Featured Features, Part 1

Congratulations on the featured post! Have a great Friday night :)

Wow, that's a new one. Do they have that many storms in Oklahoma?

Now that is an awesome feature that could actually save lives!

The kid's would always win Hide and Seek!  (Well, the first time, anyway!).

I love it.  But now you've given away their secret room.  I bet they are upset. 

I showed a 1921 house in Dumfries, VA yesterday occupied by a very friendly tenant who had a construction background. She insisted on pointing out the home's unique attic entry.

There was an attic door in upper hall ceiling approximately the side of the usual pull-down stairs, but it had a huge latch on it like one would find on the back of a semi-trailer or perhaps on a large freezer building adjoining a fast food place. After fetching a long pole with a rubber tip and a hook on the side of it she was able to open the latch, swing it aside and push the heavy door open. 

This revealed a very well built full length stair that was retracted without folding at all at its natural angle into the attic.  There was an extensive pulley system from the stair through multiple pulleys on the attic ceiling to a large weight, approximate the size of two concrete blocks wrapped in oilcloth, which was supported in the middle of the ropes. This was a counterweight which controlled the orderly deployment and retraction of the stairs.  All worked smoothly and the stairs was soon lowered and I went up.

The attic was fully floored, clean, and revealed very well constructed roof framing and sheathing with nary a piece of engineered wood, plywood, or any of that sissy stuff.  Just real wood measured, cut and joined.

Like the man said, there is always something new to discover

Ryan, never saw this one before. Good idea for protecting family members. The entry hidden in the island is a great feature.

Great feature for Tornado Alley--I lived many years in the Midwest section of the country and I was thankful to have a basement on more than one occasion.

Very cool.  Or should I say interesting.  I've seen a entire sealed underground storage area under a closet in a lower bedroom.  You full up the floor and there it is, but you would never know it was there.

Ryan,

I too love interesting adaptations such as this entrance to the shelter.  Keep 'em coming!

That's a great idea, hopefully it never has to be used.

That is a really cool and functional feature!  Love the way it's disguised, don't have to see it all the time but there when it's needed

Ryan:

Call me impressed, In San Diego, Ca we consider four, five & six car garages get a wow.

Ryan

That's a pretty cool idea for an area where these shelters are needed. You can grab a snack on the way down. It can double as a play area or an office when not needed for tornado season.

Jeff

Makes for an easy spot to hide all the clutter when that unexpected visitor shows up, eh?..

Is it a fully functional room -- good head room, ventilation, lighting, etc.?

Ryan,

That is SWEET!! Makes me want to find that home and check it out!!!  Never seen anything like that before.

Hi Ryan...It's great to preview a house like this so if you were to go there without the tenant being home you could show your clients this neat feature.  Hope noone has much use for it.

Kate