Restoring A $7,000 Mansion: Removing Rotten Attic Staircase

I am removing the old, rotten attic staircase and designing a new one in my Great-Great Grandfather's $7,000 mansion.
► MERCH: farmfocused.co...
► Disclosure: I receive a commission on items ordered through the links. Thank you for helping support the channel.
► Fan Mail:
PO Box 383
Waterloo, IA 50704
► Business inquiries only: [e-mail]

[@HH-li5xl]

Who else bypasses KZbin channels to immediately watch Cole the Corn Star ? Fantastic!. This house is gonna be so solid for you, your family , their family and on and on !!!

[@user-ho3dk4pg8y]

It needs to be solid, heaven forbid, if a tornado should go through the area.

[@jltest5230]

Me

[@davidcooprider5313]

How do you bypass screwtube?

[@francineclave2207]

Me too! And watching the severe weather on Ryan Hall heading toward Cole’s hometown!

[@hrhdianednum7203]

When Roman and Justin are working on the projects. Maybe when this is done they can build a housing shed and maybe watch them build Romans chicken coop! I want to see how fancy they can make it. They need double the size and put in a track to slide it to the other side and use a skid steer to make a compost pile so you can move the whole A bird house on wheels in a track,but first you need to build one so you can flip it over and over and then put it on a garden- vegetable or flower! But anyway that aroma is almost deadly and you have to wash your clothes immediately otherwise it is in your house for a while. But best if you take your clothes off and no I don’t mean for hanky panky!, but so you can leave them outside until wifey poo can’t stand the smell when the door is open for in and out for traffic or company is coming over!

[@Kevin1980-k6g]

Prayers for all in Iowa affected by todays severe storms. Stay safe Cole and family.

[@saraelizabeth155]

I was just going to comment this. Definitely praying for all those affected today. Hope they stayed out of harms way. 🙏

[@Romegrom]

❤

[@marilynfranks8995]

I love that Justin is getting more comfortable with a camera. He is the brains behind it all and I would love to hear more from him.

[@Chirpy_Chirp]

And he’s hot!! 🔥

[@artismyheart4886]

@@Chirpy_Chirpright? We need to know if he is single.😊

[@lindaneeman8137]

I am watching this on May 21st...while Iowa is being ripped apart by massive tornadoes 🌪. I pray that all is well with the Cornstar family and friends! Prayers for the state of Iowa and its citizens as well! 😢

[@ChessIsJustAGame]

Amen!

[@sherilynl4038]

ohno....thanks for telling the rest of us. sending my prayers as well.

[@dalegereaux1863]

Roman ! You know if you would have saved one of the half sections of the stairs you could have made a two-story chicken coup. Then you just tell the city that it's a playhouse for your children. Don't tell them about the chickens. 😏😉

[@bonnabrimhall8080]

😆🤣😂😅😆🤣😂😅

[@kennethbolton951]

I was thinking the same thing and or put them to the side of coup and the steps can serve as roosts.

[@gilb6982]

I think that he will make spiral stair into the two front tower so the chicken can choose on witch of the tree storys they will sleep and he will make a slide on the back for fast evacuation !

[@briancasey4917]

Chickens are pets

[@territ1231]

Remember taking mattresses and box springs upstairs around the corners of these new stairs!!

[@davidcopperfield-notthemag397]

Oops! 😲

[@justmeiniowa]

This is the back stairway, not the main one.

[@skubbi12]

Just open a window they got the equipment to lift it up 😂 if it doesn't fit up the stairs haha

[@scottmeredith8409]

I was just thinking the same thing...turns and corners add more logistical issues in brining furniture into the floors.

[@judytruesdell6816]

PRAYERS FOR PROTECTION- because of the BAD weather( tornados) hope y’all will be safe 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@judytruesdell6816]

Loved each worker speaking, especially Justin 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@billholemo2518]

Justin,A man of few words! His big Brain sez it All 😂😂🎉🎉🎉

[@Mapleranch]

Yeah, Justin should be in front of the camera more often.

[@emilyrl.]

