Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with loft

What is the safest way to cut up an old steel water tank in my loft?

mccartrey — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:21:56 -0800

What is the safest way to cut up an old steel water tank in my loft? The tank is large and too big to get through my loft hatch but it takes up so much room. I'd like to get shot of it. I have an angle grinder but I'm nervous to use it in the loft as there are wooden joists everywhere and the noise would be tremendous.
Does anyone have any better ideas please?

How to quiet my creaking loft bed?

raygan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 00:30:48 -0800

How can I minimize creaking/cracking noises from my new IKEA STORÅ Loft Bed? So, it's my first real New York apartment, and my room is pretty small. Not a closet, but pretty small. I knew I still wanted a full size bed (I'm a tall guy) and that a bed that size would take up most of the room, so I opted for a loft bed, so I'd still have room for a desk.

I picked this bed, the Stora bed from IKEA.

Three days later, I have the loft bed built, and it's my maiden voyage up the ladder. Ceiling height checks out; so far so good, and then...

Every motion I make, going up the ladder, getting under the covers, rolling over, is met by a loud cracking noise. We're talking about more than a simple creak; it's a series of loud, sharp cracks, with every motion of the bed.

So this is why they don't let you go up the ladder of the one in the store! I expected the bed to make some amount of noise, but this is rather more than I can deal with. I'm afraid my housemates are going to be woken up by it.

Is there any way to lessen the noise? I've tightened the bolts to no avail. Should I lubricate the joints somehow? Put carpeting under the legs? Cover it in duct tape and foam baffling? Please help, before I have to take a saw to this thing and turn it into a regular bed!

How do I put screens on loft windows?

ljshapiro — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:12:28 -0800

I just moved into an amazing raw industrial loft in Downtown Los Angeles. It has rotating warehouse style windows with no screens, and I'm being eaten alive by bugs. Any ideas about how to put screens on these windows or any not-too-costly alternate solutions? (Here's a picture.) I did a Google search, but can't find the formal name for this type of window, so I'm coming up empty.

Where are some cool places to live in inner-loop Houston?

junipero — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:14:18 -0800

Where are some cool places to live in inner-loop Houston? My lease is up at the end of July and I'm excited to find a new place, and to live on my own for the first time in awhile. I want to stay inside the Loop, but I'm not entirely opposed to going a wee bit outside. I'd love some suggestions on neighborhoods to look in, apartments to check out, tucked away, hidden charming little places, etc.

What I'm looking for:

1. An old house/apartment/duplex/whatever. I've got to live somewhere that has character. I do not want to live in a new building. I would go so far as to say this is the most important factor for me.

2. It will just be me and my two pugs, so I don't need a whole lot of space. A bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom is enough, but I am hoping to find a place with either a second bedroom or similar kind of space that I can use as an office.

3. I would kill to live in a loft. Like, a real loft. I love the artists lofts in the Heights, but I don't know if there are any residences around those buildings.

4. I am a single young woman and need to be in a place that is fairly safe. I need to be able to walk my dogs around the block when it is dark outside. This may very well make #3 nearly impossible, but safety is quite important, obviously.

5. I would prefer to NOT have to park in a parking garage.

6. I'm a high school teacher, so that's the kind of rent we're talking about. I can pay up to $850/month plus utilities/cable/internet, but that is stretching it a tad bit.

I've lived in Houston all my life and am pretty familiar with the neighborhoods inside the Loop on the West side. I'll definitely be looking in the Heights, Montrose, Cherryhurst, West U., Southampton, Downtown, Boulevard Oaks, Upper Kirby, etc. What I'm asking you for are more specific recommendations, and suggestions of areas I may not have though of. If you have a friend who used to live in a really cool place, or if you have heard of a great spot, etc.

Ah, one more very important thing -- I am NOT interested in living in midtown.

Thanks!

Building a wall inside...

boosh — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:14:32 -0800

Victorian house construction/DIY: building a wall in a shared loft (attic). 'What's this thing?' and 'Am I doing it right?' Our loft (attic) space runs straight through into our neighbour's house and we need to build a dividing wall. We've been trying to get a builder in to do this for years but (unsurprisingly) no-one wants the job, so it's DIY time. According to the local council there are no specific building regulations to comply with beyond creating a barrier that will be fireproof for around an hour. I think we can handle it, but there are a few complicating factors that I'm hoping the hive mind can help out with.

