Freezing Bedroom gets insulation and a redo

It looks nice now, with fresh paint on smooth walls, and nice carpet, and shining woodwork. But I can assure you it was nothing to be to thrilled about when we walked into this house. You see, our house had been "chopped" into three units. One in the front of the basement, one that occupied the bulk of the main floor, and one that covered the back half of the basement and the back two rooms of the upstairs. And of course, this room had a staircase coming up into it. It also was freezing all winter long. Zero insulation in the walls, and a crawl space underneath it (the only crawl space at our place) and about 3 inches of insulation above it.

It sits at the NW corner of our house, in a frame addition that was put on in the late 20's, and has served as a bedroom for different kids as time has moved by. Right now, it houses both our sons, ages 6 and 3. I can now say that they love it.

My first task in the room was to take out, or just cap over that stair case. There were half walls surrounding it, and they had to be removed. Then I had my first experience at putting floor joists in with nice brackets, and covering it with plywood. It went well, and was kind of fun. The only tough part was getting the final floor fairly level with the rest of it. I'll confess that after that was done, the room pretty much stayed in that form (with a bed covering the part with no carpet) for 3 or more years. We did have some electrical outlets added, and a nice ceiling fan and lighting put in. But the radiator in the room just couldn't cut it.

In 2005, we had the entire attic insulated with enough insulation to make a big difference. Still, that room just wasn't comfortable in the winter. It would be 65 when the rest of the house was 72, and colder at night. So, I ripped off the sheetrock on the two exterior walls, and as I suspected, there was no insulation. I added some "extensions" to all the studs to make the stud cavity's larger, then insulated. Sounds quick, but it took a long time. Taking out that plaster system (over a fiberboard) was time consuming. I think I pulled 1000 nails. After putting in the insulation and then having an electrician run some additional wiring for outlets, I had to add some 1 inch finish quality strips to all the door and window jambs.

Then I let the Sheetrock man do his work. Joe Wright, 40 plus years in the business, did an incredible job. He covered the bare walls, and the other two with new sheetrock, and put a texture on the ceiling. No more can you see wallpaper lines under the paint. The difference between his work and what I would have been able to do is incredible. No visible joints. I admire people who can do that. Then my wife painted the room, and the process of getting the woodwork ready began. Same as before, I had run it all through the planer, then sanded it like mad, and finished it after we reattached it.

The carpet is nice stuff, expensive, and the only carpet on the main floor. I don't like carpet much--a perpetual trap for dust, hair and dirt. But in a room where comfort and warmth is the goal, its perfect. Plus, the wood floor had a big "hole" because of the staircase that had been cut into it.