Job almost done? Here are some good tips on dealing with common problems and adding those extra built-in features

When you start converting an attic or basement you can sud­denly find yourself confronted with, as the teen-agers say, a set of kookie problems. Usually the space was not designed as living quarters and the change-over, complete with desirable facilities, can sometimes be a real hassle. Although it's impossible to list each strange problem you'll run into and then authoritatively detail an answer, this chapter covers the most common ones along with some suggested solutions.

Generally speaking, attic and basement remodeling problems come under three heads: space, light and minor obstructions. There is one important clue to fully utilizing attic and basement space. The answer is summed up in one

Gel the most out of your newly remodeled space by planning and installing the features you want. A serving counter is a rec-reation room "must."

Counter,  described  in  text,  is  built  on  framework  of  2x2in.  lumber.  Build  rectangles  for  top  and bottom, install uprights and add cross bracing. Cover with paneling and fasten the top with wood screws.

word: built-ins. Built-ins leave more floor space open, give a feeling of spaciousness to otherwise cramped quarters and permit you to add the features you really want such as a snack bar, cooking facilities or storage cabinets.

Before delving into the problems posed by light (or lack of it) and minor obstructions, here are some of the more popular ideas for built-ins and a quick run-through on construction details.

Serving Counters and Bars

Certainly no recreation area is complete without a serving counter or bar. One version you'll see illustrated here was made of knotty pine paneling. The trick in this type of construction is to build a framework of 2x2-in. lumber. Start the construction by framing two rectangles, one for the top and one for the bottom of the bar. You don't have to get fancy here, just butt-join the corners and nail them. Fasten the bot­tom rectangle to the floor, install the up­rights and attach the top rectangle. Then add the horizontal cross bracing. All this sounds pretty casual. To make the struc­ture strong enough so your friends' elbows won't cave it in, be sure to line up all sur­faces with a level. This maneuver will also enable you to match the paneling at edges and corners.

Cover the whole framework with knotty pine tongue-and-groove paneling. Tops should be made of white pine shelving. Fasten down with wood screws. Finish the front and sides of the bar to match the rest of the woodwork in the room. Treat the top with several coats of spar varnish. For a completely alcohol-proof surface you may prefer to use a tough plastic laminate such as Formica.

Dwyer Products Corp.

Western Pines Assn. Wall benches with hinged lids provide both seating and storage. Frame in as above using 2x2-in. stock.

Fasten top boards with battens and install piano hinges. Standard butt joints are used in construction.

Matching tongue-and-groove paneling was used to finish benches. Just add a comfortable cushion.

Waste apace in sloping attic can be reclaimed by building in storage facilities such as a chest

An old chest of drawers serves as well as a new built-in. Simply frame it in and refinish front.

Built-in bedroom (left) includes sliding bunk, built-in wardrobe, drawers and big rolling toy bins.

Wall Benches

Wall benches are doubly handy because they serve two purposes. Besides providing seating, they add considerable storage space if you build them with lift-up tops.

Start off the project by framing in a rec­tangle for the top of the bench. Use 2x2-in. lumber and standard butt joints. Make a smaller frame for the base. Fasten the large frame to the wall, the small one to the floor and add the supporting members in between. As you'll note in the photo­graph, the front of the bench tapers and gets narrower toward the floor. The idea behind this maneuver is to allow leg room for more comfortable seating.

Cover the front and sides of the wall bench with tongue-and-groove pine panel­ing finished off to match the rest of the woodwork. Bench lids can either be the same tongue-and-groove boards or square-edged pine shelving. Allow a 1-in. overhang in the front. Fasten the top boards together with 1x3 battens and hold them in place with piano hinges. Add a nice comfortable cushion and you're all set.

A built-in shadow box adds interest. Set the box between studs and connect up a light source.

Large built-ins offer. Diversi­fied storage facilities. Use 2x2-in. lumber for framing in, and cover with tongue-and-groove paneling or plywood. Simple butt joints and batten doors were used with this unit.

Harman Karlo Built-in bookcase alcove leaves room for the hi fi. Plan built-ins to meet your requirements.

Chest of Drawers

A standard and quite practical gambit in finishing off an attic is to build in a chest of drawers. Usually there's a huge amount of waste space at the point where the sloping roof makes the head room too shal­low for comfortable use. Drop a wall down at this point and let the drawers extend into the triangular waste space so that the fronts are flush with the surface of the wall. And if you're not too keen on build­ing a chest of drawers, see if you can res­cue one from the secondhand store. Re-finish the front, frame in for it, and build it into the wall.

Try the same framing-in technique to add a built-in shadow box. A simple wood frame can be set into the wall between the studs so that it projects slightly. If you want to make this a decorative accessory, connect up a light source and fasten an ornate picture frame in front. Then you're all set to show off trophies, awards, prize statuary or the other bits of nonsense that become so valuable in almost any household.

