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cets1290
LIF Adult
Member since 6/14 1051 total posts
Name:
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Finished attic in cape
My husband is currently working on our basement with a friend, and is doing everything from the electric to the framing and sheetrock. Only contracting out drop ceiling. He seems to think the attic will be extremely easy compared to the basement and wants to work on that next. We want to finish the attic into two little bedrooms.
Has anyone finished their attic in their cape on their own, without a contractor? would like to hear your thoughts on pricing so i can see what the price difference would be compared to just having someone come in and do it for us. We will plan to have someone install carpeting for us but that's it
ETA: in an area with alot of homes with finished attics and no permits. so I'm not concerned at the moment about the "proper codes" and such
Message edited 7/20/2015 5:29:52 PM.
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Posted 7/20/15 5:27 PM  |
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b2b777
LIF Adult
Member since 9/09 4474 total posts
Name:
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Finished attic in cape
When you say attic -- do you really mean the second floor of the cape? If it is a true cape it wouldnt have an attic.
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| Posted 7/21/15 9:51 AM |
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cets1290
LIF Adult
Member since 6/14 1051 total posts
Name:
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Finished attic in cape
2nd floor of the wideline cape- it is essentially an unfinished 2nd floor with slopes in the ceiling. Much like an attic would look
Message edited 7/21/2015 10:14:23 AM.
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| Posted 7/21/15 10:14 AM |
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MrsO
Big Brothers to Be
Member since 1/07 4521 total posts
Name:
Maureen
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Re: Finished attic in cape
Our cape was finished so I don't know the cost. My big concern would be getting the heating up there. Would your existing boiler/furnace be able to handle the additional space capacity. Does your dh know how to run the heating system pipes up.
Do you plan on expanding the cape further down the line?
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| Posted 7/21/15 10:49 AM |
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cets1290
LIF Adult
Member since 6/14 1051 total posts
Name:
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Re: Finished attic in cape
Posted by MrsO
Our cape was finished so I don't know the cost. My big concern would be getting the heating up there. Would your existing boiler/furnace be able to handle the additional space capacity. Does your dh know how to run the heating system pipes up.
Do you plan on expanding the cape further down the line?
We have steam heat- my father is handy and offered to do that work for us. Going to use the current boiler and we'll buy a radiator.
We are not 100% sure if we will stay in this house long-term, so we want to finish it without dormering for now, and sell it as a 4 bedroom home should we decide to move elsewhere. If we decide in 5-10 years we want to stay, then we will probably bump it out more in the back of the house
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| Posted 7/21/15 11:04 AM |
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Bearcat
Love my little girls!!! <3
Member since 6/10 10818 total posts
Name:
E
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Re: Finished attic in cape
bear in mind that even with heat up there it can get very cold because your ceiling is really just the roof of the house. a lot of heat loss occurs. you need to make sure you have enough heat going up there to make it liveable. ours was finished when we bought it and after dealing with extreme temps up there for almost 5 years, we had larger heating units put in back in december. and it was still cold.
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| Posted 7/21/15 3:25 PM |
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cets1290
LIF Adult
Member since 6/14 1051 total posts
Name:
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Re: Finished attic in cape
Posted by Bearcat
bear in mind that even with heat up there it can get very cold because your ceiling is really just the roof of the house. a lot of heat loss occurs. you need to make sure you have enough heat going up there to make it liveable. ours was finished when we bought it and after dealing with extreme temps up there for almost 5 years, we had larger heating units put in back in december. and it was still cold.
maybe the people who finished it did not insulate it well enough before doing the sheetrock? Growing up, a ton of my friends had the same style home that I now own. They all had bedrooms upstairs and I don't remember it being an issue. A few neighbors of mine also have finished their attics, but they had contractors do it. I just wanted to figure out the approx. cost to do it myself :)
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| Posted 7/21/15 3:29 PM |
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RainyDay
LIF Adult
Member since 6/15 3990 total posts
Name:
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Finished attic in cape
I think it depends on how the house was insulated. We bought a cape with two bedrooms upstairs and it was poorly insulated. We just ended up putting newl insulation in the crawlspace area and its much better
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| Posted 7/21/15 5:02 PM |
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Bearcat
Love my little girls!!! <3
Member since 6/10 10818 total posts
Name:
E
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Re: Finished attic in cape
Posted by cets1290
Posted by Bearcat
bear in mind that even with heat up there it can get very cold because your ceiling is really just the roof of the house. a lot of heat loss occurs. you need to make sure you have enough heat going up there to make it liveable. ours was finished when we bought it and after dealing with extreme temps up there for almost 5 years, we had larger heating units put in back in december. and it was still cold.
maybe the people who finished it did not insulate it well enough before doing the sheetrock? Growing up, a ton of my friends had the same style home that I now own. They all had bedrooms upstairs and I don't remember it being an issue. A few neighbors of mine also have finished their attics, but they had contractors do it. I just wanted to figure out the approx. cost to do it myself :)
maybe - i'm pretty sure it was finished back in the late 60s or early 70s. sorry for my extraneous rambling!
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| Posted 7/21/15 5:26 PM |
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