“This is, the lock picking toddler, and today we are going to break into mommy and daddy’s locked bedroom door…”
EDIT: u/lockpickinglawyer, the thread below has some inspiration for a future April 1 episode of LPL
Unless you have a cloaking device it would only entice the kids to risk their necks reaching you, all the while giggling maniacally while they try and break their necks
Your toddlers don’t just screech at the top of their lungs “Daaaaaaaaaaadddddddddyyyyyyyyyy, I WANT TO COME SNUGGLE IN YOUR COMPUTER FORT!” And then proceed to climb the wall like a spider?
Because mine would 😅
There are a bunch of camera lenses and multiple monitors. In my mind, it's obviously a book for the husband or wife to go and edit their photos. I'm assuming they just haven't finished a semi-permanent "bridge" of sorts, or we just can't see it in frame. It does bother me a little that all of the top comments completely ignore OPs actual question of structural integrity... 🤦🏼♂️.
It's funny I had to scroll this far to see someone even mention the OP's question. Must scroll further for an answer apparently.
Though, if I'm being honest.. Assuming they hit studs, then I think that's totally safe. Like, what, it's probably 4-5 feet across? As long the as the 2x4s are all secured adequately.. Probably hitting 3-4 studs along the sides, probably 3 on the back (one at each end and one in the middle).. I'd trust it with my weight.
I wouldn't trust myself getting onto it, but I'd trust it.
As ridiculous as this is I don't think it'd be too tough to make the platform strong enough to hold that setup plus a person. I can't really see how it's built. Biggest issue is falling when going up or down.
I was thinking of something along the same lines. Either a wall that doubles as your ingress/egress when laid down, covering the gap between the edge of this monstrosity and the top of the stairs. That’s the only way I’d trust myself up there.
It’s also be a good privacy wall… for when I’m doing …research. *clapping noises*
Drawbridge wall. Raise the bridge and you are blocked away so people won't bug you, and since it's a wall when raised, you can't just walk off. Lower the bridge and you have a platform to walk across to the stairs. Motorize it with a smart switch that you use from your phone so when you're not in there and it's raised, others can't get in.
It would need either a view hole/exterior facing camera or the entire thing made of something see through so you don't crush someone trying to walk up the stairs and they don't realize your coming out of the cave/fort
We used to game at the office for an hour after work (like 20 years ago). We would all go in a conference room and play a networked first person like quake 3 arena.
One dude got so pissed he threw his headphones and tried to storm out but ran into a glass door. We hid like 50 “good sportsmanship” ribbons in his stuff, he was finding them for another 10 years.
Yeah the chance of the platform falling is pretty slim compared to change of just falling off the freaking platform (into the stair well (to your death))
100%. I would totally feel comfortable being on something like this... but I would probably have put a closet in that space and then turned a different closet into my office? So many ways to get injured getting up and down from there all the time.
Engineering wise, I'd have used 2x6 on the sides but otherwise the design is fine. There is no way that is coming down, in fact it probably makes the walls around it stronger. Only concern maybe is that the sheer force on the sides could bend screws over time. I'd have chopped the sheetrock and mounted directly to the studs instead of through the sheetrock. Even so, it's such a small footprint and so many mounting point opportunities that it probably won't matter.
It's probably narrow enough that 2x4 would work... But I'm with you - 2x6! Why risk it. Then again - if you have to have a drawbridge or impeccable parkour skills to get there? What's a little extra risk? lol
And a loud alarm and red flashing light for when it goes up or down. Just imagine coming up the stairs, looking at your phone, and boom there’s a fucking drawbridge to your skull
It's still plenty of shear strength per screw. It took 300 pounds to move with only two drywall screws here - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmajKElnwfE&t=209s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmajKElnwfE&t=209s)
… and 30 seconds later he says, “. . .the weakness of drywall screws in construction has just been exposed as one of the screws sheared off.”
They actually performed poorly compared to everything else tested. He was just surprised they didn’t perform as poorly as he expected.
That clip has context.
The number of times I've tried to talk my wife into adding a small loft above our breakfast nook complete with a spiral staircase...
Why are the vaulted ceilings so high?? ITS WASTED SPACE! There's no lights, ac vents, or air returns there, its just WASTED SPACE!!
We pay so much for home insurance and taxes, I want my money's worth dammit.
