How to Rescue a Cat from an Industrial Catwalk

Industrial loft buildings contain all sorts of strange nooks, giant pipes, and random ledges left over from the original factory or warehouse. The building where our loft is located is connected to the adjacent four-story building by an industrial catwalk. Under the catwalk are a variety of huge cast-iron pipes used for water supply and drainage.

The Catwalk

For several days last week, we could hear the plaintive meowing of a cat. Despite investigating, we couldn't locate the cat. It turned out we couldn't find it because it was four stories above us stuck on top of a pipe under the catwalk. On the third day, someone realized where the cat was and called animal control. An attempt was made to use someone's boom lift to reach the cat, but it couldn't reach high enough. So the animal control officer called in a special team that is intended for just such a scenario - the Los Angeles Small Animal Rescue Team (SmART). The SmART team is an amazing group of volunteers from the Animal Control division who are trained in rescuing animals from difficult and precarious situations such as cliffs, trees, sewers, and swiftwater.

The SmART Team

The SmART team arrived in a special van filled with all manner of rescue equipment. Because the cat was four stories up and unreachable from the surface of the catwalk, the team donned their rappelling gear complete with harnesses, helmets, ropes, carabiners, and orange rescue bags for storing the animal during the rope descent. A crowd gathered as night fell. The rescue team gathered on the catwalk and anchored themselves for the descent. Two team members, Annette and Sean, rappelled off the sides of the catwalk and positioned themselves on either side of the pipes. The cat began to meow ever louder as they approached and, when Annette called it towards her, it complied. Getting the cat into the bag, however, was not as easy since even a desperate cat fears the thought of a four-story drop. Finally, the cat was pried off the pipes, cinched it into the bag, and the rescuers lowered themselves to the ground to much applause. The cat was taken to the local animal shelter for rehydration and we were warned someone would need to claim the cat within 5 days. Fortunately for the cat, Spike, her owner was found and he retrieved her the next afternoon.

The Catwalk Rescue
Photo Credit: Vern Evans

Team Members After the Rescue
Annette (right) Got the Cat in the Bag

So, if you live in Los Angeles and need help rescuing a small animal from a precarious situation, the SmART team is the team to call. They are a fantastic group of people from the Animal Services division who volunteer to do this tough side job. They don't get hazard pay for putting themselves at risk and they pay for all the special equipment themselves. The service is entirely FREE, and there is always need for donations of rescue gear to help them do their job.

Click here for List of Items Needed

See photos of the entire rescue, and learn more about the SmART team, on their facebook page. You can also follow them on Twitter.

Putting Up Walls - Drywall and Mud

Putting up walls is relatively easy during the framing phase if you are handy with a screw gun. But the drywall phase that comes after has to be one of the hardest and time-consuming parts of DIY construction. We have erected four sectors of walls: (1) the studio restroom and broom closet (2) the office storage room which on one end forms a kitchen wall (3) the wall that forms a laundry cubby and also serves as a TV/stereo wall for the living area, and (4) the upstairs sound wall/storage closet.

During the framing and drywall phase we were lucky to have the help of a friend who is a commercial framer. We also reused all the steel studs we salvaged from demolishing the existing broom closet and bathroom. We also found surplus insulation leftover from a jobsite that we purchased at a steep discount because it was damp from being left out in the rain. We bought 3 bales for $30 dollars, which would have cost over $200 new. Because fiberglass is inherently resistant to mold, all we had to do was open the bags and let the insulation dry out. We had to make multiple trips to the building supply store to buy more studs, sheets of drywall, drywall mud and knives, sanding poles, end caps, and doors. Putting up the walls ended up being a particularly expensive phase, in part because we paid for outside labor. Commercial steel framing requires attaching a steel track to the floor and ceiling by using a special gun equipped with .27 caliber blasting caps to shoot nails through the track and into the concrete. Special laser levels, tin snips, and vise grips make the job go much faster. We decided it was worth it to hire a professional who already had all the specialty tools and who was better than we were at laying track on the ceiling and cutting drywall to fit into odd-shaped spaces.

Even with our friend's help on the weekends, the walls have taken a month and a half to be framed, covered in drywall and mudded. We are now at the end of the mudding phase, which involves sealing the seams of the drywall with mesh tape, sealing the inside corners of the walls with paper tape, sealing the outside corners with metal corner strips, covering all these with four coats of joint compound and sanding between each coat. Drywall sanding requires repeatedly sanding the walls from floor to ceiling, dispersing a fine powder that travels all over the room and settles on all surfaces. It is necessary to wear cumbersome filtration masks and sometimes eye protection.

Our hard work is finally paying off as the final layout of the loft begins to take shape. The downstairs restroom, which used to be an oddly shaped room with an maladjusted door, is now a clean cube with two extra-tall doors, the tops of which align with the adjacent windows.

Restroom Before (Trapezoidal, No Ceiling, Door on West)

Restroom After (Rectangular, Doors on South)

The area that used to be the "kitchen" in the mezzanine is now a laundry cubby. The other side of the cubby wall will house a small entertainment center. The open area between the bathroom and the closet is walled off, ensuring total privacy.

Original Upper Level "Kitchen"

Framing Going Up for Laundy Area

Laundry Nook Completed, New Privacy Door at Rt

The mess of pipes that prevented the proper placement of a bed in the sleeping area is now a sound wall that buffers noise from the adjacent loft, allows us to place a bed against it, and creates a long storage closet.

Mezzanine Ceiling Pipes Before

Framing Up to Form Sound Wall

Sound Wall Complete, New Electrical

The next phase is painting the walls. Then we can install the kitchen, put away clutter in the storage room, and fine tune the space planning.