Attic Materials Shopping & Delivery

To do the attic flooring, first thing we did was measure the space and do some math to figure out how many pieces of plywood we would need. At Home Depot we bought 15 sheets of 4'x8' plywood and had them cut down in the store to 2'x8' so that they would fit up the attic stairs. We also bought 45 1x2s at 8 ft to act as spacers between the plywood and the floor joists. These would give us room for the electrical wires running across the attic (note: all electrical boxes will follow code and remain exposed) and prevent the insulation from being compressed under the boards. Insulation loses its effectiveness when it’s compressed - it has to have space to work efficiently.

After a rather stressful adventure renting a Home Depot truck for the pergola project and racing around to return it in time with gas, this time we decided to have everything delivered. It was only a little bit more and SO much easier with a toddler. We also used the opportunity to buy a big exterior ladder - something that never would have fit in a rental truck or our car and we've needed one for a while.

The delivery happened yesterday... and 30 of the 1x2s were missing from the order. Mike called Home Depot to complain and they said they could deliver them next Tuesday. There's no way we wanted to wait a week to start on the attic, so Mike went to the store to pick them up from their shipping room. Luckily something so small and light easily fit in my small SUV (at least it wasn't the plywood!), so it was just an extra trip to the store. And while it was annoying to have to drive all the way over there, the silver lining is they they refunded our delivery fee! So we had all the plywood and the GIANT ladder delivered for FREE. Heck yeah!

Until we get the furring strips nailed down as a base, the plywood has to live in our dining room. Thanks to a rainy forecast it can't be outside. We put up baby gates and chairs to keep Oliver out and safe, but now he thinks it's a let's-escape-to-the-dining-room game.