Here's an overall view, looking from our loft to the neighbouring house. The brick pillars are two chimney stacks running up from the lower floors through to the roof. We need to build in three parts: between the pillars and to either side.

Here's a closer view of the centre, and looking up and down. At its highest point this area is 8' tall (250cm), and the area between the pillars is 4' wide (120cm). Looking left and right of the pillars.

The really awkward bits are the roof trusses (Pic1 | Pic2) and especially these deep pits next to the pillars (Pic1 | Pic2). Do these pits serve any purpose, or are they just like that to square off the chimney breasts in the rooms below? They measure 2' on each side, and are about 4' deep.

Our first idea was to put up a stud wall and clad it on both sides with fireproof board, but now we're leaning more towards using these lightweight Thermalite concrete blocks (looks like it would be easier, cheaper and stronger). Assuming that we use the Thermalite blocks, the main questions that we've got are:

1) Should the wall be one or two blocks wide? How do we ensure that the wall is stable, especially in the central area? We would build on top of the existing party wall, which looks like it is two standard house-bricks wide.

2) What do we do about the pits by the chimney stacks? The wall would have to span these pits, although it wouldn't be particularly tall or heavy at that point. How about covering them over with tightly fitting fireproof board? Would it be safe to build on top of that?

3) How do we deal with joining the block-work to the wooden rafters? Should some kind of membrane or compound go between the block and the adjoining rafter? Should they actually be attached in any way?

Any pointers, ideas or online resources very gratefully received.

Brooklyn loft

yoyo_nyc — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:47:38 -0800

Where can I find raw space lofts (residential) in Brooklyn, New York? And what kind of price range would we be talking about? Where can I find raw space lofts (residential) in Brooklyn, New York? Most places offered on craiglist are renovated already. How and where can I find unrenovated/raw lofts that I could remodel myself?

And what kind of price range would we be talking about?

(Yoyo_nyc, asking for a friend)

Roommate dating

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 09:54:22 -0800

I'm dating a roommate, but we need an excuse to go into her bedroom after a date. What can I do? She seems to really like me, and we've been going out for a couple of weeks. She's also one of my roommates, but only for a little while longer as she has to go back to the US. There are five students living in this apartment.

She has a room with a door, the rest of us have low walls in a loft setup (this means my room is a no-go).

I'm not sure how to carry the relationship from kissing outside her bedroom door to go inside it. I don't know if coming out with "can I sleep with you tonight?" is a smart thing to say or not. What should a guy do in this situation? Should I just take her by the hand and go in with her?

I feel that she is interested, but is too shy to make a move- especially as there are no convenient excuses like "you have a long way to walk home"... my bedroom is just a few feet away.

Cat's lonely, can't make it up the ladder

stewiethegreat — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:51:18 -0800

I live in a two story loft-ish apartment, and the cat wants to sleep with me upstairs, but only a wood ladder is available. How can I make this happen? While our cat's very affectionate and wants to sleep with us up in the sleeping loft, nature generally calls at about 5am. Since the ladder leading from the main room up to the sleeping loft is made only out of wood (no carpeting or other upholsterty as of right now) he can't get up and down on his own, so one of us has to carry him up and down all the time, and at odd hours of the night. The ladder is a steep incline (though not straight up), about a 65 degree grade, with flat rungs that are about 14" x 6" x 1".

The cat gets lonely and vocal when he can't sleep with us up here, so just leaving him downstairs is what we'd like to avoid.

So far, we've thought of:

a) carpeting the rungs of the ladder so he can climb up and down on his own, or

b) devising an intricate system of levers and pulleys by which to elevate the cat. But I think this could prove expensive and irritating.

Other ideas?

building a loft bed

entropone — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:25:11 -0800

I'm finally doing something to make my bedroom liveable (and, hopefully, bring some sanity to my scattered life!): lofting my bed! Keeping guitars and bikes underneath! Cheap, affordable, and I can build it myself! One problem: I've got no carpentry experience... That right, I'm building a loft frame for my bed. I plan to modify the design here - extending the vertical pieces on what will be the non-wall side, and adding a railing (cause I don't want to fall off!), as well as adding additional horizontal pieces to support my bed, removing the supports for the bottom bed (I've got no use for a bottom bed), and building shelves (or maybe just pegs...) for some clothes on one side. I'll also add some L-brackets, assuming they'll add some strength to some of those right angles (particularly on the vertical pieces)

The only problem is, I have no carpentry experience. I can find a lumber yard or a Home Depot without a problem, but I don't know what kind of wood to buy or how much I can expect to spend.

