A lot is going on in the attic

As you may have heard, there are a couple of rats in the attic, and we need heat ducting installed in the attic. The house needs to be rewired, and I'd like to drop down ethernet cables. Not too long ago we had our old asbestos-y insulated ducting removed from the attic. We have all kinds of reasons for needing access to our attic as of late. There are a couple of ways in to the attic. I think you could climb up there if you could make your way around the false ceiling in the garage. (I'm going to tear that bullshit down someday.) There's a tiny attic entrance in the closet of the 4th bedroom (the add-on room). This thing is probably 12" x 12". You couldn't really get in through there. I don't know what's up with that thing. Finally there is a door in the siding of the house outside of the 4th bedroom.

See the outline in the upper portion of the siding above the window? That's the attic door. Real handy, huh? Observant readers will have noticed that the roof wasn't installed properly on the add-on. There isn't any overhang or gutter. Water seems to have found its way into the attic door. It's not too bad, but there is enough water damage that the hinges are useless. There is at least a small amount of water damage to the door frame, but it mostly seems to be to the door itself. The siding seems to be okay mostly. The attic door frame is made of 2" x 4" pieces, and it's decently damaged.


So, to recap, the hinges are useless. To get in to the attic, you need to climb a ladder, pull the door out of the wall like it's a plug, and either hand it to a nice person standing by on the ground, or walk yourself back down the ladder with it. This is a dangerous and difficult situation. So, before we have ducting work under way, I'm going to rebuild this door. This is a very simple project, but I'm excited because it's my first woodworking project. So, the door is simply a 2x4 rectangular frame with a diagonal crosspiece. The hinges are mounted on the frame. The siding is nailed to the front face, and there's a latch attached to one side of the siding. I purchased a circular saw to cut my wood. I have a large heavy desk in the garage that I used as a workbench. It worked so well that I'll probably keep it out there for that purpose. Here's my new door frame:

My grandfather used to build furniture as a hobby. He would make us little wooden toys for Christmas. He made such beautiful pieces. A part of me has always wanted to be like him and be able to make woodwork. So here's my first small step. I'm mostly finished with my door. I just need to install the hinges and nail on the siding and the latch (I'm reusing the siding from the old frame). My next woodworking project will be to build raised redwood garden beds. After that, I'm going for something a little more ambitious. Marth and I want to get chickens, so I'm going to build a chicken coop for them. Now that will be quite a project! I intend to post many pictures as I progress through that endeavor. I'll be sure to post some before and after pictures of the planter boxes. I don't think there are any garden pictures up yet.