You three introducing yourselves is so much fun. Its not just Roman who is strong, all three of you are amazing! Your home is looking wonderful!

[@Farminlife-ux8ms]

True cole the cornstar and Romanchickenstar fans 👇

[@territ1231]

And Juston's work comedy crew getting it done!!!

[@DrMJJr]

ROMAN CHICKENSTAR 🐓 !!!!

[@margaretlynch1494]

🙋‍♀️❤️. Everything is going so great. I just pray that the Cornstar family, neighbors and friends,❤ and buildings and crops have been spared damage from recent weather. 🙏

[@dotsdashesdoodlesdreamsdot1179]

Loving the house restoration series x

[@beverlysearles61]

Justin, I want to congratulate you on all your skills, I can tell you've been at this for a while. I understand almost everything you , Roman and Cole are doing! I've been married to a contractor for 54 years. He is now retired but never sits still. Great job so far and you all have a lot to be proud of!

[@territ1231]

And Juston's comedy crew getting it done, somehow!! And that's how's it done!!

[@kerrybyers257]

I think Justin is the quiet brains behind the scene. What a seamless team (at least on edited vid!).

[@vmdyer6743]

Mama cornstar needs a cooking show .

[@sherrygreene6245]

Hope you’re in your safe space. Your area is getting pounded. Prayers

[@classypiano]

Thinking of you with all the extreme rain and tornados. Hope your crops weren't flooded out. Give us an update soon.

[@bonnabrimhall8080]

I’m loving the remodel of this home (even though I cringe a little every time you call it a restoration). I’m anxiously awaiting the sheet rocking of this house and the decoration of the interior!! Hope y’all are safe from the storms marching across your state!

[@ChessIsJustAGame]

I sincerely hope and pray all are safe and no damage to the house and farm. I can't wait for the reveal. You will have to show your wife and mom seeing it. That opening between the attic and the floor below that will show off the wondows in the attic will be epic.

[@donnavickery9623]

Cole, The inside of your house is looking so good!!! This is a clean, fresh, brand new house !!! Your family is going to love living here!!!

[@sherilynl4038]

i also follow 1806 Stonehouse. Lucas and Sarah did the same thing. completely gutted this old house that had 1960s renovations (as the most current...who knows how many renos before that) They opened it up, used mostly upcycled materials (their upstairs floor is bleachers from an old school) and made it the way they wanted it. Lucas could only work on weekend-took them 5 years. now they are working on the wood side of the house. really fun to watch these old homes get new life

[@Mia-single]

Love your unique style, never change

[@dennieolson1953]

Loved Cole's creativity of the Ab stackles, specifically #3: "The D in this case is silent." Also, the personal introductions were very creative and chuckle worthy.

[@darlenem4940]

Still laughing at coles drawing of roman's muscles

[@DrMJJr]

Well, it’s pretty accurate…he’s one fine man 😝

[@applemac100100]

😂😂😂

[@kcbguy57]

A stairway to heaven. Avoiding all "abstackles".

[@meowth900]

Sounds very east coast lol

[@NotKev2017]

Last I knew it was spelled obstacles.

[@tatyanagay4]

​@@NotKev2017 Right! I had to come to the comments to see if I wasn't the only to notice that😂🤣

[@dinibo]

​@@NotKev2017 Woosh

[@kcbguy57]

@@NotKev2017 I'm pretty sure it was a joke. So I continued it. Everyone noes how to spel obstacles.

[@Ericsson_Construction]

A landing with 2x4 floor joists? The boys will love an indoor trampoline!!

[@garrettlake2740]

The house looks great cole!

[@vmdyer6743]

You three are a 3 ring circus .you bounce humor off one another like nobody's business.very enertaining.😂❤

[@jefffortney4261]

The rebuild is coming along nicely, guys! Keep up the great work!

[@norman3605]

Using 2x4s as floor joists for the landings seems a bit flimsy to me.

[@tmvold]

Maybe sketchy? I can say that I have seen worse. Looked like 1 foot on center.

