The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

How To Remodel Basements And Attics

Mr. Brown imagined that he was standing outside of the house looking up at the new dormer. In his mind's eye he saw the picture shown in Fig. 9.

As a final check on the plan, as shown in Fig. 4, Mr. Brown decided to draw four section views (see Chapter 13). To draw the section views he imagined that he could cut through the remodeled attic, at the points A, B, C and D shown in Fig. 4, as explained in Chapter 13. The four section views he drew are shown in Fig. 5. Those drawings proved that there would be ample usable space and headroom in the remodeled attic.

Final remodeling plan

When the family was satisfied that the remodeling plan was what they wanted, Mr. Brown drew a final plan view as shown in Fig. 10. Because the plan view was drawn accurately to the 1/2t-in.=l-ft. scale, he was able to measure distances and spaces and then show correct dimensions. For example, he used a ruler (or the architect's scale mentioned on page 96 of Chapter 9) and found the alcove to be seven quarter inches wide. Thus he knew that the actual width would be 7 ft.

How To Do The Remodeling

IN THE EVENT that you are primarily interested in attic remodeling and for that reason have not read some of the chapters pertaining to basement remodeling, we should like to call your attention to certain aspects of the estimating and remodeling work which you should be familiar with before starting to remodel your attic.

How to estimate cost of remodeling

Once you have completed the final plans (see Fig. 10 in Chapter 16) for your attic-remodeling project and after you have decided what materials it would be best to use, the next logical (and important) step is to estimate the complete cost of the attic-remodeling project. We suggest that you read Chapter 10 in this book. You can use the procedures set forth in that chapter as a guide for estimating the cost of your attic-remodeling project.