Straightening Out

I know this is a shitty old house and I shouldn't wet my pants every time something isn't square or true, but the hole that goes into the attic was pissing me off enough that I decided to fix it.

You can see in this picture that it veers toward the wall near the pull. I decided to the close end away from the wall rather than moving the far end toward the wall. That means I have to cut three joists back in incremental amounts, and shift the frame of the ladder over, then shim the other side a little.

I removed the ladder so I could stand in the hole on a steady ladder.

Here one of the joists has been trimmed back already.

I got a new saw to do the work. Using a sawzall, circular saw or a regular hand saw would have been unwieldy.

 One of the joists, which runs from the hole to the outside wall with nothing else holding it except sheet rock, also has the weight of a large light fixture on it. I decided to reinforce that one for the time being by tying it to a rafter.

There's the gap now that the frame for the ladder has been moved.

I could not find my chalk line so I got a string to help me see where to cut the joists.

Now it is all done. Notice the difference? All that work just because something pissed me off. But now I won't stare at it anymore and wonder if I should have done it.