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I am at the beginnings of getting some work started on my house and the first areas I want to start at is my master bedroom. I tore down some of the old wood paneling and measured that the wall thickness is about 3.5 inches. Also I have noted that there are insulation strips that were used in the walls as shown here:
Are the insulation strips similar to this one still around or will something else have to be done?
And as far as the wiring is concerned, I requested the power company to disconnect the service line from the weatherhead on the house, which they have done on Friday. They removed the meter (they placed it on the ground below the meter base) and the service wires are physically disconnected so now there's no danger in getting the service upgraded as well as doing the inside wiring as well.
Here are two pics of the wiring that is currently used, the Romex 14/2 wire that's used with the outlets. As you know none of the outlets in the house are grounded so all that will have to be rectified.
What would be a good way to redo the walls for the main bedroom, with the wood paneling is gone, there's nothing but the insulation and wiring. Would it make sense to put a thin sheets of drywall and then placing something else over it? I know I am not a designer expert but some ideas would be helpful.
I think I may take more pics of my work as I can once I get things underway and update my progress as I continue. Will take time but I will learn alot along the way. I figure to make the house at least livable I would need to work on the bedroom and bathrooms, and then perhaps the kitchen later.
I might step back at this stage and think about the big picture.
What do you really want to do, how much do you want to spend????
General rule is go top to bottom, dirty to clean. So normally you do all the destruction first. That also exposes all the lil Got-Cha's that occur.
In your case it does make sense to get the new electrical service in as soon as possible and power turned on. That way you have lights and power for tools, etc. Your power company is probably like mine, you don't have to have the interior wiring done before they will power it up.
I only had a few lighting circuits and one receptacle at the power panel when I switched over from the old wiring. You can run extension cords around for a while.
I did take those pixs I told you about, will have to send to you direct, am on the road with the laptop, forgot how to post them to my hosting site, my desktop is set up to do that.
That insulation looks a bit strange. Maybe some type of cellulose in a bat. Lots of things to think about at this stage. In general I don't like that bat type insulation (fiberglass, rock wool, whatever). Just never seal up all that good, too many lil leaks. Blown in or better yet sprayed foam is far better. Blown in is probably about the same cost as the pink stuff these days, might even be a bit cheaper. Both Lowes and HD have the blower machines and usually they give a free loan if you buy the bales of insulation from them. Maybe you can reuse some of that stuff in the attic. Usually you can use different stuff in layers. Can't have too much insulation.
1/2" sheetrock is a good cover for the walls, ceilings, etc. Has come down in price lately, easy to install, looks good.
But you want to get all the walls open where necessary. Wiring, plumbing, heating / cooling, insulation and all the stuff that will go in the walls installed before putting up any sheet rock. Even replace the doors, windows, etc before any sheet rock work.
It is best to take a big picture comprehensive view at first. You can not over plan any project. The better the planning, the smoother it goes, also saves a bunch of money. Try to recycle as much of the old stuff taken out during the destruct phase as possible.
If you are planning on replacing the windows, good to check them for square and ship shape openings when the walls are open. Same with interior doors, lot of them may be out of plumb, level. You can use jacks and whatever to crib, block and correct any horrible flaws. Same with all the framing and structure. Once the destruct is done, check the structure for flaws and correct any found. One area that is always good to check are the bath and kitchen floors. If any plumbers have been in there the floor joists, framing, etc can be really hacked up. My recent remodel, the only thing holding up the bath floor was hope. They had really butchered it.
Also in a number of those older houses, Sometimes you want to move interior walls or check for some horrible practices. In the old dazes it was common to use scrap and build "cripple walls". That was a small wall like a few feet high built out of scrap lumber and then they would build another and put that on top of the first and so on, until they got to the proper desired height. Nasty stuff, the wall does not have the stiffness, strength of a properly build wall. Get a lot of deflection, building moves around a lot more in high winds, etc. Get a lot more screw pops in drywall work cracks in plaster. Older craftmanship was not always better.
The insulation batts are standard size. THose look like rock wool. Fiberglass is more common; you find most of them faced on only one side with kraft paper. That goes towards the inside and is stapled to the studs. You'll want R-9 rated. Don't try and stuff thicker insulation in the wall cavity, it'll actually perform more poorly than the proper size. Wear long sleeves, gloves and a dust mask when working with it, and hose out your clothes afterward and wash them by themselves to keep the fibers from getting into the rest of the laundry.
The wall sockets were mounted OK. You could just replace the wire to them, or possibly add more sockets. Having one 20 amp circuit into the room and 12 gauge wire on that circuit allows a nice safe circuit for an electric heater. 14 is commonly used for lighting fixtures and the like.
