I will fear no evil. Not even drywall.


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Old 02-04-05, 09:15 AM
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I will fear no evil. Not even drywall.

Hey gang. New here.
Allow me to give you a little history here before I start machine gunning the questions at you all.

The wife and I just moved into a new home. The home has a great entertainment room above the garage. The room, no matter what, needs
so TLC and cleaning. I have made it my mission in life to turn this open room
into a home theater MEGAPLEX! OH yeah! Sweatness. Friends and I started by ripping up the carpet, padding, and composite subfloor. Then we moved our destructive ways to the walls. Thin wood paneling....outta there. Surprise, surprise! What do we have here? Old 1/4" drywall. Damaged in some places. Ok in others. Long strips of some type acient aztec-ian wonder glue. (impossible to sand or rip off without ripping the drywall to pieces) ......think man....THINK!....What to do? what to do? Go mud and sanding crazy to try to float this mess or rip it all down and start with fresh, smooth drywall?

Here are a few photos of the room as it stands now.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/texman302002/my_photos

Need any and all advice before I go and open a can of worms.
Thanks!
 
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Old 02-04-05, 11:57 AM
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1/4 inch drywall is used as a sound barrier with paneling. 1/4 drywall is not suitable for use by itself. Your options are this, tear out and put up new in say a 1/2 inch, or better yet a 3/4 inch so you can have your movie playing loud and not keep the wife up. Or, Install 1/2 inch on top of the existing 1/4 inch. Option two is what I would do as it will be less mess than a tear out, and the 1/2 inch is cheaper the the 3/4 inch. Use screws to fasten to the studs and some glue between the two layers. I am no professional mind you, infact, I just started doing drywall a week ago, but everything that I have read on drywall says this is the thing to do.
 
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Old 02-04-05, 09:14 PM
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You can seriously do that? Hmmm...interesting. That would save me from making a huge mess.
 
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Old 02-05-05, 08:43 AM
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Since you don't look too old to want to make a lot of noise I would suggest adding the drywall on top of what you have, but it may be better if you firred out the wall studs with some 1/4" by 1.5" strips. I too am no pro when it comes to sound but I think air space is the best thing to keep down the noise transfer. You may want to lose some, if not all, the windows as they will really not be needed if you intend to use the room as described and they will transmit noise. Maybe 1 window if required by code to exit the room.This may not be possible if it will affect the way your house looks from the outside, but if it could be done I think i might do it[maybe].

I would also consider putting in at least 1 camera if I had any kids who may want to use the room for who knows what

I am assuming that it is insulated, has adequate electrical to keep the beer cold and you don't need a permit to procede. The local govt. usually likes to take their piece of the action, and then tax you forever on it!!!!!
 
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Old 02-05-05, 08:57 AM
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Took a look at your pics, you really need to add some more wall studs in those walls. Looks like that's framed on 4' centers If that's what it is, I'd add a minimum of one more new stud in between each of the existing studs. Then you would definitely want to go with 5/8" drywall over 2' o/c framing and you'll be good to go.

Overlaying the existing drywall, might be the option you want to go with in that hallway, however you will have to recut trim and what not if you follow this option, but looks like you're past that now, except for possibly in the hallway. I'd recommend going ahead with your current plan to remove the paneling and existing drywall. This will give you access to wall cavity in order to update wiring, insulation, etc. You can provide a pretty good sound barrier with a doubled layer of 5/8" drywall. Other good thing about 5/8" drywall, it's actually available. Now you can special order board in any dimension you wish, provided you're willing to pay the freight. But 3/4" board isn't commonly available at you local lumber yard or big box store. A more economic solution would be to put up hat channel over the existing framing, horizontally every 16" and then put a layer of 5/8" drywall over that, using glue on the hat channel when installing the finish layer of drywall will help as well, as will adding a thin foam barrier between the studs and the channel. You'll find the channel at home centers, might also be referred to as sound channel. Comes in standard lengths, 8', 10', etc. These materials will be readily available from a local retailer, nothing to special order. You could also use a product called Quiet Rock, pretty pricey, but it's supposed to be the end all for home theater soundproofing. Here's a link to their site http://www.quietsolution.com/constru..._building.html

You might also want to think about looking in the yellow pages under drywall supply, these guys have special trucks equipped with booms that can load the board directly onto the second floor, thru a doorway or you can even take the sashes out of window temporarily to get the board in that way. You just need a min. window height of about 50" in order to slide the board in, the boom will hold a unit of board in mid-air just outside the window while you unload it, that kind of service for a few pennies more a sheet certainly beats trying to haul it up stairs.

Hope that helps a bit, keep us posted.
 
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Old 02-07-05, 08:39 AM
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Thanks for the much needed advice.
I'll plan on ripping down the old stuff.
At the moment I am waiting for a third
quote on some foundation repair to the
garage which is directly below this room.
I have the feeling it would not make since
to put up or replace any drywall before the
the foundation gets leveled. So ripping the
old stuff down and getting an electrician out
to update the wiring wouldn't hurt to do now.
 
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Old 02-08-05, 04:51 AM
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Sounds like you've got a good plan formulated, definitely get the foundation work done before you start fixing up the interior.
 
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Old 02-09-05, 07:37 AM
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Ok. I have started removing the old drywall. Fun stuff!
I have added some photos of what the wall looks like now.

The insulation looks like crap so I will go ahead and replace it.
Even found 5 'wall buddies'. They must be living off the swarm of
silverfish I could see in the walls.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/texman...bum?.dir=/4441

Let me know if you see anything in the photos I should be aware of.
I also have the foundation crew pouring the cement piers today so
hopefully in a week I will have the foundation corrected.

Thanks again.
 
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Old 02-09-05, 12:48 PM
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You had 5 of them critters in your wall?!? Cool looking, but I wouldn't want 'em livin in the walls, same with the silverfish. Exterminator might be in the future too from the sounds of things. You're definitely right about the insulation, all needs to be replaced. Should wear breathing protection when handling that junk, at the least dispose of it promptly & properly. Ok I can see now what you've got for framing, I mistook the drywall for wall cavities between the studs in the first pic. That's still 24" o/c framing with cross blocking, but I'd still go with at least a doubled layer of 1/2" or else 5/8" board one layer at the minimum.
 
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Old 02-09-05, 01:29 PM
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What might be the 'proper' way to dispose of the insulation?

Which is better? The regular tape or the newer fiberglass mesh tape?

Added some photos.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/texman...bum?.dir=/4441
 

Last edited by Punkfarter; 02-10-05 at 08:19 AM.
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Old 02-10-05, 08:35 PM
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It can go in the local landfill, dumpster etc., don't burn it, bad stuff to be breathing & toxic stuff gets in the air. You need to get that nasty moldy stuff out of the house asap, the more it jostled around the more the molds spreads in the air which is where you generally get a reaction to it.

Rent or buy yourself a banjo and use the paper tape is what I would recommend, but the mesh is probably easier to deal with for a novice. The paper is less likely to crack from my experience.
 
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Old 02-11-05, 11:21 AM
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Understood.

Pulled all the old nails out of the joists last night.
Do I have to move the old electrical boxes that are
mounted to the joists forward to compensate for
the thickness of the new drywall or can I just back
the screws of the sockets and switches out a little?
 
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Old 02-15-05, 05:43 AM
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They should be adjusted so they sit 1/2" or 5/8" proud of the joists so that the front edge of the box sits flush with the finish level of the new drywall.
 
 

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