Today is another edition of home improvement roundup, but first it's day 8 of the photopalooza. I promised pictures taken during the day, but I cheated a little and also added some effects. It's just when I saw them that they looked a little old timey so I made them look really old timey. The first is of a house just across the field from mine. No one knows who owns that particular piece of land, and the second is of some houses and trees behind me past another field. We'll have to see what we come up with today.
Home Improvement Roundup. This week's edition will be followed by a tutorial next week. This week's edition is about taking down a wall between two rooms. Not just any wall. No, a load bearing wall. I want a more open floor plan in this ugly double wide of mine so I decided we needed to take down the wall between the kitchen and living room. When I'm done the living room will no longer be the living room but a library/dining room. But, that's in the future.
Creating a more open floor plan aids in heating the home. It will be a more efficient way for the heat to pass from room to room. Plus, an open floor plan gives the illusion that the rooms are bigger and the house is bigger than it actually is. There are a few problems with taking down a load bearing wall like how to support the weight of the roof. The good part is that a roof on a double wide does not weigh as much as a roof on a normal house so we created a few header beams(next week's tutorial) and attached them to either side of the existing wall.
Actually, we have only attached one beam. I can't seem to get someone(ahem, Steve) to do the other one. Maybe on his day off. Once that is done, we can then begin to tear the wood frame of the wall out. The wood we tear out will be saved and used in other projects in the house. Also, while doing a project like this, it's a good time to insulate any cold spots you may find in the walls. I suggest the blue hard foam that you can find in sheets at any home improvement store. We will also be rerouting electricity so that we can install a ceiling fan and some much needed lights in the ceiling as there never were any in this house.
Well, I'll be back tomorrow with more pics for the photopalooza and hopefully a new item for my shop. Home Improvement Roundup will be back next Thursday with a tutorial on header beams that are more common than you think. It'll save you money on your home improvement project if you know how to make one.
