Becky... the roof is about 22' x 65' about 1430 sq ft... the same as my space on the top floor...but don't loose anything for the hallway and have bult above the skylight in the hall... where it occours on the roof .. I had a lovely grid around it for the last few years... made of cherry that I'd taken out of a high end law offce... t had been left as all the other cherry was a lamanite.. and ths was peged for the same... but I knew it was solid.. it held up great for these last 8 years.. but the joints that were dowelled wth maple.. lost their glue and the maple rotted... making it real loose... as this boxed grid supported the flag pole... I replaced it before it fell apart... it was prolonged the last few years wth metal mending plates... cherry if not wet all the time wll scarcely decay at all outside... cherry.. was called the mahogany of the colonies.. as after we split with England.. we were cut off from their great mahogany.. and thngs here were made of cherry.. the cherry part of the grid is pristine... 1/64 of an inch below the silvering... but it was redone and now the flag can again fly in heavy winds..
Susan.. they use a hot wire to cut it and cut shapes out of it .. the wire is super hot and doesn't melt but the tinyest bit away from it.. and it's so thin there's not much excessive melting.. I'm not sure what a craving knife is.. like a woodburning item ... styrene emits a cynide gas when combusted.. so it's best not to burn it,, or do it well ventilated .. unless the tem cutting it is real hot... the build up of 1/2 burned plastic will quicly build up on your heat soure.. and your cuttng will be greatly diminished.. till the burn off is more complete to sculpt curves and organic shapes I use a sander beltor disk with about a 40 or 60 grit.. a mask i s helpful... oh... no mask is helpful n burning.. only an oxygen tank.. like scuba
here's the foam under the now refinished hunk of cut matterss foam.. [ earlier post ] now covered with a matterss cover and then a velvet upolstery fabric..
