The original Boston Line BACK on track!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Ian, I thought those were illegal everywhere now. God this really is a nanny state. Let me check the prices, if its way cheaper, maybe we can make a day trip of it and do some railfaning

[Sokramiketes]

Is treated lumber supposed to be used indoors?

[conrail98]

Is treated lumber supposed to be used indoors?

In my state any wood in contact with concrete must be treated to prevent termites from entering the rest of the structure,

Phil

[Philip H]

Same in Maryland. Not quite universal, but close to in the code right now.

[LKOrailroad]

Not only is treated wood used indoors, the foundation of my house is entirely treated wood. It's called a permanent wood foundation and I love it. Will never build another house on concrete after having a PWF. There was unusually high rainfall for a week in the summer of 2004. The area got a real soaking. My neighbors all had water in their basements. Our PWF stayed dry as a bone.

Even in a conventional concrete or block foundation, treated lumber should be used wherever wood is in contact with below grade masonry. Wood will slowly wick moisture from the masonry eventually leading to rotting. Use galvanized nails to attach the treated lumber to the conventional kiln dried. The copper used in the treatment process causes bimetallic corrosion with regular steel nails. For basement walls typically only the bottom plate is treated. Conventional studs are toe-nailed to the bottom plate with galvanized nails. The rest of the wall framing is the same as above grade construction. This blog post shows treated bottom plates on the walls I constructed in my basement: http://www.lkorailroad.com/if-its-not-one-thing-its-another/

[C855B]

Not only is treated wood used indoors, the foundation of my house is entirely treated wood. It's called a permanent wood foundation and I love it. ...

Heh. PWF. Our second house (now a rental) has a PWF on an addition. I, too, think it's great. But there's a lot of ignorance about PWF. We tried to sell it last year, had a buyer offer near our asking... then their pre-purchase inspector got his panties in a twist about the PWF - "No foundation!" - and they backed out. This code-ignorant inspector cost us tens of thousands because the local home market crashed a couple of months later, which is why it's a rental now. If we were the "lawyerly" type... 

Anyway, yes, treated wood is required by code if in contact with concrete, or the ground, inside or out. I think the concerns about treated wood indoors relates to CCA - chromated copper arsenate - which was outlawed in residential use in 2003.

[Scottl]

Concrete foundations don't rot out or get attacked by bugs in 50 years.  Wood can, even treated, particularly if abused by poor drainage conditions or other neglect.  I wouldn't touch a wood foundation, especially in a humid climate like those found east of the 100th meridian.  Sorry for the trouble it gave you, but there are valid concerns that some people would be more worried about than others. JIMO. 

For stud walls in a basement, that is definitely the best thing to use and a wise precaution in a damp climate.  Metal studs are the alternative, and many people prefer them in basements where the heat transfer is less of an issue.  You don't need air nailers to assemble them either! (always looking to save for more train stuff!).

[daniel_leavitt2000]

All the lumber used in the basement will be treated. The price was almost the same as conventional studs and I honestly don't know how well the waterproofing will hold up. If everything goes wrong, At least I should be able to keep the framing intact, and thats a lot of saved work down the line. As it turned out, I was very lucky to spend the few extra bucks on all treated lumber...

So it wasn't supossed to rain last night. I left the materials uncovered as I got home late. The skies were still clear at 1am... then it rained.

The wood was pretty damp when I started hauling it in this morning. I stacked it up in a corner of the basement with the wettest wood on the bottom. With any luck, everything will dry out straght. The foam core was still loaded on top of the green board, thank God. The greenboard seems to have escaped almost all of the water. This pallet has since been covered with a tarp. I hope to bring the rest in latter this week.

As a side note, I better get in shape quick. Hauling in that lumber was not very fun.

[jbcz]

Months ago I mentioned that I implemented a Miller Eng CITGO Sign.  I finally figured out how to post it.  This is an N-Scale Conrail layout.  "Beacon Park" is in the foreground.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

OK, there has been a LONG pause in this thread. Lets get back on track!

First, many of you know I move slow. I put this project on the shelf for more than a year while I worked, fixed the house and ran out of money. The biggest issue was that the waterproofing I used made the floor uneven and I need a professional to grind it down and start over.

I have secured more fund and with the majority of the supplies already waiting, finishing the basement should come together quickly once I get the contractor in and draw up an assessment. This should happen Thursday.