[@SleeplessInAlaska23]

The 2x4's are definitely not a standard for a staircase landing and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be up to code but if it works and it's not inspected then all good!

[@jonathanpage49]

The house is looking good

[@iamwhoiamd7056]

How awesome and I am excited to see part 2 of your stairs. Hope you have all faired well from the storms too. God Bless you all.

[@guzzimon61]

You said "fuse" !! That was SO old school !! Sub panels are a good idea for an area that large. Enable 200 amps thru the whole house. Ethernet cables, a few connections on each floor to enable routers, etc. Likely the rest will be wireless connections forward.

[@tannermanwarren13]

Got to say you guys are doing great on this remodel I have helped my family and other people farm and I have built many homes and buildings my brother is actually a custom home builder in the Iowa Great Lakes and your doing great I just stick to my overhead garage door business now in northwest Iowa so when your done with the remodel or ready for that big shed door just give Rise Door Co a call and we will get you one at cost and I’ll show you guys how to install that so you can add it to your list of projects done! Keep it up guys! God Bless and a safe farming/construction season!

[@dotsdashesdoodlesdreamsdot1179]

I am a little bit in love with Roman! lol x

[@HensOnly]

He has a very lucky wife and family! He is sure easy on the eyes LOL!

[@DrMJJr]

You’re not the only one!! He’s gorgeous…and that BODY is to die for!! His wife is one lucky lady for sure!!!

[@BeckyinKC]

That staircase is wild. Can't wait till it's done. "VERY INTERESTING "

[@sawwhetchick7203]

Praying you are safe from the tornado!

[@emansuela_real]

You should use a minimum 2x6 for the landing framing. Those looked like 2x4s

[@comeandtravel1]

I hope you made it through today's tornadoes. I mentioned hurricane straps for your rebuild of the mansion previously. Look at Greenfield, IA just sw of you. If that doesn't convince you to buy a couple grand worth of straps well all I can say is good luck.

[@dniboc7227]

I hope you considered the challenge of moving large furniture up these stairs. Enjoying these very much.

[@fredtheuberdriver]

Cole has the most important job, Paying for it!!!

[@beverleymartin1881]

Wow you are all zooming through the refit .And i love the commarardary between you all.

[@garahastings8214]

Praying for you and your family as the storms are moving through!

[@annettemiller1273]

Prayers for safety 🙏🏻 hopefully none of the storms hit you .

[@neirishsmiles8005]

Love the video - an image popped into my head of Ross from friends transporting the couch up the stairs -- pivot !! Pivot 😂

[@terriroemmich1617]

🤣🤣🤣 I have done that a few times watching these!

[@cindyconnour446]

Extremely smart guys working and having fun together

[@venezialecal8289]

2x4 for the landing?

[@tmvold]

I can't believe how far I had to scroll down to find someone thinking the same as me! "No! NO! Don't do it! No, Don't do it! 1 very important reason is stairs stability in a fire. None the less, I am enjoying the videos!

[@kevinhogan4473]

Cole been watching you Roman and Justin ,keep doing what you do as it's great well done all of you

[@debbiephillips1123]

You three guys are so fun to watch! You do great work to!

[@jerrodhawbaker7985]

I pray y’all are safe with all this bad weather

[@gerbearjones6056]

Man I love these Reno vids of the homestead! So fun to watch

[@lisawilson4551]

I will never be ready for them to finish this house. Then what will we do when they are not in the fields🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️maybe Daddy cornstar needs a Reno 🤣🤣😀😀👍👍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@sphiliben]

While electrical panels are well hidden in closets. Code suggests that your closet is an equipment room not a closet as you cant put an electrical sub panel in a “Closet” . I this personally from experience in DIY home wiring. You could put it in the attic hallway - or u could be like me and leave it as my wife didn’t like it in the hallway

[@vickyoakes4584]

Very cool! Your family is going to love it!

[@brendaprice4664]

Praying you and yours haven’t had to deal with the Tornadoes raging. 🙏❤

[@patrickjernigan1025]

Cole I pray with all this work your home never sees a tornado

[@benhur520]

The house may not survive a stiff wind. Floor joists are all undersized.

