I have been plugging away at my room where I plan to build my layout. The layout will be a walk in in U shape folded dog bone with double tracks, Fastrack O84 and O72 curves. I plan to use a modified design made by member Matt Jackson. Thanks again Mmatt. Back on June 12, 2012 I posted a request in the forum titled, "Looking for design help. Matt provided me a design that I can modify to fit the space and add additional staging tracks and yards. Over the years I have read where it was recommended to finish the room before you build the layout. My room is in the unfinished side of the basement with poured cement walls wrapped with insulation and the ceiling has pipes and bare insulation stuffed between the floor joists.
I chose to use steel studs to frame out the walls and leave the insulation in place. Steel is very easy to work with if you have a chop saw which I have. I used pop rivets to hold the joints together and drywall screws to fasten the drywall. This was my first attempt to install a suspended ceiling. I wasn’t that hard and would have been easier with a helper helping to hold the long frames. The room is 15’ X 25’ with one side a little longer at 29’. The hot water heater and furnace kept me from making the room square.
Attached are a few photos of my progress. I found out early on that the floor was not a level as I would have liked and slopped toward one corner where the sump pump is located. I have been fortunate in that the basement is dry and been through several hurricanes driven rain events in the last 12 years. The drywall was hung from the top down. I built a box beam out of steel studs and track to rest the 4 x 8 sheets on. The box beam is about 50” from the floor joist. I figured the drop ceiling would cover the gap at the top and the bench work would hide the missing piece at the bottom and save me from buying and hanging about ten more sheets of drywall.
I found a Builders Surplus store close by that carried 1"X3"X16' finished plywood. $4.50 for a 16' and $2.25 for 8' pieces. I purchased a stack and used it to build an L girder and cross pieces for the base of the layout. So far I have one side built and installed. It's a little over 29' and is three feet wide. You can see from the photos the rest of the lumber is stacked on the finished side. I glued and screwed this together and it is very sturdy. I'll update as I make further progress, now that I found the camera cable.
Jim Miller
Havre de Grace Maryland.