Once the basement is finished in august or September,  I will be equipping it for modeling first and the layout second. That means I will be purchasing all my dream tools: mill, a full workbench, airbrush kiosk and a 30 gallon 120 psi air supply. The air supply will be hosed straight to the workbench and paint and pressure pot area to remove the need of moving a giant tank. This will also allow me to start work on some serious casting such as the FGE boxes as well as some accurate Bewicks and vehicles.

Layout construction will be west to east. Dave, are you still up for designing this thing?

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Time for a new update. Finishing the basement without painting the walls will cost $18,000 total. This is scheduled to start next week. Although I did a lot myself, I really do need a professional to finish this up as I never seem to have the time to do it. After this is done, I am going to finish sealing the floors, apply garage paint and carpet tile.

After a few recent additions to my roster (C40-8/Ws, SD80MACs and the upcoming MTL SW1500), I am pretty satisfied that my roster is essentially complete. Rolling stock is also looking good, with about 1200 cars total. My only real holes are some intermodal equipment and commuter cars.

With the basement finally being finished in a few months, I can finally unpack my stuff and start to really work again. Modeling projects will switch from "busy work" to weathering cars, updating trucks, wheels and couplers and adding DCC in all my engines (130+ decoders!).

Money that I have been using to spend on equipment will instead be diverted to lumber, tools, track, wire and DCC control systems. I hope to have a floor plan ready for Dave Smith's crack planning skills within a month or two.

Oh and what did I have to bribe my wife with to finish the project and not sell the house? Just a vacation home in Thailand and a new bathroom on the second floor. So much for retirement savings!

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Just a quick update. Contractors started on the framing today. They were able to push the walls out another foot from my original plans.

My former work shop on the first floor is being converted back to a second living room so it will be a bit before I can get any modeling done.

I plan on picking up a 25-50 gallon air compressor, mill, and start work designing an airbrush booth in the next two weeks.

I also settled on a color scheme for the room: black ceiling and carpet, Conrail/deep-sky blue walls and all furnishings will be done in light birch to match some extra Ikea shelving that will be relocated to the train room. It will be modern, simple and understated. Perfect to focus attention on the layout.

Looking at all the tools and equipment I plan on using at the workbench, space will be tight. To help with workflow, I started looking at how actual factories operate. Many assembly lines will operate in order of production. This won't help me because I will be producing a variety of items using different media. Then I started looking at watch assembly lines. These lines are arranged by type of equipment. For example, you have a power tool station, an air powered station and a hand tool station. Bingo!

But if I were to have a small table for each station, It might take up half the basement: paint booth and pressure pots running on air. Mill, Dremel, small table saw on a power bench. of course there is a hand tool area and I would also need a computer terminal area for DCC programing, Silhouette Cutter, printing and further expansion (3d printer when the technology catches up and maybe a laser cutter as well).

In order to combat this, I will be incorporating pull out workstations integrated into the layout. When not needed, they simply slide under the layout like giant drawers. Each one will have a specific function and will be grouped by equipment requirements (air supply, vent, computer access, etc.) This will also allow me to tailor the lighting into the workstation. I plan on using engine warning placards on some of the access panels (Fire Extinguisher Inside, and Caution: 600 Volts for the electrical access). I may label my engine storage bay with "Do Not Hump" heh heh.

I won't really know how much storage room I will have until the layout is sketched out, but it will be at least 250 square feet. God help me if that is not enough.

[davefoxx]

I would recommend that you reconsider the black ceiling and carpet.  For those worms-eye pictures, you won't have that sharp contrasting line and a black hole at the top of your pictures.  So, why not paint the ceiling "sky blue,"  too?   Black carpeting will show everything and be tough to keep looking clean.

DFF

[Chris333]

Yeah I bought dark green carpet once and now have to vac once every few days 

[robwill84]

A black ceiling and carpet, yeah think twice about that. Years ago I painted my all white-tone "train room" sky blue, even the ceiling, and even that made a huge impact on the lighting, everything pitched toward blue and the room was much darker than before. I repainted the ceiling white and it helped a lot. A black ceiling would cut way down on reflected lighting and be kind of claustrophobic. I would even advise against the dark blue on the walls. I really got sick of the sky blue walls after a year or so, and repainted the whole room back to a white tone and should have just left it alone in the first place. Just my thoughts on the matter.