Hi folks, we have low ceilings - 7ft. While installing a dining room light I discovered that the ceiling is actually false and there is an additional foot of space. I checked everything and it is in fact a false ceiling. we hate our low ceilings so I immediately decided that instead of installing our dining room light, I will just knock down the ceiling and bring it back up to it's original height. The false ceiling is supported by many 2x4s, all toe-nailed into the wall frame. What is the safest, easiest (as in least back-breaking) method to remove these 2x4s aside from simply cutting them? There are so many and I have plenty of projects where I could use these 2x4s, so preserving their length is important. thanks.

We've been drywalling the house we purchased recently. Everything was wood paneled before, over plaster(except for one wall, where it was simply over the insulation!). Most of the walls have gone up fine or there have been no problems, or we've been able to figure it out. But now we are at a wall with the bow window, where the floor and the wall are 1.5" apart, and our drywall is 1/2". What do we do to make up the space. Ideally we want trim but I don't think it's that big. We've talked about furring out the wall an inch but then it hits an electrical box on an adjoining wall and we will have to cut the plate down to make it fit. Plus we will have to figure out how to make everything fit for the window frame. If we had more money we will take the lathe down and reinsulate, probably bring the walls out to 6" instead of 4". But after electrical and everything we are out of money and trying to get this done to bring our furniture in and bunker down for winter! Any ideas? Here are a few pics, I hope they help: [url=http://yfrog.com/0j20091209123304j]Yfrog - 20091209123304[/url] [url=http://yfrog.com/1x20091209123329j]Yfrog - 20091209123329[/url] Thanks! --Joey