I'm also hoping that it won't be too difficult to make this stable.

So: any basic pointers for a novice carpenter? Any suggestions for affordable but pleasant wood? Any rough estimates on how much money I can expect to spend? Any enthusiastic encouragement? Thanks!

Help building a tire swing...

dobbs — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 13:52:40 -0800

Logistics of building an indoor tire swing... Okay, so I previously asked a Q on Ask about what to build in the middle of my loft. Tire Swing has won out. Now I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do this. Here's the situation:

There is already a bar between the beams in my ceiling which will more than support the swing and rider.

Now, the problems I have are:

A) what to use for the "rope" (important: strong, attractive, nice to hold on to for rider)
B) how best to attach the "rope" to the bar
C) what kind of tire to get (factors: strong, attractive, good size for a human to sit in it, doesn't warp when rider is in it pulling down on the "rope")
D) how to attach the tire to the "rope" so as not to warp the tire
E) if possible... easily "hidden" for a person who doesn't have a ladder in the loft

Solutions I've thought of that I'd like smarter people like yourself to comment on so that I don't fuck everything up:

A) Rope: chain or, best, I think, firehose

B & D) Attaching rope to bar and tire:
firehose: tie strong knot around bar and around tire
chain: paddlock it to itself

C) I have no clue--what should I look for in a tire? Where do I find a single tire? What do I ask the tire people when they say "what do you want"?

E) No clue... but using a padlock for D makes it easy to remove the tire.

Essentially what I'm picturing is a "rope" in the shape of a figure 8 with the bar in the top circle and a tire in the bottom. One or two padlocks secure the "rope" at the intersection of the two circles.

This is where you come in... thoughts? Suggestions? Advice? Will this work? Am I an idiot (regarding this idea)?

Walls on wheels, please

Smalltown Girl — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 10:57:49 -0800

Where can I find big partitions/doors/walls that I've seen used in lofts? I'm looking for those with heavy-duty wheels (?) that run along tracks. I want to be able to partition my messy office from the living area, but have the flexibility to roll the wall/door out of the way.

This IS doable, right??

infinityjinx — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:47:39 -0800

I have a full size platform bed from Ikea, but I want to make the legs a few feet taller... This is my current bed - Hemnes - and I quite like it. However, I want to turn it into a "high rise bed" like this one: clickyclicky.

I understand a trip or two to Home Depot is in order. How can I elevate the legs approx 40 inches (high enough to fit a mini-fridge and some trunks full of clothes and things) and how can I make sure it's stable and safe? I will have access to a fair amount of tools and things, but I'm a woodworking beginner so obnoxious amounts of details are warmly welcomed!

Feel free to ask any more questions and thank you so much for your help!

London Docklands?

Lord_Pall — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 10:16:04 -0800

What's wrong with East London and the Docklands? Some of you may remember me from my earlier questions, such as "How is Cambridge", and "Where should I live in London".

Well I'm back. I'm in London (as of Wednesday), and looking for a place to live.

I hoofed it to the neighborhoods everyone talked about. Nothing really did it for me. The apartments seemed nice, but I've always wanted to live in a really funky style place, full of charm, something akin to a converted warehouse or loft.

Think classic san francisco apartment.
I took some advice and headed down towards Canary Wharf, since it's a VERY fast shot up jubilee line to hit oxford circus where I work.

I stopped at Rothirth(Sp), and walked along the thames. And discovered that some of those flats with the thames views are just amazing. The area is curious to me and I'm unsure about safety as well.

I then went to wapping. And Loved it. Once again, Not a clue as to safety, or honestly, prices, but those funky converted warehouse places are just great to me.

Canary Wharf was next, which I also liked. Sure it's not funky loft, but instead it's that high rise uber sleek nagel painting modern high rise apartment buildings. It almost felt like downtown chicago with all of the water and strong winds.

So the question is this..

