A few weeks ago we shared how we added downlighting to the front of our house, HERE. Before we hauled off and decided to DIY it, we contacted a few electricians to get an idea of the cost of having it done. Patrick was not crazy about hanging off the side of the house two stories off the ground to wire in the downlighting. One of the quotes we actually accepted and when the guys got out here to start working, they ran into a non-starter of a problem.
If there is one thing guaranteed with home improvement projects, it’s that there’s always a can of worms involved. Set your expectations at three trips to the hardware store, minimum. Initially, the emotional let down that I wasn’t going to have my beautiful downlighting that day was rough. I was not a happy camper, but it ended up having a really big silver lining. The electricians found a huge attic space that we were not utilizing. One side of our upstairs has a walk-in attic, of course the opposite side of the house has almost the same amount of attic space! A big facepalm moment for us. So we took the plunge and cut a hole into the backside of one of our closets. Uh, what?!
Tools Used
The First Hole
Using the drywall saw, we cut the smallest hole adjacent to a stud to be able to see behind the wall. By getting a borescope in to look at the space, we were able to guesstimate an eight by sixteen foot space available for more storage. If we were about to cut a couple of studs to put in a door, we certainly wanted to make sure it would be worth it! Side note about the borescope — if you don’t have one, but have an otoscope, tape it on something that won’t bend like a paint stir stick and voila! We couldn’t find our borescope, so we taped an otoscope to a clip-on bendy light and stuffed it in the hole. The otoscope is a really cool tiny camera! It hooks up to our phone for the video output. An otoscope is meant to look inside your ears, but a camera is a camera!
The Second Hole
Once we cut the bigger holes out, we were able to stick our head in there and get eyes on the support structure. The back wall was freestanding, meaning it was not supporting the roof, so we were good to cut out the stud. This is where the convertible jigsaw came into play. I use the jigsaw tool in so many of my projects! I would rate this tool up at the top with an oscillating multi-purpose tool for how much use they both get in our house.
Hobbit Door Inside The Closet
The back side of the closet is pitched because it follows the roofline. Due to the slope, the door had to be trimmed down. Using the compact circular saw, we cut off one panel of the door. Doors come with the door knob hole already pre-drilled. If we kept the door as is, the door knob would be 2″ off the ground. No bueno! We flipped the door over and then reset all 3 hinges on the door and jamb to keep the door functionality nice and stable.
Here’s the inside of our new walk-in attic storage! The previous owners left us some extra ¾” plywood in the other walk-in attic, so we ripped the sheets down and nailed them into the joists on this side to have some sturdy flooring. I do NOT need a Christmas Vacation moment in the ceiling of my dining room!
Cost Breakdown
Pre-hung door $120
Reflective Bubble Insulation $15
TOTAL $135 +tax
Threshold* $25
Door Knob* $13
3/4″ Plywood* $60
*These items were not our actual expenses, but may be needed for this project. We already had plywood and a door knob. The door ended up being so snug we didn’t need the threshold. All total, the project would still come in at under $300!