Throwing Out the "Caution: Low Clearance" Warning Sign

The "head bonker" which plagued users of the staircase for the last 91 years is gone.  Scott and Carl removed, rearranged, and reconfigured all of the bones of closet on the second floor landing, and in the process brought the clearance in the stairway from 5' - 7" to 6' - 5"!  A few members of our family will still need to duck (sorry, Nick and Tyler!) but the overall "user-friendly" score has risen sharply.

Before removing the header which created the offending bonker, Scott constructed a temporary support.

Scott used the Sawzall to cut through the nails holding the framing together.

Carl helped Scott wriggle the header free - it took a little extra cutting to get it loose.

The view from above...Scott checks the squareness of the remaining framing by leaning over into the staircase.

Fashion note:  Scott does not have a crew cut but his barber used to be in the Air Force - so you can do the math. ;)

On Sunday, Scott finished framing the new "floor" of the closet.  The door will still be full-height but the lower portion of the closet will be closed-in with drywall.  Stay tuned for details later this week! 

The new floor of the closet will be covered with the original Douglas fir flooring.  Scott set the sub-floor in place late Sunday afternoon.

Stay Tuned for More!