What's wrong with these areas? I know the history of Wapping, and the history of the docklands in general, but more specifically..

Is wapping a dangerous part of town? How about the apartments right off of the thames?

Why is Canary Wharf so cheap? Dangerous?

Any other places that I can find a large loft apartment with quick access to the tube? I sorta hate the DLR so I'd like to avoid that.

Oh yeah, Jubilee line rush our should be minimized because I'd be heading into the city, against the major traffic.

Please help me figure out what's causing the creaks in my DIY loft.

sequential — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 06:37:57 -0800

Please help me figure out what's causing the creaks in my DIY loft Three months ago, I constructed a loft out of 2"x6" and 2"x8" lumber, 5/8" plywood, metal joists, carriage bolts, and decking screws. The day it was built, the loft held our queen sized bed and the weight of three people (500 lbs) without any creaks. Now, the loft creaks every time we get into it.

There are no obvious signs of stress. When people walk up the similarly constructed stairs, there are no signs of buckling. When someone stands on the loft, even if they stand between the floor supports, there are no signs buckling. Visible signs aside, the audible creak seems to be getting worse.

The temperature has dropped enough since September 1 that we run our heat now. My best, but uneducated, guess is that the heat and indoors placement of the wood has caused the wood to dry out over time, which in turn causes the creak to get worse.

Testing shows that the creaky noises come from the junction of the joists, wood and decking screws. I'm trying to determine three things:

1) What's the likely cause of the creaking noise?
2) Is the noise indicative of potential structural failure?
3) What can be done to reduce the noise?

What's the best way to find cool downtown lofts?

JPigford — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 21:50:19 -0800

What's the best way to find cool downtown lofts? We recently moved to the Greater Denver, CO area and the lease on our apartment will be up in a few months. Once it's up we want to move out of our apartment and a bit closer to where my wife works (around Littleton, CO). We love Downtown Littleton and would love to be able to find a cool little loft there, but how do you even begin searching for something like that? I wouldn't think they'd be listed on something like Rent.com or anything.

So the ultimate question is how do you find those unique lofts in downtown areas? Not necessarily your mass-produced apartment buildings...more like the random places above little stores in downtown areas.

What if my new loft isn't finished on time?

nitsuj — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 07:37:53 -0800

I'm about to sign a lease for a new loft that's currently under construction. They have set a move in date for the new place: August 1st. My current end-of-lease and move-out date is July 31st - what if the new place isn't finished? The new landlord has assured me that the loft will most definetly be finished by August 1st - possibly sooner, even. He's verbally guaranteed me this. I have no reason to not trust him, but I don't really have the money to extend the lease at my current place if the worst happens and my new place isn't ready by the time I'm supposed to move from here.

Is there something I can/should do before [or possibly attached to] the new lease which stipulates that if the loft isn't finished by said date, the new landlord will cover the costs of temporary living until it is done? I don't want to come across as a "problem tenant" as these lofts in fairly high demand... but at the same time I want to make sure I'm protected. Is there a middle ground?

Reccomendations? Thanks!

How do I clean untreated hardwood floors?

kensanway — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 12:00:48 -0800

How do I clean my untreated hardwood floor? It doesn't have the shiny gloss of most hardwood floors (the color is sort of like the light tan of the unpolished, sharpened part of a pencil) and looks easily damaged. (If it makes a difference, this is in a newly converted loft.) I'm afraid it's particularly sensitive to water. I've bought a general all-purpose cleaner, Murphy's Wood Oil, a bucket, and a mop, but I'm a little wary about using them on this wood. In a few places, the wood has that sag and bend similar to wood flooring that's been damaged by water. What should I do? I've asked my landlord and she didn't have any recommendations.

seattle lofts

The Jesse Helms — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 12:34:32 -0800

So I'm moving to Seattle, what are the best spots to live nearest to Seattle University? Thanks. The more condo loft like the better thanks thanks.

Building a stable loft

fishfucker — Tue, 22 Mar 2005 13:13:36 -0800

Engineers, architects, contractors, and woodworkers -- I need your help to prevent my untimely death in some terrible lofted-bed incident. here's the deal. I've built a loft that's an eight-by-eight cube; and although it seems to support my weight and that of the nearly 200 pound king-sized bed i've put on it, there's some creakiness, and I want to make relatively sure* that I'm not going to wind cracking my head open on the cement after one of the 2x4s give out.