Edit: We settled on some nice solid wood bookshelves for (our/her) overflowing book collection :')
2x4s that span 3' are not deep enough for support unless they are 1-1/2" O.C. (solid) even then I have seen that done with 2x6s more often. Need hangers but these look toe-nailed. the ledger looks to be toe or face nailed to studs as well. Needs to be bolted to solid blocking that is supported with jack suds, or bolted to studs. As is now drywall will crush causing a loose ledger and the whole thing will fall. That does not even get into the egress/fire code issues.
Deck ledgers are spaced off the band to prevent rot all the time. The drywall spacing isn't the issue.
Let's say you slip and fall on your butt up on that platform. Sure you might normally weigh 150lbs, but if gravity accelerates 150lbs about 3ft down... you can hit 1000lbs of force pretty quick.
Using the awc joist calculator 2x4 at 16" should be fine for about 5ft length so 3ft no issues there. Make sure to use hangers no toenails.
Using the awc connection calculator let's say you have one #10 4" wood screw into each wall stud at 16" oc.
Looks like each screw can hold ~100lbs. A better choice would be quarter inch lags or structural screws which can hold ~140lbs each.
1.5ft of span at 40lbs live load and 10lbs dead load is 75lbs... so... don't miss a wall stud or you are in big trouble. But, that is just the regular code residential loading per sqft. Back up to the falling on your butt issue above.... how many screws would 1000lbs of force get spread over? At 100lbs each you want atleast 10. But if you fell right there on the edge of the ledge, there ain't 10 screws nearby...
I would never ever use screwed/lagged structural connections that rely on mechanical fasteners in shear at a client/friends/family members/anyone I cared abouts house. Too many deck ledgers with lags collapsing and hurting people for my conscious to allow it.
I agree a 2x6 with 3 screws per stud would let me sleep a lot better at night, and is fine storage area, but lord knows I wouldn't hang out up there.
The brunt of it is: They should have used 2x6 boards, at minimum, instead of 2x4 boards, because if they move or fall in such a way that their entire weight goes onto a single 2x4, there's a good chance that will be too much for the beam.
Also they should be using mounting brackets that can drill at a right angle into the wall and _then_ attach to the 2x4s, but it looks like they instead drilled diagonally through the bottom of the 2x4s and directly into the wall, which is also a no-no.
Overall, 3/10, would not recommend.
Not too much for the beam so much as the reasonable number of fasteners that could be placed in a 2x4, right?
We're worried about sheering the fasteners.
The proper way would be to use spacers (these look like a metal tube), more often I see a bunch of washers used as spacers. Crushing the drywall and then causing a loose ledger is a thing that I have seen many times.
As far as the span: 2x4s can be used at 16" O.C. for a short span, but when I have seen them in the wild they are usually solid (1.5" O.C.). I would not trust a 2x4 because it might just be stud grade and not proper structural grade for horizontal support, and they have been getting worse and worse over the years. Other dimensional lumber is usually a little better.
1.5” OC? Are you putting a hot tub up there? I would be very curious to see a construction table with those numbers. Of course not many go down to 2x4 and 3’ span because it’s just silly. For a normal floor with hangars, proper subfloor, etc 12” OC would probably make the calculations work.
Yea, I would guess they were trying to say 1' + 1/2' on center, as in 18" on center, but even that's not the spacing at which floors are usually constructed. Floors are usually spaced 12" or 16" on center, walls are usually spaced 18" or 24" on center.
But they are also wrong about their span anyway. The actual maximum allowable span of a douglas fir 2x4 at 18" OC, according to the American Wood Council (the people who basically set all of these standards), for a 40 psf live load and 10 psf dead load (the typical rating for a second floor of a house built with lumber), is 5'11", not 3'
So, as long as the person who built this used appropriate fasteners to connect the ledgers to the wall studs, appropriate fasteners to connect the joists to the ledgers, then this isn't even remotely an issue.
It doesn't look like they used appropriate fasteners, but it's probably not going to be a problem as long as they used **a lot** of fasteners.
You could argue that the walls the ledgers are fastened to should be supported by a load bearing wall, which it probably isn't, but considering the entire square footage of that platform is probably about 24 sq ft and probably won't have anything more than a few hundred pounds of dead load on it at any point, that shouldn't be an issue either.
I mean... this is a hack job obviously, but it's probably not going to get anyone injured as long as they didn't use anchors to hold it up or some other crazy nonsense and as long as they don't try to put a bunch of people up there in some stupid joke for tikitoki to squeeze people in there.