[@johnunsicker7440]

@@benhur520 All depends on his code and the true size of the joist and the span and spacing. 2x6 #1 on 12" center can span 10'9" with a40 pound live load and 20 pound dead load. Now the 2x8 spanning 18 to 20 feet in the attic yes undersize unless there is a wall going under them. 2x8 #1 on 12" center can only do 14' 2" for 40 pound live load and 20 pound dead. 2018 IRBC book.

[@johnunsicker7440]

@@benhur520 The question the is is he saying a 2x6 when he is really using 2x8's or not. Great comment generator for the people that know span of lumber.

[@jeffmessenger6294]

Was I seeing things or did you use 2by4s for floor joist on your platform that would never fly around here in fact I would not want to walk them stairs very often, na I must have seen wrong!

[@SZNszn1167]

Buddy, I see the storms rolling across the beloved state of Iowa. Be careful to you and your family.❤

[@paulheineman]

Cole, your design process is an iterative process. Now you have a name ;)

[@lorettatremmel6376]

I hope you are all safe and well and that the storms missed you. Make It Glide 🤣..... You just gave me the name for the game I play with grandkids...see who can make pool noodles glide the furtherest across the yard. Thanks! I enjoy watching your channel🙂

[@ritarackley9635]

My husband and I built on to our old house and doubled the size. Many time I thought “ what have you gotten yourself into “. Love to watch the progress on your home. I know you will enjoy as much as my hubby and I do.

[@DavidGawel]

Thanks guys! God bless

[@pastorwaynemaddy]

You guys are a great team, you could work for me any day. Excellent, just excellent !

[@angelicasalas4172]

Hope you and your family are doing well. And that the tornadoes did not hit your area.

[@s.reeves4703]

Love watching your updates... Can't wait to see more.❤️☺️

[@jeffreystebbins1768]

Great D-sign !!

[@mirriamvalentin8634]

Restoration Dream Come True ❤

[@meowth900]

We gotta update Roman’s bubble to include professional wood thrower

[@janetl9054]

I love it and I get so excited when I see you’ve posted about the house!!

[@christinamiller4660]

In my daughters build of a larger home, a few of the things that made it particularly nice were two sets of washer dryer (one on bedroom level, and one on main level)., two dishwashers. she had three little kids and those two dishwashers kept her counters nice and clear. and heated floor in the garage. With little ones, it was nice to let them play in there in the winter and to just drop their coats when they got out of the car, they would dry off the snow and all was well. It's looking great and you're gonna love the space!!

[@BackyardBroskis]

Should use atleast 2x6 for floorsystems.

[@tomahawktom7595]

Good video…..Jordon and Roman ..cutest couple on cornstarch. Keep up the good work

[@danfinley3690]

Yea it is so fun to watch the progress god bless and be safe

[@wileycoyotesr8623]

Thanks to muting and fast-forwarding I was able to view pertinent information in one minute thirty five seconds. Love no noise irritation (think a screaming Cole) and more time to watch other videos. 👍👍👍

[@alexgarza7486]

Don’t forget you need to get bedroom furniture up there. A lot of farm houses had doors from the outside to get things upstairs

[@microbuilder]

I love Justins sense of humor lol Just use a firemans pole, you get a workout going up and a fun trip going down! lol

[@jeffkrupke3810]

2*4s seam alittle weak for the landings.

[@TeeterTuckin]

This is going to be awesome. Only thing I’d hate is not having an elevator for 3 floors. When we built our home we went with a ranch style one story open floor plan. My knees took a beating on the job over the years so stairs were a no go.

[@johnoeltjen4027]

just watched the wind towers getting hit by tornado to the sw of you. prayers sent for you guys safety !

[@digestiveleaf]

Romans home improvement channel is running a marathon I see 😂❤

[@lindaneeman8137]

Roman has his own channel? On KZbin? What's it called?

[@digestiveleaf]

@@lindaneeman8137 it's called Cole the cornstar Roman home improvement is a series on the channel

[@SandyRenshaw-ox8zp]

Good thing you 3 are friends ❤

[@deannaoverstreet4146]

I’m so proud of the 3 of you! Thanks for sharing! Love your channel! All of it! God bless your family!

