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Bad news is I lost my mandatory basement closet...
Scott and I were at the same party, and he dragged me down into the basement (he's a very strict disciplinarian) and pointed me to the stairs. He explained that the houses were designed to have stairs in the basic structure, including joists, so a wall to hold them would be odd. Although most joists go from one side to the other, for necessary gaps you can "sister" joists to rest some on neighboring by crossing a beam perpendicular to the main joists and resting the beams on them.
I left the party and stopped by my house, peeked up at the same thing I looked at the prior day and saw something completely different. Sure, the beams stopped at the cider block wall; however they also stopped in another beam. While to my untrained eye that looked natural and like a piece of wall, perhaps, thinking about sistered joists, I realize it would make no sense to have a giant beam of that size running perpendicular to the structural ones just to make a wall.
Neato.
Now that I've become a prolific hole maker (it's practically a trade!) I'm ready to pull out the ceiling where Jordan identified a sag throughout the house. I may be able to see the source of the problem myself, though what I see and what it means I may not be able to determine on my own.
I'm very open about my level of ignorance, and now more humble and impressed with the range of construction knowledge people have. It's fun to shop and pick pretty 3 things from an array of 40 choices, but even if I suck at construction skills it's thrilling to be more knowledgeable about them generally, and see pieces of houses where once I just saw buildings.
Edit:
I've also realized my frig is 36" (I wrote down measurements from my home frig at a standard 30" and got confused). I've all but thrown in the towel on the keep-the-frig idea, even though a huge problem is selling the thing as the f-b measurement is 32" and the door is 31" or so; to get the thing out the door you have to remove the doors. But I think I've given in to ridding myself of the giant coffin-frig, which only leaves me with the stove and over-stove microwave. Most folks like a range hood, so if I ditch that...I'm now at the only original piece being the gas stove. I may a) ditch the oversized frig for a standard 30" model, b) ditch the bolted microwave for a shelf-version, and curiously c) change the color - to probably white. I greatly don't care about plastic-stainless colored crap and think it'll be tomorrow's avocado green dated garbage, and I like white. More, like subway tile patterns, my grandma's toddler killing frig with it's locking handle was white...white appliances are eternal AND they work with magnets! What good is a stainless trendy look without magnet toys? So I may lose the last of my appliances.
Side-note on house posts: I've solicited an accountant. I've sold a ton of stocks, and while my income overall will be offset by my home purchase and interest, this is the 2nd year in a row the gov has told me I computed my taxes wrong. Given the level of my activity, combined with the complexity of deductions as I develop income property, I'm taking my "construction is complex" lesson and decided to apply it where other people normally do - taxes. Let's just assume I'm not a tax expert...
Scott and I were at the same party, and he dragged me down into the basement (he's a very strict disciplinarian) and pointed me to the stairs. He explained that the houses were designed to have stairs in the basic structure, including joists, so a wall to hold them would be odd. Although most joists go from one side to the other, for necessary gaps you can "sister" joists to rest some on neighboring by crossing a beam perpendicular to the main joists and resting the beams on them.
I left the party and stopped by my house, peeked up at the same thing I looked at the prior day and saw something completely different. Sure, the beams stopped at the cider block wall; however they also stopped in another beam. While to my untrained eye that looked natural and like a piece of wall, perhaps, thinking about sistered joists, I realize it would make no sense to have a giant beam of that size running perpendicular to the structural ones just to make a wall.
Neato.
Now that I've become a prolific hole maker (it's practically a trade!) I'm ready to pull out the ceiling where Jordan identified a sag throughout the house. I may be able to see the source of the problem myself, though what I see and what it means I may not be able to determine on my own.
I'm very open about my level of ignorance, and now more humble and impressed with the range of construction knowledge people have. It's fun to shop and pick pretty 3 things from an array of 40 choices, but even if I suck at construction skills it's thrilling to be more knowledgeable about them generally, and see pieces of houses where once I just saw buildings.
Edit:
I've also realized my frig is 36" (I wrote down measurements from my home frig at a standard 30" and got confused). I've all but thrown in the towel on the keep-the-frig idea, even though a huge problem is selling the thing as the f-b measurement is 32" and the door is 31" or so; to get the thing out the door you have to remove the doors. But I think I've given in to ridding myself of the giant coffin-frig, which only leaves me with the stove and over-stove microwave. Most folks like a range hood, so if I ditch that...I'm now at the only original piece being the gas stove. I may a) ditch the oversized frig for a standard 30" model, b) ditch the bolted microwave for a shelf-version, and curiously c) change the color - to probably white. I greatly don't care about plastic-stainless colored crap and think it'll be tomorrow's avocado green dated garbage, and I like white. More, like subway tile patterns, my grandma's toddler killing frig with it's locking handle was white...white appliances are eternal AND they work with magnets! What good is a stainless trendy look without magnet toys? So I may lose the last of my appliances.
Side-note on house posts: I've solicited an accountant. I've sold a ton of stocks, and while my income overall will be offset by my home purchase and interest, this is the 2nd year in a row the gov has told me I computed my taxes wrong. Given the level of my activity, combined with the complexity of deductions as I develop income property, I'm taking my "construction is complex" lesson and decided to apply it where other people normally do - taxes. Let's just assume I'm not a tax expert...