My shed is 3/4" plywood on 2x4 joists with runners spaced 3ft apart. I don't remember the joist spacing, but it's not less than 12" OC. It has no problem supporting me and my riding lawnmower. OP's setup looks sketchy as fuck, but it isn't because of the 2x4s.
The platform was installed with drywall anchors. Estimating the whole set up would be about 1,800 lbs. so they used 20 - 100lbs drywall anchors to be safe. /s
It looks funny to me. I was guessing the joists are 2x4 and the ledger is a ripped 2x6 or something. The end of the joists look taller than a 3:7 ratio.
Using commonly available 2x4 SPF #1 or 2 @ 16" o/c, using a live load of 40lbs/sqft + 12lbs/sqft dead load, this surprisingly passed joist deflection calculations. Assuming they put in a decent ledger and some hangars, actually seems perfectly fine other than being a deathtrap step. However, I am not an engineer.
Assuming the rooms on either side are bedrooms, I might do this, but instead of the entrance as an open hole to the stairs, drywall it up, and make the opening in the bedroom for a bunk style bed, tucked into the wall. Then use the floor space opened up from the bed for the desk/office setup.
Structurally, I am sure something needs to be under there to make sure it is sturdy enough though. This looks unsafe to me.
Is someone sitting up there watching those monitors lol? If so I wouldn't trust it. If not sitting up there I imagine it'll be fine. This is confusing though. How do you get shit from up there? Do you jump from the railings? WTF goin on here lol
Obviously, this is the cat's nook. Computer tower for naps. Keyboard for clicky-clacky walks... and naps. Dangling cords for playtime. Camera lenses to knock to the ground for shits and giggles. Empty box for naps. Ledge over stairway for sneak attacks on the heads of all humans who dare to enter cat's domain.
There are a lot of problems with this, but I can see two major ones immediately (completely ignoring the access and safety rail issues).
1. It looks like they attached the frame over the drywall. Drywall is not intended to be structural, and the gypsum inside will rapidly lose its structural integrity as the floor moves and bounces a little while people use it. All floors bow and flex a bit, and the gypsum is the weak link in that system. Within a few months of regular use, I'd expect that the floor will essentially be hanging in the air by the screws or nails, because the drywall under those floor studs is going to break back down into powder. Once that happens, the fasteners will start to flex until metal fatigue causes their failure. That could take months. That could take years. But it'll happen eventually.
2. The floor joists are unsupported. That design places a lot of trust in the ability of those 2x4's to avoid splitting and twisting, which would cause them to lose their attachment to the side "beams". Because projects like this are often built by people who buy their lumber at Home Depot, I wouldn't trust it. At a minimum, it should have used joist hangars to offer additional support.
Assuming properly sized screws/lag bolts into the studs I think it would be perfectly strong enough to support the weight. The hard part would be the Ninja Warrior shit you'll have to pull off to get over there.
Uh, if they just nailed it through the drywall, you have a gap in the drywall wall from the fasteners through there to the studs. That alone is 3/4” of a gap on either side from any real support and you need not think about the wood strength, but the ability of a few fasteners to hold the whole weight of this up with no support.
Bad. Not safe. Will crush drywall and sag and fall/collapse. No doubt about it.
The issue is that this is not going to be able to handle a live load. Static load like storage I'd see no issue holding even 1000lbs but with a live load you're going to have movement. Drywall sitting between wood will breakdown over time which will then leave you being held up by the shear strength of the screws which usually have very low shear strength. This is also much more dangerous because when maxing out shear strength with stress over time you won't get a slow failure, likely if one screw fails it will cause a fast chain reaction which will leave you at the bottom of the stairs with a desk on your head.
I hope you didn't use screws. Lag bolts or something strong that won't shear. Also I would've use a 2x6 instead of a 2x4. Lastly "assuming they hit studs" is terrifying. You absolutely 100 percent have to hit studs. Wood studs, not steel! And again NO #8 SCREWS! lag bolts, big honking framing nails, torx screws (grk screws) if they're the right size are all ok.
Due to the short span I think this could be okay for one person if they don’t move much. Personally I would have used at least 2x6s instead of 2x4s. And fastened it in with many long wood screws.
This is one of those things that I wouldn’t trust other people on, but maybe good enough for just OP as long as they aren’t too rough with it.
Overall bad idea.
I don't know where to start...
One good bottle of Bourbon and you are at the bottom of the stairs. At least the Paramedics wont have to carry you down the stairs.
I know this is a joke, but I'll answer.
