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What not to do in an unfinished attic...

TekViper

TekViper

Senior member
http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfiles/053102/pic1.jpg

I was up there fixing the attic fan. The attic is only about 4 foot high in the center, and it was at least 130F up there, if not more. I go up there 3 seperate times, between 15-20 minutes each time. There is no floorboard up there so i have to rest my knees on the beams. well those three times i was up there for extended periods, nothing bad happened. 4th time i go in there i go because i left the thermastat for the attic fan up there and needed to get it real quick. I was up there a total of 3 minutes, i was on my way out and bam, fist through the cieling. The attic doesnt have one of those pulldown stairs, its got this http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfiles/053102/pic2.jpg, a hole in the closet. The drywall is 20 plus years old so a little pressure made a huge crack as you can see. Man, that sucked. Before that, i was on the roof of the house taking the cover off the attic vent to get the fan out and found a nice little beehive under. Geting swarmed by bees on a 2 story house isnt fun.

BTW, the attic fan motor siezed up. got a replacement one at home depot. dunno when ill be able to get myself to go back in there to install it tho 😱
 
the looks like an awful big hole. how much of you went thru there? i was in the attic today replacing the furnace filter but i put down plywood up there so i can work without falling thru the ceiling.

~erik
 
LOL, that sucks 🙁 I remember when I had to go up in the attic last year, damn it was hot. I had to fix some rod for the garage door, and had to lie down between the planks like you said, god that sucked :disgust:
 
its about 2 feet long, maybe a little more. i cant get any wood bigger the the openning of that door up there to use as support. maybe ill bring a couple of 2x4's and nail them together to make a board up there, i dunno. The only thing that touched the cieling was my hand. i slipped a little and barely put any pressure. damn drywall just fell apart bigtime. now all that 140F air is making its way all over the top floor. gonna be hot upstairs for a while.
 
Take a piece of plastic and staple it over the hole. That will help keep the heat out of the living space.

I admire your guts in showing your mistakes. I've made a few but haven't taken pictures and posted them here.

One was drilling a hole for a cable to run down the wall. Remember the old saying "measure twice and cut once". I made a new one' measure twice drill once and you don't have to patch the hole in the ceiling". I missed the wall cavity and drilled a nice little hole in the bedroom ceiling. At least it was easier to patch then the one you have. 😉

Good luck with the patch job. I hate doing drywall over my head.

 
i usually try not to admit my mistakes too, but this was just so big i cant help but laugh at it. this probably tops my list of stupid things ive done.

i taped a few pieces of cardboard over the hole for now. drywall guy has to come fix a hole in the drywall in a closet downstrairs from when the contractor had to cut open the wall to get to a leaky pipe, ill let them take care of that hole too.
 
DRYWALL GUY????

Man, save yourself some serious money! Go to Home Depot, you can pick up a piece of broken drywall for $2. It will still be huger than you need, but some jackhole dropped it and busted the corner, so they sell it cheap. Cut the hole you have now into a square, cut your new drywall into a square 1/8 inch smaller, slap it up, screw it up, slap tape on it, joint compound, sand it and paint it!

It'll only take like an hour of work, over the course of 2 days to let the joint compound dry between sandings...

It's fun!

/edit

Did I forget to mention I did the exact same thing, except it was my whole LEG that went through the ceiling into a closet down below. The hole was about 2.5 foot square, and in the closet was a PAIN to fix because it was cramped!!!
 
Originally posted by: Murphyrulez
It's fun!
Click to expand...

Heh...

Building a new PC, watching football, getting laid, snorkeling off the coast of Maui.. those things are fun.

Drywall? Not fun...
 
Did I forget to mention I did the exact same thing, except it was my whole LEG that went through the ceiling into a closet down below. The hole was about 2.5 foot square, and in the closet was a PAIN to fix because it was cramped!!!
Click to expand...

Hahaha.... if that was our house, we'd just patch it up with duct tape. 😉
 
We had an unfinished attic in our first house in houston when I was a kid. My mom fell through the whole roof to the third floor attempting to change the light bulb up there.
rolleye.gif
 
Looked at the first pic, good job slick 🙂 Did ya step through?

Ok i didnt kid myself and kept reading, all that from just a fist? Nice work. Our house has one of those little attic-holes too but it is probably a little bigger than that.
 
I've got a similar opening for my attic. Suggestion: taken a sheet of plywood and cut it down to sizes that can get through that opening. Lay them down up there so you have something to walk across. With the exception of the first one right near the opening, you don't even need to tack it down. The first one I would suggest doing just so it doesn't get a chance to slide when you are getting in the attic. Two screws is plenty.

Next suggestion, set your alarm and get out of bed at 5AM and get up there and do with work before it gets hot.
 
do you use your attic often (for storage)? If so, it may be worth it to just have a drop-down ladder installed where that hole is. Make lemons into lemonade. 😉 Then you can put plywood up there too.
 
It doesnt get used often, theres nothing up there at all besides insulation and the attic fan thermastat box. I'll throw down a few pieces of wood up there to make crawling around easier, why the hell didn't i do that before? Oh well.
 
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