manwithtools
ALLIANCE MEMBER
This is a bit of a how to explanation along with some reserved disbelief on how people sometimes do shoddy home improvement projects.
This all started about three weeks ago when my SIL was removing some long ago applied vinyl wall covering that was on top of 1/4" wood paneling in their 1970's ranch style home. While removing it, he discovered mold on the surface of the paneling, so decided to rip out all the paneling from that wall. In the process he discovered more light mold on the surface of the insulation. After removal of all the insulation and paneling, everything was thoroughly cleaned with bleach. Honestly there was very little mold on the framing members, almost all was confined to the paneling and insulation. Source of moisture appeared to ba a long ago leaky roof. New roof 10 years ago shows no sign of leaks along that wall.
SIL is not very accomplished in drywall finishing, but a hard working true DIY kind of guy. So I volunteered to do the finshing. I ended up doing most of the hanging as he is a bit of a perfectionist and it turns out that's not the best attribute to have when comes to hanging drywall.
Some pics of the wall, new lumber above the fireplace was to replace water damaged wood from MANY years ago.
So that brings us to the beams, you can see two of them in the above pictures. There were 5 in total and they really had a random pattern of installation; we found out later why that was. Two covered previous wall top plates, one covered an abandoned electrical box for a ceiling light. SIL has always hated the beams because they made the 8 foot ceilings seem even lower. I noticed the same thing when I first saw them, but never said anything.
So me being me, I said "You know, while you have all this construction mess, it would be a good time to take those fake beams down and repair that ceiling" After some back and forth, they decided to go for it.
Holy Scope creep Batman! They are now replacing all the interior doors and door and window and baseboard trim as well...
After removing the boxed cedar boards that made up the faux beams, we discovered a really poor attempt at a flitch beam that spanned 16ft across the living room with 1-1/2" of sag. They had simply removed all the studs and then attached a 1/4" x 5" steel plate to the sides of the top plates via 1/2" bolts. Welded angle iron brackets held the end of the plate and were attached to the adjoining walls.
Now for the real work, temporary walls to support the ceiling and then the installation of double 9-1/4" LVL's fastened together with Simpson Structural Screws. We then used Bessey K-Body clamps to pull each joist and hanger up flush to the bottom of the new beam before fastening the joist hanger to the beam. The ceiling is now flat.
We also tore out the cased jamb entry to hallway, further providing the appearance of openness in the room. Then it was onto drywall repair to hide all the previous sins (the original drywall finshing was abhorrent!) and the demolition. Oh, the fireplace got a lime wash and new slate hearth as well. I also built a new mantel - progress picture below:
At this time all the drywall is repaired, including the removal of all the crown molding and associated repair of those drywall areas. I also fixed all the really visible seams in the hallway and living room while I was at it. Yesterday was time for paint, my work was done. All in it was two weeks plus of 4-8 hour days for me and 8-10 hour days for the SIL.
BTW: This was my first time using 20 Minute "Hot Mud". I'm a convert, it made the drywall finshing process much faster. I also purchased a Festool Planex sander to go with my Festool dust extractor, virtually no drywall dust in this project. I hate to sand drywall and that has elevated my finishing skills, but the sander was a game changer.
So this was all time that I did not work on my shop project, but it felt so good to help out the daughter and SIL, two of the hardest working young folks I know!
This all started about three weeks ago when my SIL was removing some long ago applied vinyl wall covering that was on top of 1/4" wood paneling in their 1970's ranch style home. While removing it, he discovered mold on the surface of the paneling, so decided to rip out all the paneling from that wall. In the process he discovered more light mold on the surface of the insulation. After removal of all the insulation and paneling, everything was thoroughly cleaned with bleach. Honestly there was very little mold on the framing members, almost all was confined to the paneling and insulation. Source of moisture appeared to ba a long ago leaky roof. New roof 10 years ago shows no sign of leaks along that wall.
SIL is not very accomplished in drywall finishing, but a hard working true DIY kind of guy. So I volunteered to do the finshing. I ended up doing most of the hanging as he is a bit of a perfectionist and it turns out that's not the best attribute to have when comes to hanging drywall.
Some pics of the wall, new lumber above the fireplace was to replace water damaged wood from MANY years ago.
So that brings us to the beams, you can see two of them in the above pictures. There were 5 in total and they really had a random pattern of installation; we found out later why that was. Two covered previous wall top plates, one covered an abandoned electrical box for a ceiling light. SIL has always hated the beams because they made the 8 foot ceilings seem even lower. I noticed the same thing when I first saw them, but never said anything.
So me being me, I said "You know, while you have all this construction mess, it would be a good time to take those fake beams down and repair that ceiling" After some back and forth, they decided to go for it.
Holy Scope creep Batman! They are now replacing all the interior doors and door and window and baseboard trim as well...
After removing the boxed cedar boards that made up the faux beams, we discovered a really poor attempt at a flitch beam that spanned 16ft across the living room with 1-1/2" of sag. They had simply removed all the studs and then attached a 1/4" x 5" steel plate to the sides of the top plates via 1/2" bolts. Welded angle iron brackets held the end of the plate and were attached to the adjoining walls.
Now for the real work, temporary walls to support the ceiling and then the installation of double 9-1/4" LVL's fastened together with Simpson Structural Screws. We then used Bessey K-Body clamps to pull each joist and hanger up flush to the bottom of the new beam before fastening the joist hanger to the beam. The ceiling is now flat.
We also tore out the cased jamb entry to hallway, further providing the appearance of openness in the room. Then it was onto drywall repair to hide all the previous sins (the original drywall finshing was abhorrent!) and the demolition. Oh, the fireplace got a lime wash and new slate hearth as well. I also built a new mantel - progress picture below:
At this time all the drywall is repaired, including the removal of all the crown molding and associated repair of those drywall areas. I also fixed all the really visible seams in the hallway and living room while I was at it. Yesterday was time for paint, my work was done. All in it was two weeks plus of 4-8 hour days for me and 8-10 hour days for the SIL.
BTW: This was my first time using 20 Minute "Hot Mud". I'm a convert, it made the drywall finshing process much faster. I also purchased a Festool Planex sander to go with my Festool dust extractor, virtually no drywall dust in this project. I hate to sand drywall and that has elevated my finishing skills, but the sander was a game changer.
So this was all time that I did not work on my shop project, but it felt so good to help out the daughter and SIL, two of the hardest working young folks I know!