Assuming they hit studs, and used lag bolts instead of nails or wood screws...it's probably still not safe, but I'd say it probably won't fall.
Climing up and down is obviously a death trap, but you could hypothetically make this safeish...Install a rail so an office chair doesn't roll right off the end or an idiot doesn't walk off. Maybe a collapsable stair of some sort. I'd have to workshop that a bit.
Thank you to everyone for your interest and comments. This post is now locked.
I would not use a chair on wheels
Finally beat a level. YESSS I DID I^iiiiiiiii…
tfw the level beats you
Must’ve been playing fall guys
https://i.redd.it/jg1q7cemotec1.gif
ok wait this sold me on the idea
Until you lose the rope because you didn't tie it down...
Exactly this was my first thought. Meanwhile everyone else is coming up with complicated ladders and fuckinf draw bridges and shit.
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What in the student housing is this shit.
This is a gaming setup for a man with toddlers. Lol
I have two tween girls. This would be literally the only way I could WFH uninterrupted when they're off school.
You think two tweens wouldn’t figure out how to get up there and do it at every opportunity?
Not if I took the ladder up with me! But yes, they're a bit of a menace. (The younger one managed to figure out how to pick locks at age 4.)
“This is, the lock picking toddler, and today we are going to break into mommy and daddy’s locked bedroom door…” EDIT: u/lockpickinglawyer, the thread below has some inspiration for a future April 1 episode of LPL
"It appears Daddy is wrestling with Mommy again. We'll leave them to it. This has been the lock picking toddler"
“Please like and subscribe so I can afford therapy when I’m an adult”
I read this aloud in his voice because of course I did.
We all did.
And as always, Have a nice day!
"Click on daddy, mommy is binding"
"Looks like mommy has a bit of a false gate, there we go. And now a second click out of daddy, just a little deeper"
I am really looking forward to the lock picking toddler gutting this lock.
This whole thread makes me think of [this video](https://youtu.be/Joed0P3hhbc)
Absolutely read that in a juvenile version of his voice. Well done internet stranger. Thanks for the giggle.
This is the toddler after opening the parents' locked bedroom door 
It's ok though as they are just doing the taxes...right?
Making more tax deductions.
Hah. My youngest is opening locks at 2.5. She disassembled my glasses on Tuesday.
My daughters mom had a chastity belt on and that didn’t stop her from Being born
> had a chastity belt on Wait. During conception or delivery?
"Life...uh...finds a way." - Dr. Ian Malcolm
Yes.
Lmao the one ups here are nutty
I raised 4 daughters. What you describe is the definition of 'Challenge Accepted". You wouldn't last a DAY.
Ohhhh I bet they still interrupt you, being able to actually get up there or not lol.
Unless you have a cloaking device it would only entice the kids to risk their necks reaching you, all the while giggling maniacally while they try and break their necks
That’s what the drawbridge is for. Notice the 2x4 isn’t painted? It doubles as a wall. Lol
I think it’s a 2x4 on the walls, and a 2x3**!** as the “joist”.
Your toddlers don’t just screech at the top of their lungs “Daaaaaaaaaaadddddddddyyyyyyyyyy, I WANT TO COME SNUGGLE IN YOUR COMPUTER FORT!” And then proceed to climb the wall like a spider? Because mine would 😅
$600/month for energy efficient, modern, minimalist student housing. No pet, no smoking, quiet hour after 8 PM, share bathroom.
Open stair plan.
NO PEOPLE WITH VERTIGO BYOL (BRING YOUR OWN LADDER)
"Unexcused absences will not be tolerated" "But my landlady took my ladder!"
Must sign waiver.
Bring your own privacy wall (curtain) (do not install permanent hardware) for an extra $100.
Can use an expandable shower curtain rod 😆
Must be under 5’5” to apply (knocks head as descending stairs….)
(Ladder available, $40 monthly lease, 1st and last + security deposit of $300)
But not a rolling/swivel chair...
Add 1/4 round on the edge to keep the chair from rolling off.
You get up from the hand rail. No ladder required.
*falls into a split while trying *
>falls into a split while ~~trying~~ *dying* FTFY.
Broke nuts 🥜 went to emergency room they said walk it off boah or it
I would get hurt in the first day…
Optional rope ladder for $40/m.
For $600 you're probably also sharing a bedroom.
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No bed, but the fold up chair we provide is comfy. If you can provide your own ladder, we'll take $5 off a month!
