Southern Pacific's Jefferson Branch

[ratled]

The Layout Room

The house we were so fortunate to get was new construction.  The builder provided the train room (part of the garage) with tape, texture and paint.  One of the upgrades we had was to have the garage fully insulated.

With the impending move, all the chaos that encompasses it, and that the space needing to do double duty for the layout/train storage and household storage, I needed to get things going.

I laid out the upper and lower lines of the shadowbox while the room was still pristine and empty. I started about midpoint of the longest wall as this is a garage floor with a 2% grade, I marked a starting point for the level line at  52”  and laid out a line in both directions. I went up 20” from that line and had the upper line for the upper valance.


With that all laid out I went right to work on the upper valence. The upper valance is not only the framing for the shadow box look but does double duty with household storage above. This 11' section is the longest single piece and went in first. 


The next two 8' sections went in easily. You can see the plywood gussets that will allow for zero interruptions to the view for the approx 50' of run and help carry the storage load. There is a lag bolt in each stud to ensure proper support. The underneath will be painted black and there will be a black drape from the ceiling when done to complete the shadowbox look I'm after.


I did have to put in one wall and door to complete the room.  The upside I was able to install the door to swing out of and not into the room


The wall is taped and textured on both sides, although I intentionally left out the texture in the area where the backdrop will go to make that prep easier. This wall is designed to be taken down quickly if I ever have to return it all back to original condition. I did not tape the edges but I did caulk them to give a completed look. I also left the base boards in place by working around them.
 

The last of the upper valance is in on the three walls, the move is complete and the household storage is filling it all in FAST. Now on to the build..........