Wall Cabinets

Don't for one moment think you're limited to shelves or drawers. Wall cabi­nets are quite easy to build. Make a sup­porting framework (2x2-in. lumber is a pretty good choice) and cover it with tongue-and-groove paneling or plywood in whatever veneer pleases your fancy.

Don't forget the stereo hi-fi. No home is complete without this dramatic aid to mu­sical enjoyment. Nowadays most people are proud of their electronic rig and don't care to have it concealed behind cabinet doors. If music is your interest perhaps you'll want to combine the hi-fi set with record cabinets or bookshelves to form a treat­ment that is both handsome and useful. Be­fore you start cutting wood, however, take enough time to plan the installation. Gather together and measure your amplifier, your tuner, speaker, etc., plus all the books and records. It's very important that this type of built-in be completely functional as well as beautiful. With a little forethought the combination is easy to achieve.

Sewing Facilities

Many homemakers nowadays like to use the attic or basement area as a part-time sewing room. In addition to work space and counter tops for the sewing machine, be sure to plan plenty of storage space for threads, patterns, fabrics and all the rest of the accessories that go with most home sewing. Once again if you take time to plan the job the finished result can be not only useful but a thoroughly beautiful addition to your home.

The Singer Sewing Machine Company, which pioneered this idea, suggests that you install drop-down counter space for laying out fabrics and patterns. A built-in ironing board close at hand is more than a luxury. Ditto for plenty of carefully po­sitioned work light.

Kitchen Equipment

There's still one element lacking in this bright and happy picture: food. The odds are pretty good that you're going to use this newly remodeled area for entertain­ing. If you plan to offer anything more than cheese dip and potato chips, you'd better give some thought to building in some cooking and serving facilities. All this, of course, should be geared to the amount of entertaining you do and the family budget. Many casual young homemakers will find that a drop-down Formica counter with nearby electric outlets for rotisserie, sand­wich grill or the like will do the trick. If, however, you are very big on the cooking bit, you may want to install complete kitchen facilities. This is not nearly as in­volved as it sounds. Quite a few remodeled attics or basements are also designed as apartments or as guest space for long term visitors. Here, of course, a built-in kitchen is a necessity.

The best known name in cabinet kitchens is Murphy Door Bed Company. Their one-piece units combine range, refrigerator, sink and storage space. All this in a rig that measures as little as 39-in. wide. The whole affair can be tucked into a closet or enclosed with shutter doors to conceal it. Swing them open and a sitting room be­comes a dinette.

Unless you've had considerable experi­ence along this line, better call in a profes­sional to hook up the water, gas and electric lines. Because the unit mounts flat against the wall, the roughing-in of pipes and wires must be done with fractional precision. Most other types of installation allow a little leeway so that a slight miscalculation can be covered up later. Not so in this case. The whole job must be done very carefully.

On the other hand the job of building an enclosure for the Murphy Cabinet Kitchen is well within the ken of the aver­age home handy man. Just as if you were constructing a closet, frame in the enclo­sure carefully following the dimensions suggested by the manufacturer. Inciden­tally, you're not restricted to the 39-in. wide unit. Murphy (and several other manufacturers in this field) make the same units in sizes ranging up to 5 or 6 ft. long. Naturally the bigger ones are more com­plete with more work space, storage area, additional range burners, etc. You can get spec sheets from the dealer who sells these units. These detail exact dimensions for the plumber to use for installing water lines and as your guide for building-in the kitchen.

Courtesy Singer Saran Div. Dow Chemical

Frame in the enclosure using 2x4s and conventional construction. For further de­tails check the chapter covering stud walls. You may want to fill out the space along the wall with built-in cabinets, clothes closets or other storage units. All this will have to be adapted to the available space you have.

Plywood for Built-Ins

Since many of the built-ins will be made of plywood, here's a few hints on quick and easy methods for working with this material. In building drawers or small cabinets, for example, you'll probably find the easiest technique is to work with :!4-m. plywood. These sheets can be fastened to­gether without using any other framework. Miter the corner joints at a 45-degree angle, apply wood glue and hold the pieces together with corrugated clamp nails. This eliminates the need for clamps while you wait for the glue to dry.

If you want to cut down on material costs you can shift over to Vi-in. plywood. In this case, however, you'd better figure on adding reinforcing blocks at the corners to make the joints stronger.

Looking for a simple way of making drawers? Here's a tip that's on the rough and ready side but completely workable. Instead of using thin plywood for the bot­tom of the drawer, make it of %- or %-in. thick stock. Allow the plywood to project about 38 in. beyond, the side panels then simply cut mortise grooves in the side walls of the cabinet. The projecting lip at the bottom of the drawer will fit into these ends and, with a little lubricant, slide in and out easily. The photo will make this clear.