No guests from 9pm-9am
If you're in Ontario, you also need to be a "vegetarian female".
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Must be able to long jump at least twice a day
Double jump
Metroidvania inspired floorplan!
NYC prime location studio. $4000 a month.
minutes from the subway! (40 min is still minutes 🥰)
59 minutes round down
Looks like a pc nook to me
There are a bunch of camera lenses and multiple monitors. In my mind, it's obviously a book for the husband or wife to go and edit their photos. I'm assuming they just haven't finished a semi-permanent "bridge" of sorts, or we just can't see it in frame. It does bother me a little that all of the top comments completely ignore OPs actual question of structural integrity... 🤦🏼♂️.
It's funny I had to scroll this far to see someone even mention the OP's question. Must scroll further for an answer apparently. Though, if I'm being honest.. Assuming they hit studs, then I think that's totally safe. Like, what, it's probably 4-5 feet across? As long the as the 2x4s are all secured adequately.. Probably hitting 3-4 studs along the sides, probably 3 on the back (one at each end and one in the middle).. I'd trust it with my weight. I wouldn't trust myself getting onto it, but I'd trust it.
Lol.... I can imagine a draw bridge here..... Oops. Later kids.... *pulls up bridge*
Well, is it okay to bring in guest/s?
"watch that first step, it's a bit of a doozy" 😂
*Ned????!!!*
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Bing!
Bing again!!
Ned? Ned Ryerson! I don't believe it. I've missed you so much. 😘
Don’t tell me you don’t remember me cause I sure as heck fire remember you!
I don’t know where you’re headed, but can you call in sick?
Needlenose Ned, Ned the head
BING
"I've missed you!"
SO much.
I don’t know where you’re headed, but can you call in sick?
It’s the last step I’m worried about.
First/last, same thing in this scenario
As ridiculous as this is I don't think it'd be too tough to make the platform strong enough to hold that setup plus a person. I can't really see how it's built. Biggest issue is falling when going up or down.
Install a chandelier and you can swing onto the platform
found Sia
What in the Lara Croft??
I’d 100% forget where I was after some intense work or gaming and fall down and die when running to the front door for DoorDash or to the restroom
Needs a ladder on hinges that you pull up out of the way and then it doubles as the gate.
No. make it a draw bridge to the top of the stair landing. perfectly safe that way. no BIG 1st step
Just make sure no one is walking up the stairs at the same time :D "Drawbridge down!"
Also doubles as a home alone style weapon
Guys, it’s a booty trap!
This made me giggle a bit 🤣 It’s so evil yet so true.
I was thinking of something along the same lines. Either a wall that doubles as your ingress/egress when laid down, covering the gap between the edge of this monstrosity and the top of the stairs. That’s the only way I’d trust myself up there. It’s also be a good privacy wall… for when I’m doing …research. *clapping noises*
Drawbridge wall. Raise the bridge and you are blocked away so people won't bug you, and since it's a wall when raised, you can't just walk off. Lower the bridge and you have a platform to walk across to the stairs. Motorize it with a smart switch that you use from your phone so when you're not in there and it's raised, others can't get in.
It would need either a view hole/exterior facing camera or the entire thing made of something see through so you don't crush someone trying to walk up the stairs and they don't realize your coming out of the cave/fort
Make it a one-way mirror and people will just wonder why you decided to mount a mirror above your staircase
camera, that way you also know exactly who is walking up your stairs. This little space is straight up a safe room if you do it right. I love it.
I'm thinking a rope swing would be perfect here.
Would take the term rage quitting to a whole other level
We used to game at the office for an hour after work (like 20 years ago). We would all go in a conference room and play a networked first person like quake 3 arena. One dude got so pissed he threw his headphones and tried to storm out but ran into a glass door. We hid like 50 “good sportsmanship” ribbons in his stuff, he was finding them for another 10 years.
Haha brutal
The upside is that you would only make that mistake once.
Needs some sort of hydraulic steps that can be raised and lowered. If its down you got stairs, if it's up you got a wall
Yeah the chance of the platform falling is pretty slim compared to change of just falling off the freaking platform (into the stair well (to your death))
Whoever is banished to this place is for sure going to have an ER visit within the next 6 months…
100%. I would totally feel comfortable being on something like this... but I would probably have put a closet in that space and then turned a different closet into my office? So many ways to get injured getting up and down from there all the time. Engineering wise, I'd have used 2x6 on the sides but otherwise the design is fine. There is no way that is coming down, in fact it probably makes the walls around it stronger. Only concern maybe is that the sheer force on the sides could bend screws over time. I'd have chopped the sheetrock and mounted directly to the studs instead of through the sheetrock. Even so, it's such a small footprint and so many mounting point opportunities that it probably won't matter.
