Friday, April 1, 2016

A: Attic

The attic.

The house I grew up in had the hole cut in the ceiling like the picture. My brother told me it was a secret place where the former homeowners stashed dead bodies.

That theory was unknowingly reinforced by my dad who, when I asked if I could crawl up into the space said, "Oh no. You never know what might be up there."

He meant spiders and yellow jackets.

I imagined the bones of little girls who slept in the room with the hole in the ceiling.

Fortunately, that was my brother's room.

So, what can you do with that space in your house that is only accessible through a hole cut in the ceiling?



A secret sanctuary!!!

Yeah. Right. This isn't that kind of blog.

I have a better chance of getting my husband to go snow skiing in hell than carry his tool box up into the attic for my dream make over.

And I'm not doing it! Remember...the bodies?

Let's keep this real.

Here's an attic tips that really is easy and doable:

This box fan is $16 at Wal Mart 


Can't afford the expensive attic fan system to help lower cooling costs in the summer? 

Our upstairs has very poor cross ventilation, so it's a tough area to cool in the summer. My husband got a regular box fan, like the one above, and set it across the opening. He laid it flat and it fit perfectly, but if your attic opening is too wide, you may need to brace it somehow.

Make sure you have the fan positioned to suck air from the house and blow it into the attic.

He turned the fan to its highest setting. When we want to turn it on and off, we can unplug the cord from the electric outlet.

It works like a charm. It removes the hot air out of the rooms and  pulls the cool air in from the open windows.

*Just be sure to remove the fan and replace the attic cover in the winter, or your heat will literally go through the roof.

                                                               ****************

Here's another idea that may be a little more work than easy, but far from impossible...

Attic shelves!
Attic shelving system from Amazon

I should say my husband tells me this isn't a great idea. He says I need to keep the attic space clear, so it properly ventilates or it can cause unwanted molds and can even harm the shingles on the roof.

But...I'm not sure he if really thinks this is a bad idea, or if he just hates the idea of crawling up there with all the dead bodies to build shelves.




                      This was your Really Real A2Z post featuring the letter A. 



photo credits:
Maple St Attic 8Feb2016 Shelves via photopin (license)
 Energy audits are one of the best energy efficiency tools via photopin (license)

59 comments:

  1. As someone who worked for an architectural firm for nine years, I love anything that has to do with space--and "around the house" definitely has to do with space! Loving this challenge already, Elizabeth. You definitely had me going there with the girl bones in the attic!! XD

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    Replies
    1. It would be great to have architectural skills and be able to make use of some of the nooks and crannies left in my house. I suppose with four kids, I'm desperate for space.

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  2. I've never had a house with an attic with which you could do anything. They were never more than very cramped crawlspaces. But I always did want a very cool attic room.

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    1. Me too. My friend lived in one of those big houses with the attics you could open the door and walk into . That would be so awesome. I could half-stand in mine, but I'm really short. But I still dream of having a writing sanctuary I could escape too. I wouldn't need to stand up...

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  3. I grew up in a place with a hole in the ceiling. When I was a teen, I wanted my room up there, but you couldn't stand in it. My attic now is a hole in the ceiling of our garage. It could definitely use some organization!

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    Replies
    1. Ours is low like that too. But I could sit in it. Standing is over rated anyhow. Having the hole in the garage isn't at all useful to use it for cooling.

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  4. When I saw the box fan it took me back to being a kid at home. We didn't have A/C, so my mom set up box fans in all of our rooms facing outside. The idea was to pull the air out of our rooms, and because there were multiple fans it created a flow of sorts. Anyway, it did seem to work. She'd start them running at dusk and by bedtime it was actually cool up there. So, if you want to invest in a few more, you might could cool your place down even more by putting them in the upstairs rooms. Just a thought...

    I read Flowers In The Attic as a teen. Kinda turned me off of attics forever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fans strategically placed can sometimes cool better than AC. We have AC in our house, but I hate to turn it on until the nights are warm too.

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  5. I had one in my room growing up, but it was a door off to the side. Was a nasty place. No dead bodies though haha

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    1. I always wanted the kind with the door. My friend's house had the sort of attic with a door and the attic was our "playhouse". Mine would be more like a high rise Hobbit hole.

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  6. Our attic is actually 2 bedrooms now. It is a pain to heat in the winter and cool in the summer but the much needed additional space is worth the headache. I love the storage idea in the knee walls. @homelifemoney.com

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    Replies
    1. I am so jealous! With four kids, I need some extra space.

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  7. I can't think of an attic without getting the eebie jeebies (shiver down my spine as I type). I must have been scared to death as a child or something. Cellars are the same. Great post! Have a great weekend.

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    Replies
    1. Cellars may be worse. There is something about being underground to add to the creepiness.

      You have a great weekend too!

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  8. We bought an old farm house about 8 years ago. We ventured into he attic just about a month ago for the first time. It wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be. They had put down flooring in the main area and half walls along the side. Those are coming down to help with the ventilation. The house originally had a "whole house fan", kind like what you are describing, it had a switch and you opened all the windows and it would create a breeze. It doesn't work now but I'm willing to try the box fan idea in the same hole to see what happens! Thanks for the tip.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those whole house fans are pretty awesome. Maybe once all our boys are out of college, if we have a dime left to our name, we might upgrade to a real fan.

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  9. Attics are perfect places for terrifying stuff to happen. I'm now jealous because I don't have one of those places.

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    Replies
    1. I'm hoping you mean the secret retreat and not the creepy space to hide bodies in.