[@zoonam]

Hey Cole, wondering if you could shed some light on the electrical side of things. I see the panel, but I don’t remember you talking about it. Sorry if I missed something. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@braggarmybrat]

Cole, I hope you are doing ok after that twister outbreak yesterday! I couldn't help but think of you and all the other people in Iowa. Prayers for you guys from Chicago. It looks like it's going to be a rough weather week going forward thru the weekend, keep your heads down.

[@temjo1]

I always thoughtJustin was always grumpy but after watching him today I think he was just shy. Lovely smile Justin and just great camaraderie.

[@BanDanaGramma]

You three are so entertaining to watch! Plus you are like machines with all the work you get done. You make a great trio and thank you for such good content.

[@beckypage6041]

This house is going to be so 😎cool 👍🏼

[@DrMJJr]

That attic alone is going to be unbelievable!!

[@lgreer2087]

Hope your family and your farm are okay and haven’t sustained damage from the storms!

[@beverlyb5144]

So informative!! I loved the talk through and then the walk through and then the blueprints and the chalkboard!! My husband and I enjoy your videos SO MUCH!!!! Thank you! It is our daily video together to watch. Also love the descriptions of what your jobs are under your pictures - genius!!!!

[@Timothy-NH]

I have a concern with your stair design, and that is it may be a challenge to get things into the attic like furniture. Love that you are putting a breaker box on the second floor. Be generous with your outlets, and consider quads where you think you may put stuff like entertainment centers, computer stuff. Also, hopefully your electrician is doing a whole-house surge protector. Plan ahead for your WiFi! Also, run data cabling (Cat6) to where you think you will have your computer station, hard wired is always better than wifi. Pick a spot in your house to be the main network location that everything will feed from. I'd put in a nice Ubiquiti network.

[@DrMJJr]

I’d run CAT6a in the hallway ceilings (for Ubiquiti APs) as well.

[@Timothy-NH]

@@DrMJJr 6a is so unnecessary for most installations; a little planning and nothing will be over 150', and will handle 10g. Then again, a gig is more than enough for almost everything.

[@bradw3313]

Those stairs took some serious ciphering!!! I assume Justin found the stolen notebook🤔. I had to research to figure out the rise/run for porch steps and couldn’t imagine figuring all those landing heights out. For those who don’t know….getting the rise and depth of all steps the same is a BIG deal. Otherwise it becomes a trip/fall hazard. Looking real nice. Being ya have 3 floors….a fireman’s pole from attic to 1st floor would be a ride, but would require a parachute.

[@ILGuy2012]

The opening for fireman's pole from 1st floor to attic would be a chimney if the house caught on fire.

[@bobbyfisher6343]

House is looking good Cole

[@missykowalewski]

Ok Cole…. That secret passage to the attic was from a long time ago. U were doing a walk through and dreaming. So cool now to see that come true all these years later.

[@Dan-R-1983]

Bring back the longer format videos Cole. 16mins just isn't enough.. loving the home remodeling series.

[@johnunsicker7440]

You do realize that this 16 minute video was probably shot over a two day period? Construction is not that fast it all takes time. Doing stairs like that is not simple straight forward thing it take time to figure out locations. I really wonder what you are going to be like when Cole gets to the finishing stage and they spend 4 hours and all the did was get a door hung and trimmed out.

[@pamlovell9125]

Love your homage to the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou with your white board column heading "Abstackels"!! I love it! LOL

[@thackeray4]

Simply AMAZING!

[@doncore513]

Roman is just that good!

[@lydiamitchell6814]

I alway rush to see the continuing saga of the Corn star $7000 house rebuild!!! I am a fan of all 3 of the man stars!!! 🎉🎉🎉 … they make smile/ laugh!!! 😂🤣

[@randallolson7554]

keep on keeping on boys! love this stuff

[@mlm7598]

Busy, busy times. Looking good and it's so fun watching it all going together!