1/2" drywall would work fine. You can just mud the joints or do a sand finish or other texturing. A mopboard is a requirement, since drywall usually works best if it ends about 1/4 to 1/2 inch above the floor. That keeps it from wicking up spilled liquids and allows for expansion. A nice touch is a molding at the top of the wall. Often insulation is weak there because of the plates and joints, and the molding can clean the transition to the ceiling, capture some drafts, and add a little more insulative value.
Not sure, but it looks like termite tubes in the wall... or am I seeing things?
No those aren't termite tubes...its mostly dirt and webs that has stuck on the wall for all those years, which I was easily able to brush off. Once brushed off the black surface is actually pretty clean. And the lumber is still in pretty good shape as well.
@Cosmic,
I want to fix up the house where its nice and livable, and doesn't need to be high end. Electrical service is the first thing I will be working on before I can really start anything else since I will need power for tools and other things for the inside work. The old carpet in the master bed will be taken up and disposed of once my work is completed so I can pretty much use it as a work floor. By tearing down the walls and such I can detect any possible issues that were undetectable during initial inspections. Plus it will give me the chance to install whatever I need into the walls while they're open. I'll be looking forward to the pics once you send them.
May have drywall and this room I plan to convert to my computer room, so I know I will need to add more outlets to this one. I am not sure if tearing down the walls will be needed but I will reassess on what will be a good idea to work with. But that project will be for a later time.
@Harry,
Thanks for the proper insulation rating....trust me I have worked with fiberglass insulation before and can get itchy when you dont have the right clothes on to do it (learned that once lol). I feel it would be ideal to update that insulation and something thats more energy efficient.
When my grandmother came out to look at the house she recommended I put like another door in the corner of the master bedroom for emergency purposes, since the only two other doors would be in the kitchen and living room areas. Will be easier to install if the walls were open, but that would mean more work in cutting and sizing for such. We will see.
Anyway in addition to the master bed I want to work on the master bath too:
I'll have to take more pics of the tub as its a cast-iron one and I rather do away with the wall-paper as well as it doesn't look good in a bathroom. One thing at a time, but I will get there.
Hi, is this a moblie home your working on ? by the looks of the walls ,it is. i just got done renovating one and did electric, plumbing among the many other things i did.
Hi, is this a moblie home your working on ? by the looks of the walls ,it is. i just got done renovating one and did electric, plumbing among the many other things i did.
It has the looks as if in a mobile home (which many do look like this), but its not, its actually a house. On the other side of the bathroom is a large walk-in closet. It would be nice to place a window behind the toilet though for some extra light.
It has the looks as if in a mobile home (which many do look like this), but its not, its actually a house. On the other side of the bathroom is a large walk-in closet. It would be nice to place a window behind the toilet though for some extra light.
The only reason i ask is because of the wall thickness. for the insulation you'll probably have to buy the full size stuff and compact it when you put up the sheet rock. that's what i had to do in my mobile home. that seemed to work pretty good for me. as far as the wire, i used 12/3 with ground. so you can cure your grounding problem. also spend the extra money and get some gfci outlets for around the bath room. i put a dedicaded gfci breaker for my kitchen outlets along the counter. it's a little bit cheaper than buying alot of gfci outlets if your puting in alot of them.
3 1/2" studs won't allow for much insulation to be installed. PErsonally, I would add 2 x 2 studs to the inside of each stud giving you a deeper cavity to insulate. You could double the R value of the wall pretty easily, and it would save in energy costs.
The insulation batts are standard size. THose look like rock wool. Fiberglass is more common; you find most of them faced on only one side with kraft paper. That goes towards the inside and is stapled to the studs. You'll want R-9 rated. Don't try and stuff thicker insulation in the wall cavity, it'll actually perform more poorly than the proper size. Wear long sleeves, gloves and a dust mask when working with it, and hose out your clothes afterward and wash them by themselves to keep the fibers from getting into the rest of the laundry.
The wall sockets were mounted OK. You could just replace the wire to them, or possibly add more sockets. Having one 20 amp circuit into the room and 12 gauge wire on that circuit allows a nice safe circuit for an electric heater. 14 is commonly used for lighting fixtures and the like.
1/2" drywall would work fine. You can just mud the joints or do a sand finish or other texturing. A mopboard is a requirement, since drywall usually works best if it ends about 1/4 to 1/2 inch above the floor. That keeps it from wicking up spilled liquids and allows for expansion. A nice touch is a molding at the top of the wall. Often insulation is weak there because of the plates and joints, and the molding can clean the transition to the ceiling, capture some drafts, and add a little more insulative value.
you can definatly get insulation in an R-13 to fit in there without ruining the insulation value. Do not skimp on the insulation, or you will be cold all winter long. R-13 i belive has an installation size of 3.5", no reason why you could not use that there. The standard drywall size is 1/2" for interior finish, unless you need fire rating.
the rest I agree with though.
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Looks good.....
remodeled