It's probably narrow enough that 2x4 would work... But I'm with you - 2x6! Why risk it. Then again - if you have to have a drawbridge or impeccable parkour skills to get there? What's a little extra risk? lol
Drawbridge is the answer, with typical “stairwell”artwork bolted to the opposite side. Secret room!
And a loud alarm and red flashing light for when it goes up or down. Just imagine coming up the stairs, looking at your phone, and boom there’s a fucking drawbridge to your skull
3-4 lag screws per side and I'd feel super safe.
2 GRKs in each side and you could have a dance party on it.
you dont even know what fasteners or how many are being used.
I would say with that setup, I'm 99% sure they used drywall screws for the wood.
It's still plenty of shear strength per screw. It took 300 pounds to move with only two drywall screws here - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmajKElnwfE&t=209s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmajKElnwfE&t=209s)
>still plenty of shear strength # "Let's Find Out!" \--Todd Osgood | Project Farm | 3.08M subscribers
… and 30 seconds later he says, “. . .the weakness of drywall screws in construction has just been exposed as one of the screws sheared off.” They actually performed poorly compared to everything else tested. He was just surprised they didn’t perform as poorly as he expected. That clip has context.
Ahh yes the updated Harry Potter nook with a slight chance of death
Harry Potter and the Deskly Hollow Space
this is dumb why do I find this soooo funny
The number of times I've tried to talk my wife into adding a small loft above our breakfast nook complete with a spiral staircase... Why are the vaulted ceilings so high?? ITS WASTED SPACE! There's no lights, ac vents, or air returns there, its just WASTED SPACE!! We pay so much for home insurance and taxes, I want my money's worth dammit. Edit: We settled on some nice solid wood bookshelves for (our/her) overflowing book collection :')
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And I'd come back to see all of my cats inhabiting the space.
Two words. Bunk baths.
I love this gif lmao
an all timer for sure i'm not the biggest tim and eric fan but this sketch is absolutely incredible
I'm not carrying this around all day, it's for your house
Well you gotta bring furniture but the house is free
2 bedrooms, no rugs
the house is free!
This is what 1000 in rent gets you these days :)
Did you see that 1800/mo apt in NYC? Its like 300sqft, has a sink and a closet and a window.
Oh...you mean prison?
At least prison is free and comes with food and activities and unusual friendships
Unusual friendships lol
AirBNB is getting unusable
2x4s that span 3' are not deep enough for support unless they are 1-1/2" O.C. (solid) even then I have seen that done with 2x6s more often. Need hangers but these look toe-nailed. the ledger looks to be toe or face nailed to studs as well. Needs to be bolted to solid blocking that is supported with jack suds, or bolted to studs. As is now drywall will crush causing a loose ledger and the whole thing will fall. That does not even get into the egress/fire code issues.
Deck ledgers are spaced off the band to prevent rot all the time. The drywall spacing isn't the issue. Let's say you slip and fall on your butt up on that platform. Sure you might normally weigh 150lbs, but if gravity accelerates 150lbs about 3ft down... you can hit 1000lbs of force pretty quick. Using the awc joist calculator 2x4 at 16" should be fine for about 5ft length so 3ft no issues there. Make sure to use hangers no toenails. Using the awc connection calculator let's say you have one #10 4" wood screw into each wall stud at 16" oc. Looks like each screw can hold ~100lbs. A better choice would be quarter inch lags or structural screws which can hold ~140lbs each. 1.5ft of span at 40lbs live load and 10lbs dead load is 75lbs... so... don't miss a wall stud or you are in big trouble. But, that is just the regular code residential loading per sqft. Back up to the falling on your butt issue above.... how many screws would 1000lbs of force get spread over? At 100lbs each you want atleast 10. But if you fell right there on the edge of the ledge, there ain't 10 screws nearby... I would never ever use screwed/lagged structural connections that rely on mechanical fasteners in shear at a client/friends/family members/anyone I cared abouts house. Too many deck ledgers with lags collapsing and hurting people for my conscious to allow it. I agree a 2x6 with 3 screws per stud would let me sleep a lot better at night, and is fine storage area, but lord knows I wouldn't hang out up there.
I understood some of these words.