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  10. A-Z challenge is off to a great start. @CazsBooks http://cazgreenham.com Welcome Aboard Greenham's Yacht

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    Replies
    1. It was a good start. Let's hope I can keep up with all the fun!

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  11. Oopsy meant to put http://cazgreenham.blogspot.com

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  12. That secret sanctuary in the picture looks like something straight out of Pinterest but nothing I would ever be able to pull off, haha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pinterest ideas are construction workers and pro designers. I'd bet my nickels on that.

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  13. We have one of those hole-in-the-ceiling attics, but we never go up there - we only have a step ladder and are not agile enough to heave ourselves up! I honestly have no idea what is there. Maybe I should send a teenage daughter up to explore?

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    Replies
    1. We have to use the step ladder too. Ours only has insulation in it. Although, when we moved in, we found a yellow jacket nest the size of a bushel basket.

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  14. Brilliant idea to use a fan to suck out the hot air.

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    1. It really does work. When he first did it, I thought he was crazy.

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  15. Love this! Even though I don't have my own home yet, I love stuff about organizing and DIY 'do-it-herself' house projects.
    Have to keep this in mind.

    Best of luck the rest of the month.
    Jazminn
    Under Jazminn Skyes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's the best time. It's not quite as much fun once it's actual work. hehe

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  16. Now you've got me pining for an attic!

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  17. Of course, I have no attic. I know lots of people turn it into another room but it's obviously a lot of work. I think your fan idea is a good one.

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    1. I've tried putting them in windows and using them to suck air that way, but it doesn't work as well. I suppose since hot air is rising anyhow, it feels more effective. I don't know.

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  18. awesome first post, Liz! and great responses!
    my attic is small, but my sis converted hers into a bedroom for her only daughter - it was really cool!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Tara!

      Mine is super small too. I could walk around it hunched over. I'd love to have one big enough to make a room out of.

      Delete
  19. "This isn't that kind of a blog." LOL. Thank you! :D
    I am pretty sure our attic is inhabited by squirrels. That, or a poltergeist. Probably squirrels.
    Happy A to Z!

    @TarkabarkaHolgy from
    The Multicolored Diary
    MopDog

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm going to hope for squirrels. They're much cuter than poltergeists.

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  20. I love the old time attics you could actually make a room out of them. We used to rent an old house with one of those walk in attic's, it was awesome. Now we live in a newer house and we never use the attic because you have to climb up a little hole in my closet...

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That's exactly like ours. It's in a hole in the closet. It works for us because I took the closet door off a long time ago so I could stick a dresser in it. It was too small to be very useful for hanging clothes.

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  21. Lol great post, really enjoyed it. Attics are always fun, when people move they tend to leave stuff behind there and it's great to see sometimes what they are. Other times it's just dead bodies - of mice.

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    1. LOL. I don't want mice dead bodies.

      You're right about leaving stuff behind. When we moved my mother out of her house, we totally forgot about the attic. I think my wedding dishes and my childhood bed is up there.

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  22. My guess is that he has already been up there to see the dead bodies when he installed the new-fangled ceiling fan. That explains his lack of desire to hurry back up there for more fun and games.

    Mary
    Twitter: @KnottyMarie
    Literary Gold
    Jingle Jangle Jungle

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  23. I agree with Mary, the fan is to keep the stench of death from seeping into the rooms below. But seriously, that's a cheap and clever hack. My attic portal is in the garage, thank goodness.

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    1. Portal. Perfect word for it! Much better than "the hole in the ceiling".

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  24. Great ideas for the attic! Unfortunately we had insulating foam pumped into ours years ago.

    I look forward to reading more of your posts this month

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    1. My neighbor got the kind of insulation you spray in. His attic is way better insulated than ours. You tell by how much longer it takes the snow to melt off of his roof.

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  25. Those dead bodies need to rise and go find a grave. Houses are for the living. Your hubby might be feeding off your fears Liz.

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    Replies
    1. I think you're right.

      (Anything rises up...I'm outta here!)

      Delete
  26. I am doing up my house, I wish I had place such as that.

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    Replies
    1. So do I! Wouldn't it be awesome? I'd not tell my kids. They'd never be able to bug me for food again.

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  27. I am doing up my house, I wish I had place such as that.

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  28. Hi Elizabeth, followed you here from the A to Z. Who knows the dead bodies in the attic could all be spiders and yellow jackets! One of the houses that my husband grew up in had a space which may have at one time been an attic. By the time I got to see it, he had used it as a bedroom/study room for years. And right up there under the roof. You know, where you can only stand up straight in the middle of the room? *lol*

    LuAnn (approx #369 on the list) @ Back Porchervations.
    (and one of co-host AJ Lauer's #wHooligans)

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  29. I do have a hole in the ceiling with stairs that lead up to an huge attic. I'd love to have that beautiful room as an office, but no, it isn't going to happen. I'm the one who went up there to insulate, and we had an expensive fan put in that cools it in the summer, but hubby, he won't go up there. He won't even discuss going up there. Maybe he's afraid of those dead bodies too! Damn, I knew there was a good reason. LOL

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  30. Don't worry about the bodies. They can't hurt you. The spiders, however...

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  31. Don't worry about the bodies. They can't hurt you. The spiders, however...

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  32. An attic can be such a handy space.
    But probably a nightmare for hoarders!
    Writer In Transit

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  33. Dead bodies! Hahaha like that!! Loved the fan at the attic!

    Ashmita Chatterjee
    Chaoticsoulzzz.wordpress.com

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  34. I wish my attic were easier to get to. Our attic entrance is in our garage, and there are no windows or anything in the attic (we have a very old house) so I doubt we could even do anything nice such as use it for storage. Cassie from Mommy, RN

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