Door or open down to basement from first floor?
whaas_5a
5 years ago
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Possible to turn a basement fireplace to a first floor?
Comments (5)I think I understand your situation -- you want a fireplace on the first floor. So why not use the chimney that's used for the basement fireplace. What you have in mind can, IN PRINCIPLE, be done. But how costly and messy a job it would be, and whether that's a more desirable alternative to building a fireplace from scratch, would have to be determined by a chimney expert after looking over your fireplace. I have a feeling that any reputable contractor would probably give you a rough estimate of the cost, and stipulate that he cannot be sure because once he breaks into the chimney he may find some bad surprises that will add to the cost. It would probably be a good idea to get more than one professional opinion on this project. On the other hand, maybe your chimney was already built with two updrafts to accomodate a fireplace on the first floor to be put in at some future time. That would be a really lucky break. But if that's not the case, and you go ahead with a first floor fireplace, you probably will no longer be able to use the one in the basement. Or possibly only one at a time, but never both simultaneously....See MoreWire routing conundrum basement to first floor
Comments (4)You should be able to go outside of the house and determine if the building sticks out over the foundation. More likely a house build that early had a very thick stone foundation ....12"-36" thick. Thus the foundation is much thicker than the wall. Most of the extra wall thickness is on the inside of the house. It sounds like it might be built with the studs resting either on the foundation or on a sill plate. The joist cavities were commonly filled with brick mortared in. Sometimes I've seen plaster and lathe. The filler is for insulation and not building support. The trick is to remove whatever you can between those joist and reach up in there with a right angle drill and a small bit. You should first drill down from above on the edge of the baseboard with a tiny pilot bit and stick a piece of wire through the tiny hole so you will know where the wall is. Then from below try to go about 3" out (toward the outside of the house) from that marker. That would put you inside of the wall. If you can't get up into the bay with your drill you might try an 18" bit at an angle. After all this if you just can't get through anywhere then you are stuck with running wiremold from an inside wall to the outside walls. Or tearing into the wall from the floor you are working on. Some people would suggest that you remove the baseboard, but you are definitley going to get into a lot of carpentry work if you do that. They never come out that cleanly...especially in an older house....See MoreUrgent! Yellow paint color for first floor open floor plan
Comments (42)My small master bath is painted Philadelphia Cream and I've hated it forever. A small sample on the wall looked so creamy and innocuous but four tall walls (9-ft. and vaulted beyond) in a small room make it nearly pulsate. I've been meaning to repaint for ages....See Morecutting down a nice, new door to fit a too small opening
Comments (10)Four options: Trim the hinge side but as others have mentioned you'll probably run out of solid wood to attach the hinges. The door won't look very good either. Trim both sides. You still still probably have an issue with the hinges and will need to fill in where the door was bored for the lockset. Enlarge the rough opening, which is going to be a lot of work. Order a door in the correct size. If you trim the door you're going to need a circular saw, fine tooth blade, and some kind of straight edge ($25 if you make one, $100+ if you buy one). You'll also need a couple of hole saws - one to cut the plug, one to cut the new hole - plus a spade bit to drill for the latch, chisels or template/router for the hinges. If you do trim, be careful with the piece you cut off the hinge side. Use that to lay out for the new hinge mortises rather than trying to measure. If you do go this route, I would strongly suggest practicing on one of the old doors first! Personally I would just order a new door and be done with it. Sell the old one or donate it....See Morewhaas_5a
5 years agoILoveRed
5 years agoILoveRed
5 years agoUser
5 years ago
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