# Hiding unwanted poles in the basement



## Grampy (May 30, 2011)

I have three floor to ceiling poles (they support the first floor) in my layout. Two are against one wall and one is in the middle of my bench. What are some good ways to hide them.....?


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Strippers ...

:laugh:

(I know ... I know ... a Mod is gonna nail me for that one. Oh wait ... I am a Mod. Geez ... I'm REALLY in trouble now!!!)


...

OK ... I'll be serious now ...

There's the common "box it in" option ... four sides, square column, etc.

For a fancier look, you could box it in with a round column. Two-piece fiberglass units are made for this, with decorative tops and bases. If you want a train theme, maybe you could paint it to look like an old-fashioned cast-iron support, like you might have in an old train or subway station?

My sailing friends have often boxed in structural columns with hollow old wood (bright-finished) sailboat masts ... often with intact bronze fittings.

Whatever floats your boat, so to speak.

TJ


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

John Allen would just knock them out---'til he found out there were serious structural consequences. For awhile, you'd have to walk around the edge of the living room to get to his layout until he got a carpenter in to fix it. Then he went on to enclose them in mountains, including Scalp Mountain, the one most often seen in pictures of his layout.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I have seen them wrapped with hemp rope, looks kinda' cool. I like the idea of enclosing it in a mountain in the layout.


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## RailMix (Apr 4, 2011)

If you're modeling farm country nothing beats building a grain elevator around it. Alternately, you can use it as the end of a 2-sided backdrop.


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

My pet peeve. Rather than beef up the center beam the builders always put a $24.95 lally [lolly]column smack dap in the middle of prime space.
I discussed moving or eliminating one with our local building inspector
It would run into the thousands to move it 2 feet, even more to eliminate it.

Not hard to box it in, I think I saw a kit somewhere. Maybe at Lowes or Home Depot.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

If your house has a main wooden beam which is supported by the column, you can reinforce the beam with additional 2x12 lumber to increase the allowable span. Check with your local building department for their code. My parents eliminated one column in their basement this way to make room for a pool table. We worked the floorplan of the basement to encase the remainder of the columns within walls.


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

We built our house with a poured concrete footing right down the middle and 2x12 floorjoists to get around the need for poles... 

...except it cut the basement down to half size! :laugh:

It's ok to hide poles in the basement...

...as long as you don't tell the Nazis where you hid them.

(sorry... couldn't resist  )

Greg


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

A saturn 5 rocket works for me.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

JackC said:


> Not hard to box it in, I think I saw a kit somewhere. Maybe at Lowes or Home Depot.


No kit required, it's dirt simple to cut some standard 3/4" pine and build a box around the beam.


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Kit I saw made it look like a fluted granite column. But like we both said it's not hard to do.


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## Grampy (May 30, 2011)

*Unwanted post/support pole/column*

Thank you all for your advice......I am going to try and post a picture of the support poles so you can better see what they look like and what I've done so far in building around them.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

I think where they are you should just blend them in as best as possible. Paint them the background sky blue color, then where the pole meets the tops of the mountains paint some trees on them and plant plenty of greenery around the base.


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

The best one I've seen was a column enclosed within a 4 or 4-foot model of the Seattle Space Needle. This was at Entertrainment Junction, outside of Cincinnati.


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## Artieiii (Apr 25, 2011)

Reckers said:


> The best one I've seen was a column enclosed within a 4 or 4-foot model of the Seattle Space Needle. This was at Entertrainment Junction, outside of Cincinnati.


Now that's a cool idea! :thumbsup::thumbsup:
-Art


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## Grampy (May 30, 2011)

*Blended the poles*

Per Scott's advice....

I think where they are you should just blend them in as best as possible. Paint them the background sky blue color, then where the pole meets the tops of the mountains paint some trees on them and plant plenty of greenery around the base. 
__________________
- Scott -

I've painted them the skyblue background color....looks a little better.


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

Hey, they look MUCH better now. :thumbsup:
In fact, they've almost "disappeared". Good job!
Bob


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Looking good.....As you scenic the hills/mountains, you'll get a better feel for your viewing angles and you can paint the bottoms of the poles for blending later (trees/ground cover, etc.) 

I've got one of those suckers that I'm designing my layout around. It's going to sit just outside of the benchwork adjacent to a peninsula. It will probably get the same paintjob as my fascia as there is no backdrop in that area.


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## Grampy (May 30, 2011)

Thanks everyone.....! This forum has really helped and encouraged me.....!


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Grampy said:


> ... blend them in as best as possible. Paint them the background sky blue


Poles? What poles ???



Looks nice!

TJ


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