The Loft
The loft, which sets above the gym, has the primary purpose of being the control center of the Party Barn. When I built the gym section, I used 6" perlins (14ga) for the roof/floor supports. They span 15' and are 24" apart. OSB is screwed in from the bottom and 3/4" plywood screwed in on the top. I try to keep weight located on the ends, but as a test, we stored a LOT of weight centered on the floor for several months. It seems to be quite sturdy...
Since the walls also are osb'd, they should have no problem supporting the floor. 2x10 headers supported by 4x4's don't hurt either!
JUN 08
Got the loft area framing about half complete as well as routing all the wiring.
JUN 09
More OSB done upstairs. The final wall section will be completed after the fire escape door is installed. More conduit and wiring run as well as a new junction box. The 3 new lights for upstairs installed.
I connected the control box to test it out. It works just fine.
SEP 01 08
Got the control desk started and bolted down.
SEP 15 08
I did some miscellaneous trim stuff. The peak of the ceiling needed a custom cut piece, so that's done now.
Next, I started on the upstairs storage room.
It's in one of the corners where the ceiling is quite low - good for storage.
There is also an extra support perlin under the floor here...
...put the shelves in...
SEP 19 08
...got the walls put on today along with some trim pieces...
OCT 06 08
I got the fire escape door built and mounted.
This door had to be custom made since 5' tall doors seem to be scarce. heh
heh
It wouldn't make much of a door for normal use - but is better than nothing in
case of fire!
...painted...
installed
(I also got this last wall insulated and osb'd)
Watch that first step!
(I still need to install a latch and a seal...)
I made the door for the upstairs storage too:
Next up: build a small closet to house a blower for air recirculation:
(5000 cfm blower from an evaporative cooler...)
OCT 07 08
Major work done on blower room:
framework built, blower mounted (yes it's removable if need be)
The way this is going to work is, the blower will depressurize the closet it's in. A duct running to the peak is the only route for air to go in. The air is sucked in from the peak, through a filter, and then pumped back out to an adjacent duct. From there it will be routed down to the main floor. This way, warm air from the top will be constantly pumped down to the floor. This will help equalize the temperature throughout the building.
duct work:
...where the filter will go:
OCT 8 08
Got the closet walls/door on and started on the duct work that will channel down to the floor:
I tested the blower out. After oiling the bearings, it seems to work just fine, good air flow. I need to mount a switch for on/off and one for low/high...
13 OCT 08
Pen got the upstairs cleaned up and I got it ready for paint.
masked...
The supervisor doing what they do best!
...and the painting is done!
It really turned out nice!
15 OCT 08
I got the upstairs wired. Conduit run, lighting in the closet, power to the blower and a latch installed on the fire door. Also, the wiring started for downstairs:
For the blower control - I ended up with just a single little toggle switch.
Up for high, middle off, and down for low...
The conduit ends at this point for now. I will probably continue running
from this point if I ever want plugs on the north wall of the downstairs (where
the ramp is).
I'll be getting the control desk it's own isolated power also...
For the most part, the loft is ready for carpet at this point.