For a variation on the same technique, build the sides of 3/4-in. thick plywood. Mortise out a groove in the side and fasten a narrow wood strip to the side of the cabinet. As you can see by the photo, the combination acts as both support and drawer slide.

For a very neat but simple installation, you may want to do away with drawer pulls completely. Just cut a hand-hold in the top surface of all drawers from the second one down. Then you'll be able to grip the under edge of the drawer fronts.

There's one fact about plywood you should always keep in mind. Although it has tremendous strength and holding power when nails or screws are fastened" through the face of the sheet, the end grain has only limited strength. For this reason you can't fasten hinges to the edge of the sheet as you would with a door. Instead, use surface hinges or offset hinges that bend around to hook onto the flat surface of the plywood.

		Dwyer Products Corp. Plywood wall for built-in kitchen is nailed to previously installed ceiling support (above). The wall bolts to the side of the kitchen equipment (right). Most kitchen installation work can be done by home handy man; get a profes­sional if needed to put in water, gas, electric lines.
The attic or basement can also be part-time sewing room with built-in facili­ties such as shelves and drop-down counterю

Once you've decided how you're going to take care of the space or storage problem in your newly remodeled living quarters, you may run into a number of problems in­herent in the construction of attics and basements. Although many of these are covered elsewhere to a greater or lesser degree, here's a quick once-over which may help you arrive at the ideal solution.

Steel Beams

From a structural standpoint, steel beams are great to have as the underpin­nings of your house. When you're trying to dress up the basement area, however, their decorative value is a big fat zero.

With combination range, refrigerator and sink in place, ventilating fan is assembled into the hood.

Photos Courtesy Nutone Side and backsplash panels of compact cabinet kitchen are in place here; the hood is put in last.

In this case your best bet is to "convert" the beam to wood. All you need to do is box in the steel girder so that it looks like an extra heavy wood beam.

Most basement supports are "I" beams. Cut blocks of 2x4s to fill in the space at either side of the beam. Space blocks 16 in. apart (measuring from center to center) and hold them in place with a glob of rub­ber-base cement. You may have to add a couple of clamps until the adhesive dries. Cut a couple of boards to fit along the sides of the beam and nail them on top of the short lengths of 2x4s. Cut another hunk of wood and nail it on the bottom to complete the job.

Small Windows

Stuck with a tiny window that's almost useless for admitting light and won't yield to the standard treatment of curtains, drapes or the like? Illusion is your solution here. Frame in the area around the window as if it were a huge expanse of glass. Next, build a folding screen using panels of Acrylite. This is a translucent plastic with real leaves, flowers or fabrics imbedded in it. If necessary add a few lights behind the plastic to brighten the final effect. Properly handled, this trick can give the impression of tremendous space and open­ness.

If all the windows are concentrated on one side of the room and your remodeling plan calls for a partition, don't make the wall solid. Instead, give some thought to the use of glass block so that you can bring soft, glare-free light from the adjacent room into the dingy corner.

For built-ins. simply butt 34-in. plywood. Thinner sheets need nailing blocks.

Easy way to make drawers is to let bottom pro­ject 3/8 in. and mortise grooves in the side walls.

Even though the illumination coming through the glass block won't add up to fully useful light, it can still eliminate that hemmed-in feeling that a basement room with no window so easily acquires.

One more idea along this line. In addi­tion to "borrowing" light from another room through a glass block wall, you can also back-light the entire panel with clear colored bulbs for some very jazzy after dark effects.

Noise

Many homeowners are very unhappy to discover that their basement "was quiet for only one reason—nobody ever went down there. After converting the. unused area to a recreation room, they sadly dis­cover that the rock n' roll blasts adult peace upstairs. If this might be your prob­lem make sure that an acoustical tile ceil­ing is part of the rebuilding job down-
stairs. As any sound engineer can tell you (you must know dozens of them) noise can be most easily stopped at its source. Acoustical ceiling tile will keep the sound that originates in a basement recreation area from being carried throughout the house. Understand it won't do what's known in high pressure circles as a "hun­dred per cent job," but it will be effective enough to make the project well worth your while.

The Open Plan

For quite some time now the "open plan" idea has been very popular in homes. Many families are quite pleased with the way that eliminating unnecessary walls and doors can make a small home seem larger. This same concept is growing in popularity below ground level. If this appeals to you, you might give up the idea of separating furnace room from utility room from rec­reation room. If you have a modern heat­ing unit that's relatively noise-free, you might devote some thought to the idea of leaving it out in the main area without partitioning the rig off from view. Most of today's units are housed in simple cabi­nets of fairly decent proportions. To mini­mize the furnace room look, cover the gadget with whatever wall surface you are using for the basement room—paint it to match the trim or cover it with wallpaper.

