Moving the immoveble object

[Bob]

Yes, I missed the first part of the thread, but am now caught up. Good luck with the cutting up and transportation - your Hope layout is just amazing.  I really want to see it it MR or another publication.  Some of your posted photos are amazing - I particularly like that expansive 'aerial' shot you made of the more industrial area.  Bob

[spookshow]

Looks like the family bread knife is going to be the winner here. I tried using a really sharp compass saw, but after some experiments it looked like it was going to wind up removing too much material. The bread knife slices through readily, and without taking much (if any) foam with it. Thanks to whoever it was that suggested that one.

-Mark

[eja]

I have mentioned before that a two bladed electric carving knife will easily slice through foam leaving a very clean edge and little or no "dust".

eja

[spookshow]

I managed to get my layout moved over to the new house, and with only a modicum of mangulation. A few things did fall off in the process, but I think I managed to snag most (if not all) of them. So, mainly it's just going to be a matter of remembering where everything goes and then gluing it all back down. And fortunately for me, I have my exhaustive blog as a reference.



The really scary part came when I tried assembling the puzzle pieces and found that that big pole in the middle of the room was preventing things from going together. And as it turns out, the problem there was that I was stubbornly trying to align the back corner of the layout with the corner of the room (like I'd had it at my old house). However, after sleeping on the problem, it finally occurred to me that all I really needed to do was rotate the whole thing a bit. So, whew, that was a close call, 'cuz I was literally ready to start tearing things apart and starting over. Fortunately for me, the thought of re-doing that damned soybean field was enough to make me hold off on that decision. And mighty glad am I that I did!

Unfortunately, when basement finisher guy starts his work the whole thing is going to have to move yet again (this time out into the garage). However, that won't happen until October at the earliest, so at least for now it's just going to have sit there in its mangled state. No worries though, between getting my old house ready to sell and my new house ready to occupy, I have more than enough on my plate to keep me busy.

Thanks for all your suggestions and advice! 

-Mark

[MK]

I don't know what was in the middle of the layout at your old house but another option is to have that steel support column in the middle.

You can use the column to hang pictures or spot lights (on to the layout) or even wireless transceivers like a Digitrax UR9x or similar.

[spookshow]

The layout really needs to go into that far-right corner, otherwise it's bleeding into my work area in the near-left corner and just kind of getting in the way.



That pole is really inconveniently placed. I had one in my old train room, but it was not smack dab in the middle of the room.



-Mark

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Whew!!! I'm so glad to hear this all came together.

[peteski]

Phew! I'm glad the move was successful!   Looks like in this basement there is plenty of room for expansion!   

[spookshow]

It's going to be awesome when the room is finished. And I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to modeling after all the HGTV stuff is done

-Mark

[Point353]

The layout really needs to go into that far-right corner, otherwise it's bleeding into my work area in the near-left corner and just kind of getting in the way.



That pole is really inconveniently placed. I had one in my old train room, but it was not smack dab in the middle of the room.

You'd need a structural engineer to perform the calculations, but would bolting steel plates to the sides of that wood beam provide sufficient strength to allow the post to be eliminated, or possibly moved to a less inconvenient position?
Seems like something similar was done on a recent episode of This Old House.

[peteski]

You'd need a structural engineer to perform the calculations, but would bolting steel plates to the sides of that wood beam provide sufficient strength to allow the post to be eliminated, or possibly moved to a less inconvenient position?
Seems like something similar was done on a recent episode of This Old House.

I haven't noticed before that the post is an adjustable house jack, not a fixed-height post that would have been part of the original house design, but added later after the house was built.  I wonder why it had to be added.

[Missaberoad]

Lots of houses have adjustable teleposts as part of the original construction. In fact I can't think of a house I've lived in that had fixed height posts...

[spookshow]

This shop area is actually part of an addition, so different building techniques as compared to the rest of the house. But in any case, I'm fine with where the layout is sitting now and don't plan on tearing my house apart in order to reposition it elsewhere 

-Mark

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This shop area is actually part of an addition, so different building techniques as compared to the rest of the house. But in any case, I'm fine with where the layout is sitting now and don't plan on tearing my house apart in order to reposition it elsewhere 

-Mark

Look, telling you to do expensive alterations for marginal gains is like what we do man. lol

[davefoxx]

I haven't noticed before that the post is an adjustable house jack, not a fixed-height post that would have been part of the original house design, but added later after the house was built.  I wonder why it had to be added.

Looks like a typical adjustable lally column to me.  But, I’m only familiar with residential home construction in the Mid-Atlantic states.

DFF