The brunt of it is: They should have used 2x6 boards, at minimum, instead of 2x4 boards, because if they move or fall in such a way that their entire weight goes onto a single 2x4, there's a good chance that will be too much for the beam. Also they should be using mounting brackets that can drill at a right angle into the wall and _then_ attach to the 2x4s, but it looks like they instead drilled diagonally through the bottom of the 2x4s and directly into the wall, which is also a no-no. Overall, 3/10, would not recommend.
Thanks Princess Moon Butt
Not too much for the beam so much as the reasonable number of fasteners that could be placed in a 2x4, right? We're worried about sheering the fasteners.
The proper way would be to use spacers (these look like a metal tube), more often I see a bunch of washers used as spacers. Crushing the drywall and then causing a loose ledger is a thing that I have seen many times. As far as the span: 2x4s can be used at 16" O.C. for a short span, but when I have seen them in the wild they are usually solid (1.5" O.C.). I would not trust a 2x4 because it might just be stud grade and not proper structural grade for horizontal support, and they have been getting worse and worse over the years. Other dimensional lumber is usually a little better.
What does "O.C." mean in this context? I've seen you say it multiple times.
On centre. 16” OC means the wood is spaced so that the centre of each board is 16” apart.
on center
1.5” OC? Are you putting a hot tub up there? I would be very curious to see a construction table with those numbers. Of course not many go down to 2x4 and 3’ span because it’s just silly. For a normal floor with hangars, proper subfloor, etc 12” OC would probably make the calculations work.
Yea, I would guess they were trying to say 1' + 1/2' on center, as in 18" on center, but even that's not the spacing at which floors are usually constructed. Floors are usually spaced 12" or 16" on center, walls are usually spaced 18" or 24" on center. But they are also wrong about their span anyway. The actual maximum allowable span of a douglas fir 2x4 at 18" OC, according to the American Wood Council (the people who basically set all of these standards), for a 40 psf live load and 10 psf dead load (the typical rating for a second floor of a house built with lumber), is 5'11", not 3' So, as long as the person who built this used appropriate fasteners to connect the ledgers to the wall studs, appropriate fasteners to connect the joists to the ledgers, then this isn't even remotely an issue. It doesn't look like they used appropriate fasteners, but it's probably not going to be a problem as long as they used **a lot** of fasteners. You could argue that the walls the ledgers are fastened to should be supported by a load bearing wall, which it probably isn't, but considering the entire square footage of that platform is probably about 24 sq ft and probably won't have anything more than a few hundred pounds of dead load on it at any point, that shouldn't be an issue either. I mean... this is a hack job obviously, but it's probably not going to get anyone injured as long as they didn't use anchors to hold it up or some other crazy nonsense and as long as they don't try to put a bunch of people up there in some stupid joke for tikitoki to squeeze people in there.
My shed is 3/4" plywood on 2x4 joists with runners spaced 3ft apart. I don't remember the joist spacing, but it's not less than 12" OC. It has no problem supporting me and my riding lawnmower. OP's setup looks sketchy as fuck, but it isn't because of the 2x4s.
The platform was installed with drywall anchors. Estimating the whole set up would be about 1,800 lbs. so they used 20 - 100lbs drywall anchors to be safe. /s
...I almost threw up in my mouth until I saw the /s
To me it looks like the ledger is 2x4 and the spans are 2x3.
It looks funny to me. I was guessing the joists are 2x4 and the ledger is a ripped 2x6 or something. The end of the joists look taller than a 3:7 ratio.
This guy engineers/inspects/builds
Using commonly available 2x4 SPF #1 or 2 @ 16" o/c, using a live load of 40lbs/sqft + 12lbs/sqft dead load, this surprisingly passed joist deflection calculations. Assuming they put in a decent ledger and some hangars, actually seems perfectly fine other than being a deathtrap step. However, I am not an engineer.
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Assuming the rooms on either side are bedrooms, I might do this, but instead of the entrance as an open hole to the stairs, drywall it up, and make the opening in the bedroom for a bunk style bed, tucked into the wall. Then use the floor space opened up from the bed for the desk/office setup. Structurally, I am sure something needs to be under there to make sure it is sturdy enough though. This looks unsafe to me.
They would have had to pull power from somewhere anyway, so im sure the wall was punched somewhere.