Steel Columns

No basement is complete without steel columns. At least that seems to be the pat­tern 90 per cent of the time. Since these structural bits of steel keep the upstairs from folding into the basement it's impos­sible to move them. The only thing left is camouflage. Here, take a tip from the rest of your recreation room decor. If it's nau­tical, wrap the posts with manila rope.

Another simple method of making drawers is to fasten strips to side walls, mortise the drawer.	Photos courtesy Douglas Fir Plywood Assn. Do away with drawer pulls by cutting hand holds from second drawer down to grip drawer above
Always use surface hinges when working with plywood. End grain has only limited holding strength.
Also available for plywood builtins are offset hinges that bend around to fasten to wood face.	"Convert" steel beam to wood by gluing in 2x4 blocks between the legs of beam. Cover as shown.
Create a picture window by covering small win­dow with screen. Add lights behind it ii desired.	A glass block partition can be used to conduct light ii the windows are all in the wrong area.
Fit bottom board in place under beam (scribing to fit pole if necessary) and nail it to the sides

Turn the thing into a palm tree to go with a south-seas atmosphere. Buy a bunch of fake ivy and have it trailing out of a pot overhead and spiraling down the posts. Build a suspended room divider spanning two posts. The possibilities, as you can see, are endless.

Light

Simulated light has been mentioned be­fore in this chapter. There's one more way that you can get the feeling of natural light without actually having any around.

If you will refer to the chapter on ceil­ings, you'll be pleased to discover the sec­tion on the new fiberglass suspended ceiling. To get full light value from this idea, fill in the grid with Fiberglas Polariz­ing light panels—don't use any solid panels at all. Then hook a Luxtrol Light Control onto the luminous ceiling so that you can vary intensity from brilliant to dim.

Dealing with Drawbacks

Most remodeling drawbacks can be easily solved if they're approached not as problems but as challenges. Many attics, for example, are made with semi-dormers in which the windows partially project above the slanting roof. To most people this is a decorating defect and they can't see any possibility of painting or papering their way out of it.

One young couple solved this problem and in the process turned a drawback into a striking decorative treatment. Using nothing but fabric, they transformed the window alcove into a fake canopy that looked just elegant. To set off the pseudo-formal treatment, they coated the walls with a light gold latex paint. The stuff rolled on easily, dried in an hour and left the room ready for use the very same day.

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Another family used a nautical decor in their basement playroom. The windows were typical basement windows, set high in the walls and quite ineffective as far as admitting light was concerned. They sim­ply said, "to heck with the idea of trying to get any light out of the windows, we'll turn them into portholes."

They made batten doors that fitted the rectangular window openings. In the cen­ter of these doors (they were actually hinged so that they could drop down) the homeowners cut a circle and fitted in a porthole cover purchased at a marine sup­ply store. The final effect was quite striking and this treatment had one more advantage. Whenever the window is needed (it's used mostly for unloading lumber into a hobby shop) the entire bat­ten door drops down for easy access.

A cornice can be used to hide pipes. Box in ver­tical runs. Use cabinets to hide utility meters.

If you can't hide it, decorate it! Post be­comes part of nautical decor with the rope added.

Ingenuity turns drawbacks to advantages: Ineffec­tive windows were turned into portholes.

Don't think that all these problems re­quire large scale building or remodeling. You'd be surprised how little it takes to dress up a room and overcome even the worst drawbacks. A small thing like stapling down brightly hued rubber mats to the basement stair treads can make a tremendous difference. The entrance way to the area will be far more inviting.

Hard-to-decorate window alcove became an ele­gant fake canopy. The wall* were painted in gold.

Armstrong Cork Co. Imagination costs nothing: This beautiful attic retreat was created with a minimum of materials.

Up till now, we've talked very soberly about practical considerations. There's another aspect to the job. Keep in mind that you are largely converting the area into space that will provide more room for family fun. This is your cue to cut loose and indulge any fancy that comes to mind. One young couple, for example, finished off a basement area with the simplest treat­ment of gypsum board walls and ceiling painted plain white. Then the budget ran out. In place of fancy furnishings or elab­orate decor, they substituted a dash of whimsy. An artist friend painted elaborate paneling on the walls, brushed in a batch of very elegant trim (of the ilk they couldn't possibly afford). The ceiling was graced with a huge crystal chandelier of the type that normally is the keynote of a huge mansion or a ballroom. With paint and skill, the artist added layer upon layer of crystal pendants and even included the shadows cast on the ceiling. While you may not have such talented friends to call upon, you can still cut loose from the old tried and true ideas if you want to. Let's say you would prefer to have a wall finished off in striped canvas. Try it. The finished job may be delightful.

As you can see, the main ingredient in solving remodeling problems is imagina­tion. It's the one item that doesn't cost a penny and the value it returns is tre­mendous.