I wonder if flexible Fypon moulding could be used to finish the edges of the hole. The stuff can be bent into a circle and once installed and painted is supposed to be indistinguishable from real wood.

BTW - I have to say, with the slide, the fireman's pole, AND a secret room, I think your house probably takes some kind of prize for having the most unique elements. Wish I could tour it sometime!

Here is a link that might be useful: Flexible moulding

The Fypon sounds like a good idea. For the middle level should you have something with an eased edge or padding, in case of user error?

With two fun ways to descend, I hope you have some fun way to go up, besides "stairs."

To head off your next question, Ipe wood for the drawbridge.

Thanks. I mentioned Fypon to my GC and he's going to price it out. It said it's probably the same thing he used for arched windows (which he hasn't installed in 10 years)?

My idea was to actually upholster the gap with high density foam. I would use furniture tacks to attach the fabric to the edges. As long as the foam fit under the plywood, could that work? Would there be safety concerns with this?

dadereni~You could always ascend via the pull down ladder in the 2nd secret room as long as you doing mind ending up outside via our escape hatch.

My DH is installing a foam floor on level 2 and 3 for a softer landing.

Our GC was going to use painted MDF for the bridge.

Bevangel ~ We love to show people around.

Some padding, properly located, might make using the fireman's pole a little safer but I don't think that inside the gap is the proper location for padding.

Think about where an elbow that is sticking out a bit too far as you came down toward hole would most likely to strike. It would not be the curved wall inside the gap. It would be the flat floor above the opening.

Once a body part has actually safely entered the leading edge of the hole...i.e., without hitting the floor surrounding the hole... the worst that could happen is that you THEN stick it out too far and manage to brush up against the curved inner wall of the "gap". That would be a sliding BRUSH rather than a straight on collision and the only injury might be a bit of a "floor burn". Plus, there would only be a split second during which you would have to move your body part outward to actually hit the gap wall before you were down below the gap. Make sense?

But, if you have a body part sticking out a bit too far AS you come down TOWARD the hole from the upper floor, then that body part would hit the floor surrounding the hole which could result in a serious injury.

So IF I were going to try to pad the hole to make it less likely someone would injure themselves, I'd try to think of a way to create a kind of soft padded "funnel" above the opening so that if someone had a body part sticking out as they approached the hole, it would be "softly" pushed inward. Problem is, I think that would look really weird. And it would make it much harder to access the pole from the middle level.

Probably the best thing to do is just make sure that the diameter of the hole is big enough that anyone coming down the fireman's pole would pretty much have to be TRYING to extend an arm, leg, or other body part out far enough to strike the edge of the hole. If I were going to come down a fireman's pole, I would have to wrap both arms and legs around the pole just to hang on so there's no way I would likely bump anything. But I can imagine that someone stronger than me could do it with just one arm around the pole. These are the people who might get hurt and I think you just have to hope they're not dumb enough to do something so stupid!

I don't think that padding the gap itself would make the fireman's pole any safer and it sure wouldn't look as nice as Fypon trim.

I would love to take you up on a tour but I see by your "my Page" link that you're way up in Canada. That's a bit too far for this Texas gal to travel just to tour a house. Can't say I'm not tempted tho! Do post lots of pics when you're done building.

bev, ya want to different, here's different!....:)

http://imaginationcorporation.com/house-project/

Bevangel ~Thanks for your help. I'm not sure what the diameter of the hole is, but it looks pretty big me. My DH really likes the flexible moulding idea, so we'll probably do that. I agree that it would look better.

We are close to the US, albeit far from Texas. A lot of our building materials came from across the border as well as all my lighting, fixtures, ect.

All building codes require that foam plastic be separated from the interior of a building by a minimum of 1/2" gypsum board or equivalent.

Foam interior trim is allowed if its density is 20 lbs/cu ft or greater; no thicker than 1/2"; no wider than 4 inches; takes up no more than 10% of the wall or ceiling surface; and the flame spread rating is no greater than 75.

Fypon makes trim and moldings from high-density urethane foam and cellular PVC.

This post was edited by Renovator8 on Fri, Jul 19, 13 at 10:01

Renovator8 ~ Just to clarify, we would need to drywall under the Fypon? Is that possible with this degree of a curve? What would you recommend we do?

The drywall must cover the foam plastic so it won't get hotter than 250 degrees in a fire and produce poisonous gasses.

One or two layers of 3/8" drywall should work well. Wetting the back side will make it curl. The flooring might overhang a bit with a bullnose edge and a small flat trim below it. The bottom could just be a taped drywall edge

Thanks! I think that's what our carpenter suggested as well. My GC was concerned that the drywall wouldn't bend enough, but we could certainly try as we have some extra drywall.

If that doesn't work try USG Sheetrock brand 1/4" "Flexible Gypsum Board" specially made for curved surfaces.

National Gypsum calls it 1/4" Gold Bond brand "High Flex Gypsum Board".

When wet these panels can be formed in a horizontal position to a 20 inch radius if the supports are at 9 inches o.c. and in a vertical position to a 10 inch radius if the studs are 6" o.c.

Information for dry installation is also available on the web. It is very important to read the installation instructions.

I know this is an old post - but could you share some photos of the finished product? I'm putting a fire pole into my house and am looking for ways to trim the hole in the floor/ceiling. Thanks!