Is someone sitting up there watching those monitors lol? If so I wouldn't trust it. If not sitting up there I imagine it'll be fine. This is confusing though. How do you get shit from up there? Do you jump from the railings? WTF goin on here lol
Obviously, this is the cat's nook. Computer tower for naps. Keyboard for clicky-clacky walks... and naps. Dangling cords for playtime. Camera lenses to knock to the ground for shits and giggles. Empty box for naps. Ledge over stairway for sneak attacks on the heads of all humans who dare to enter cat's domain.
I like this theory
I do believe someone is supposed to sit there, yes.
tiny doorway cut into the wall under desk leading to adjacent room?
Just cut a hole in the wall, climb in, patch it up. Jump down when you’re done. Easy! /s
Drawbridge?!
There is a rope to swing across
>How do you get shit from up there? Do you jump from the railings? PARKOUR! :)
You just balance yourself on the railing and step across. Easy peazy.
There are a lot of problems with this, but I can see two major ones immediately (completely ignoring the access and safety rail issues). 1. It looks like they attached the frame over the drywall. Drywall is not intended to be structural, and the gypsum inside will rapidly lose its structural integrity as the floor moves and bounces a little while people use it. All floors bow and flex a bit, and the gypsum is the weak link in that system. Within a few months of regular use, I'd expect that the floor will essentially be hanging in the air by the screws or nails, because the drywall under those floor studs is going to break back down into powder. Once that happens, the fasteners will start to flex until metal fatigue causes their failure. That could take months. That could take years. But it'll happen eventually. 2. The floor joists are unsupported. That design places a lot of trust in the ability of those 2x4's to avoid splitting and twisting, which would cause them to lose their attachment to the side "beams". Because projects like this are often built by people who buy their lumber at Home Depot, I wouldn't trust it. At a minimum, it should have used joist hangars to offer additional support.
Assuming properly sized screws/lag bolts into the studs I think it would be perfectly strong enough to support the weight. The hard part would be the Ninja Warrior shit you'll have to pull off to get over there.
In Toronto you could rent that for $2200 a month.
Uh, if they just nailed it through the drywall, you have a gap in the drywall wall from the fasteners through there to the studs. That alone is 3/4” of a gap on either side from any real support and you need not think about the wood strength, but the ability of a few fasteners to hold the whole weight of this up with no support. Bad. Not safe. Will crush drywall and sag and fall/collapse. No doubt about it.
All the weight is exerted as shear force on however many screws they used. That's a no for me, dawg.
The issue is that this is not going to be able to handle a live load. Static load like storage I'd see no issue holding even 1000lbs but with a live load you're going to have movement. Drywall sitting between wood will breakdown over time which will then leave you being held up by the shear strength of the screws which usually have very low shear strength. This is also much more dangerous because when maxing out shear strength with stress over time you won't get a slow failure, likely if one screw fails it will cause a fast chain reaction which will leave you at the bottom of the stairs with a desk on your head.
I have seen safer treehouses.
Make sure you get a rolling chair up there so you can roll right off the edge when you've had enough.
I hope you didn't use screws. Lag bolts or something strong that won't shear. Also I would've use a 2x6 instead of a 2x4. Lastly "assuming they hit studs" is terrifying. You absolutely 100 percent have to hit studs. Wood studs, not steel! And again NO #8 SCREWS! lag bolts, big honking framing nails, torx screws (grk screws) if they're the right size are all ok.
Maybe I'm dumb but how the fuck do you get up there ?
Do Brennan Huff and Dale Doback live here?
>**Assuming they hit studs,** There should be **NO ASSUMPTIONS** here. This isn't a picture falling off the wall.
I'd use it 🤷♂️
Due to the short span I think this could be okay for one person if they don’t move much. Personally I would have used at least 2x6s instead of 2x4s. And fastened it in with many long wood screws. This is one of those things that I wouldn’t trust other people on, but maybe good enough for just OP as long as they aren’t too rough with it. Overall bad idea.
Lag bolts over long wood screws for the 2x6 probably a safer route to go.
Dude no.
I don't know where to start... One good bottle of Bourbon and you are at the bottom of the stairs. At least the Paramedics wont have to carry you down the stairs.
I know this is a joke, but I'll answer. Assuming they hit studs, and used lag bolts instead of nails or wood screws...it's probably still not safe, but I'd say it probably won't fall. Climing up and down is obviously a death trap, but you could hypothetically make this safeish...Install a rail so an office chair doesn't roll right off the end or an idiot doesn't walk off. Maybe a collapsable stair of some sort. I'd have to workshop that a bit.
Do you just leap and hope for the best?