.
Somewhere about here, things got busy for everyone. I was in the middle of a semester of school and Katie’s dat was busy. Erik, bless his heart, could still get things done, but one person alone wasn’t going to get things done nearly fast enough. So, Katie’s mom hired a local German (we’ll call him Arnold) who was looking for some work. He eneded up being quite good. He did a lot of plastering and sanding to begin with. The tile guy came and did his thing, a nice job indeed, and we won’t say any more about Mr. Tile Guy.
By now the walls were ready to paint, but….something was wrong. No matter what we did, it was obvious where the sheet rock came together despite all of the plaster and sanding. So, we went with another kind of plaster that we ended up putting all over every wall for texture to hid our mistakes. It made things look a lot better, and it was only several days more work. Erik, Arnold, and myself made quick work of it.
Painting happened in a few days time, thanks to the women of the house and a kind neighbor (and the missionaries again). Then, finally, the floor. Erik and Arnold became the experts at the floor. It was slow going at first, but it was done enough by the day my parnents came into town. Katie and I were able to put a matress into one of the new rooms and move the girls into their rooms.
Here we have a picture of the painted walls, heaters in, and the floor is in process. The dark stuff on the right is the laminate flooring.
For the next week we finished the bathroom, installed the kitchen (thanks Erik!) and hauled a lot of stuff upstairs. Our dads were helpful in moving and putting together furniture. We’ve moved stuff around a lot since then, made several trips to different stores for furniture, and a trip to IKEA.
We’re thrilled to be here, finally. We’ve been living in Erik’s room for 5 months. Since then our family grew by one person. Elsa’s room was in the downstairs dining room. I had a desk, but it was tough to share the space with everyone else when I was trying to focus or work. I felt like I had really moved in when I put my computer on my desk and checked my email.
Here we have our living room area. I changed our camera settings to capture the way the lights reflect off the stone. It’s a little strong, but you get the idea.
Here’s the kitchen area. We have our table, storage space, and the kitchen spot on the left has a sink, a 2-burner stove, a mini fridge, and some cabinets:
Here we have the other side from the kitchen. The front door is on the right side there and you can probably figure out the rest.
We love it. We still have to do a number of things like touch-up painting, caulking, oiling, etc. Nothing is ever really done. At this point, however, we hardly notice. It’s just right for us. Elsa loves having a place to play and I love having my work space. With a nice bathroom, a little kitchen, a sizable living room, and two bedrooms, we have just what we need to put half of the people in the house.
I made a great video for it, but it’s about 75 mb. Nothing else does it justice, so if you really want to see details, you’ll just have to visit!
We call it Oberhausen and the rest of the house is Niederhauasen. It is left up to the reader to figure out what those mean.
