Tearing Down Dry Wall


  #1  
Old 01-31-05, 03:19 PM
meech1k
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Tearing Down Dry Wall


OK I know NOTHING about construction so I am sure this is a pretty "rookie" question

How do you tear down a wall between 2 bedrooms in your house? How much would it cost for me to do this? I am thinking of knocking out just the closet of one room to make a walk way between both rooms. The closet wall is very flimsy and there doesn't seem to be any type of structure between it.

HELP!!!
 
  #2  
Old 02-01-05, 01:54 AM
awesomedell's Avatar
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There's a pretty good chance the outer closet walls aren't load bearing and can be removed without a big deal, but opening up a walk way between two rooms there is a fair chance you're going to get into a load bearing wall, as in this wall is helping to support the ceiling and roof above that. You'd have to give use some more detail about the place before we could begin to determine if you going into a load bearing wall or not. Give as as much detail as possible about the house and what you want to do.

As to how much will this cost, again without knowing more about the project in question, you can't give an educated guess. Const material & labor rates vary alot depending on location. Prime example, over the weekend I was in a discussion on another BB which is dedicated to pros working in the business. The topic was sheetrock pricing, here in my area it's about $8.50 a sheet for 4'x8' 1/2" rock. A poster from the Denver area stated he's currently paying $6 & another in Canada pays nearly $15 for that same sheet. Drywall hang & finishing in the midwest is $1.25 or there abouts per s/f, but I've heard of it being $2 or more on the left coast. Everything is relative to where you're at & who you hire. You can always get the guy with the '70s vintage rusted out p/u that leaks oil in your driveway and smells like last night's beer alot cheaper than a pro who has decent equipment, not to mention insurance!

Now back to the basic question of how to tear down a wall. Assuming you are wanting to leave the ceiling intact, first thing is to score thru the sheetrock at the inside corner where wall & ceiling meet with a sharp utility knife. My tool of choice for actually seperating the wall framing is a sawsall to cut thru nails. After that wrecking bars and a big hammer will do most of the work.

Post back with a bit more detail on your project and we'll be glad to help you out. BTW, Welcome to the forums.
 
  #3  
Old 02-01-05, 10:45 PM
kdomg
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Talking sheetrock wall

If the wall is a load bearing wall you can still tear it down but you will need to support the ceiling joists and roof by putting a beam up on the ceiling where the load bearing wall used to be. Ther are several ways to do that. If it is less than six feet I would not worry about the beam. Go up in the attic and put a strongback on the ceiling joists over the loadbearing wall. Tie it in at leastthree studs in both directions beyond where the load bearing wall that you removed ends. If it is not a load bearing wall get a sledge hammer and do some damage! Make sure to cut the sheet rock at the point where you want the old sheetrock to stay. A sheet rock hand saw is about $ 5.00. You will need a utulity knife to cut the sheet rock where you will be splicing or patching the new rock in. Cut the rock center of the wall studs so you have something to attach the rock to when you are patching in the new pieces.
 
 

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