Refer briefly to this diagram:

what you can't see very well in this diagram is that the plywood does not rest at all on the sidebar members -- only on those 6 "crossbar" members.

Now check out these photos:

The cracking sounds seem to be coming from the 2x4 i've colored red. They don't occur all the time, just occasionally when I move my weight over/around that member. It *could* be coming from the 2x4 that's vertically attached to the red post (that'll make cracky noises sometimes if i push it towards the wall and away from the loft). It *could* be the red 2x4, which, if it snapped/broke, would probably result in my untimely demise. It *could* be coming from the yellow 2x4, a scenario which would probably just have me wake up the next morning and be all "woo, that was close" and then patch it up (because the other cross-wise 2x4s should support me). They could also be the plywood settling onto the 2x4 frame (it's not tacked down yet), but i think this is more of a bumping sound. FWIW when I bounce up and down on the plywood centered over a "crossbar" member, there isn't a heck of a lot of cracking but there is some give/bowing of the member i'm over. When i'm off the loft/laying still there really isn't any apparent bowing.

I'd like to keep the bottom open (without supports in the middle of the structure) because i'll be using that as a living room area. I will be building putting in drywall on/under the red 2x4, so i can add more support there.

I was thinking about adding a couple of cut pieces of 2x4s (using joist hangers) going in the center of the "crossways" 2x4s (in the diagram they'd be right around where the dotted lines where the two pieces of plywood meet) with the thought that this would prevent them from cracking downwards because the center of each 2x4 would share the load with the others, but i have no idea if this would result in a net postive effect vis a vis load bearing.

An ideal solution would *not* require the removal of the red 2x4 (as that would require me to pretty much take the whole thing apart), and would not have any additional posts added to the right side of the loft (the side with the two 6"x4" posts) or any of the space beneath it (ie, i don't want a post breaking up a space under the loft, or the space that is used to move into the area under the loft).

So, laugh away, engineers, architects, woodworkers and contractors, and then tell me the *right* way to do things, preferably followed up by the way I'm going to do it (ie, the way that's not up to code but will keep the structure from falling down**).

* meaning that i do not have the funds to hire a contractor or anyone who could legitimately counsel me. i realize this places me near the realm of people trying to get free legal or medical advice from AskMeFi, but I'm primarily interested in an theoretical consideration of whether the structure i've designed can bear weight, potentially how much it can bear, and how i might be able to increase the weight load by adding members within my design restrictions. i can maybe have a buddy who does contracting work to look at the cracks, but that's about it.

** for legal purposes please pretend this structure does not exist in a realm governed by building code regulations, and further, that you didn't see any photos of it existing. thank you.

Unusual Housing in Toronto

Capn — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 08:30:37 -0800

HovelFilter
I was thinking about buying a place to hang my hat, but I'm not sure what's right for me (Let's all go inside, shall we?) Paying rent is for suckers, and in about a year I'll have my downpayment all saved up, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to buy an econo-box condominium apartment. I think maybe what I want is a loft, but a real loft, not a "we bought a building with high ceilings, put in apartments, and now we call them lofts so we can charge 20% more" loft. (funny tangent, an artist foaf was living in a loft, and their landlord booted them out and sold the place to a developer who then gutted the place to put in "lofts")

So, my twin questions are:
Where would I go about finding non-conventional living spaces? How would I find a real-estate agent that will not look askance at such a quest?

and

If, in 5 years I say to myself "This is a treehouse! What kind of stunted man-boy life am I living here?! It's time to grow up!" what will my re-sale chances be like? Will I take a bath on my biggest purchase ever for the privilage of living somewhere "weird"?

I'm in Toronto, in the frozen north, I want to be downtown, and close to the subway, if that's important to your answer.

Up on the Roof

leotrotsky — Sun, 11 Apr 2004 11:59:20 -0800

After getting excited about the Loftcube, I wondered... How would you go about renting or buying roofspace in the city? Is it an endrun around ridiculous apartment prices, or more trouble than it's worth? I've always imagined setting up a little Walden cabin surrounded by a rooftop lawn or garden, but I'm not sure if it's a doable thing. I'd love to know if anyone's succeeded.