Hi, I am new to the site -
I searched all forums for topics on split level homes, and didn't find anything that addressed my questions.
In a split level house, is there a specific name for the walls that separate the two differing levels? For lack of a better term, I will refer to it here as the center-wall, since it is basically at the center of the house. It runs from the front exterior wall of the house to the stairwell, and another section from the rear exterior wall to the stairwell.
The house in question has essentially 4 floors and an attic: ground level (1st floor) basement and garage, 2nd floor living room, dining room, and kitchen, 3rd floor 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, 4th floor master bedroom and bathroom. Attic sits on top 3rd floor, which sits on top of 1st floor; 4th floor sits above 2nd floor which sits above a 3' crawlspace.
The ceiling of the 2nd floor (the floor of the 4th floor), where it hits the center-wall, that is essentially halfway up the wall of the 3rd floor - can someone explain to me how that is accomplished? I want to know what I *should* find before I open anything up. It is my understanding that this center-wall is load-bearing, as I can tell from the nails in the wood flooring that the floor joists run perpendicular to the center-wall.
The reason I want to know is, currently the master bedroom has a closet against the center-wall, and inside the closet is an access panel to the attic, 51" off the floor. I want to put in a stairway so that I can walk up to the attic instead of climbing up into it.
I believe I have the basic concepts of stair construction down, except for figuring out how to support the stringers at the bottom and how to attach them at the top.
In my case, the stringers will be parallel to the floor joists of the 4th floor, and I can only assume there is some larger beam along the ends of the floor joists that they tie into, but I am not sure how thick it will be, and what I need to do if it is not wide enough to support the bottom of the stringers. I can't shift the stairs out into the room to fully sit on the existing floor, since I want to install a door flush with the center-wall with the stairs completely behind the door (it's okay with me if the first tread almost touches the back of the door though).
Also, how do I approach cutting into the joists of the attic floor for the new stairwell? They run parallel to the center-wall (ie, perpendicular to the staircase), so I am not sure if these joists bear any load from the roof or not... If not, do I just cut them off at the edge of the new stairwell, minus 1-1/2" and put a new board in to tie the ends together? If the upper end of my stairway does not end exactly at a joist, can I just add a short piece connected to these new side-rails to nail the top of the staircase to? Or should I alter the dimension of the stairs so that it definitely does butt up against an existing joist?
I really want this stairway to be sturdy enough for carrying heavy loads up it - next year's projects include a lot of re-construction of the two different roof sections, to put it in a nutshell they are horrible and need a lot of work both inside and out, so this stairway will make work up there a lot easier.
Thanks in advance!
I searched all forums for topics on split level homes, and didn't find anything that addressed my questions.
In a split level house, is there a specific name for the walls that separate the two differing levels? For lack of a better term, I will refer to it here as the center-wall, since it is basically at the center of the house. It runs from the front exterior wall of the house to the stairwell, and another section from the rear exterior wall to the stairwell.
The house in question has essentially 4 floors and an attic: ground level (1st floor) basement and garage, 2nd floor living room, dining room, and kitchen, 3rd floor 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, 4th floor master bedroom and bathroom. Attic sits on top 3rd floor, which sits on top of 1st floor; 4th floor sits above 2nd floor which sits above a 3' crawlspace.
The ceiling of the 2nd floor (the floor of the 4th floor), where it hits the center-wall, that is essentially halfway up the wall of the 3rd floor - can someone explain to me how that is accomplished? I want to know what I *should* find before I open anything up. It is my understanding that this center-wall is load-bearing, as I can tell from the nails in the wood flooring that the floor joists run perpendicular to the center-wall.
The reason I want to know is, currently the master bedroom has a closet against the center-wall, and inside the closet is an access panel to the attic, 51" off the floor. I want to put in a stairway so that I can walk up to the attic instead of climbing up into it.
I believe I have the basic concepts of stair construction down, except for figuring out how to support the stringers at the bottom and how to attach them at the top.
In my case, the stringers will be parallel to the floor joists of the 4th floor, and I can only assume there is some larger beam along the ends of the floor joists that they tie into, but I am not sure how thick it will be, and what I need to do if it is not wide enough to support the bottom of the stringers. I can't shift the stairs out into the room to fully sit on the existing floor, since I want to install a door flush with the center-wall with the stairs completely behind the door (it's okay with me if the first tread almost touches the back of the door though).
Also, how do I approach cutting into the joists of the attic floor for the new stairwell? They run parallel to the center-wall (ie, perpendicular to the staircase), so I am not sure if these joists bear any load from the roof or not... If not, do I just cut them off at the edge of the new stairwell, minus 1-1/2" and put a new board in to tie the ends together? If the upper end of my stairway does not end exactly at a joist, can I just add a short piece connected to these new side-rails to nail the top of the staircase to? Or should I alter the dimension of the stairs so that it definitely does butt up against an existing joist?
I really want this stairway to be sturdy enough for carrying heavy loads up it - next year's projects include a lot of re-construction of the two different roof sections, to put it in a nutshell they are horrible and need a lot of work both inside and out, so this stairway will make work up there a lot easier.
Thanks in advance!