View Poll Results: What should I do

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  • Patch the holes and leave it be... it is only 4 inches

    3 21.43%
  • Don't be lazy, pull down the wall and fix it properly!

    11 78.57%
Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: To take the wall down, or not...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Geneva, Swisscheeseland
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    1,501

    To take the wall down, or not...

    Over the past two weeks, my wife and I have been stripping wallpaper and pulling up carpets in a house we just purchased. While stipping wall paper from the drywall in the dining room, I noticed that the walls where shallower than the cabinets on either side (see picture below). Not only that, but the walls flexed a little and sounded hollow. I decided to cut a couple of holes in the drywall near the floor to see whats up. Sure enough, there is a false wall over an old french door to the back porch. Some hack decided that instead of pulling out the old door frame and framing in the opening, they would just build a wall in front of it.

    So here is my dilema. We have flooring people coming on Thursday to refinish the floors. Should I pull out the wall and properly enclose the door opening, or should I let sleeping dogs lie?

    Opinions please!

    Dan

    Last edited by Dan Mages; 06-23-2008 at 11:07 PM.
    A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a Danish.

  2. #2
    I can't take a position on this because i had something VERY similar. We bought our house last november and the 2nd bedroom was adjacent to an addition. Well the hack on your house must have gotten lazier on mine because they didn't even put a false wall up.

    They took HALF the doorknob out of the french doors (leaving the actual knob just a'danglin' in the hole on the other side. They even left the casing to the two windows and the stool and all. They took about 100 pieces of thin plywood and scrap wood and nailed it THROUGH the plaster to the walls to fir it out enough to make a flat surface. To which they stuck 1/4" paneling to - then painted it pink (to match the rest of the room).

    We discovered this when we pulled up the carpet to get at some nice wood floors. The carpet was tucked under this paneling and so we had a little gap. This prompted us to see what was under there and sure enough the french doors, two windows and even the half knob were intact.

    The decision to pull and fill or cover was tough. It really depends ... do you need the extra 4"? Do you have any desire to re-open that passage through and keep the doors in place? It ultimately comes down to what it's worth to you.

    We decided that we'd expose the doors on the office side. The addition had it's own thin veil covering the other side so for now the doors are just serving as decoration. We plan someday to open it up again and make it into more of a master suite with french doors opening onto a nice open sunroom type thing.

    I knew I didn't want the windows so I did pull those out, stool, sill, sash and all. I framed in for some drywall to patch it and quickly discovered that the drywall and plaster job that was done made the wals about 7/8" thick and so I firred things out a little with some 1/4" drywall scraps and then put 1/2" over that. this was okay, but it exposed my weakness in mudding. Not to mention the 500 or so nail holes left from all the other thin shim stock they used to space out around the casing.

    So I decided that the casing they used was really pretty thick and that I would just go grab a couple new sheets of 1/4" drywall and just wrap these french doors with it (the space was about 12' wide). Unless you look real close at that casing, you couldn't tell that it is actually inset unless ya know yer stuff. It was perfectly acceptible for us.

    So our solution was kind of half - we removed what we didn't want, tried to fill it in, decided to cover it back up in a way we felt was better than it had been before. Plus we've made the french doors into a decorative feature. We hung a flat sheet behind the doors for now so we don't see the raw inside of the wall from the other side.

    That's how we did it. In your case, it might bug me a little to know there's a hack job behind there. Then again, the picture makes it look fine ... would you like the additional depth? If so, those two factors would probably have me pulling it out and redoing it. The flimsy construction would probably tip my hand even more.

    Then again, i'm lazy, too. So i might wanna do something about it, but i'd probably put it down on my to-do list
    Jason Beam
    Sacramento, CA

    beamerweb.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Mid Michigan
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    3,559
    If it were my decision to make I would leave it alone if it is cosmetically okay on both sides of the wall.
    David B

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Rio Rancho, NM
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    2,568
    I have to agree with David--I like the way the wall looks now, and if the other side is okay, just leave it alone.
    Nancy Laird
    Owner - D&N Specialties, Rio Rancho, New Mexico
    Woodworker, turner, laser engraver; RETIRED!
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    ___________________________
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504
    Dan....Since you asked for my opinion, that's what you'll get. Myself, I'd put off the flooring contractor and tear out the partial wall. Understand, I'm not long suffering but it would eat on me daily that it wasn't done right. 2ndly, if you go to sell the place, and an inspector found the wall, the potential buyer would have a lot of leverage against you.

    JMHO.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    NE Ohio
    Posts
    6,976
    Hello Dan,
    I can honestly think of no valid reason to leave it alone.
    I can think of dozens of reasons to remove it and examine what's underneath.
    The biggest being that at one point to passage was to an exterior exposure - the porch.
    I would strongly suspect rot and/or insect infestation has damaged the French doors & hope that any damage was confined to the doors and not spread to the surrounding structure.

    At some point - sooner or later - it's going to have to come down.
    Might as well be before you spend money on having the floor finished.
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
    Wonderful man, terrible cabinet maker...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Southwest VA
    Posts
    227
    whats on the other side?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    London, Ont., Canada
    Posts
    2,200
    It's a porch - heated? Is this opening properly insulated? Questions to consider.
    "It's Not About You."

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Geneva, Swisscheeseland
    Posts
    1,501
    Please let me clarify... It is a 3 season screened porch. The small holes that I cut show that the doors are missing. The exterior wall is covered with cedar shingles with many, many layers of paint.

    Dan
    A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a Danish.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    South Windsor, CT
    Posts
    3,304
    Personally, I'd open up the wall and get some nice french doors to the porch. You can always put something over the outside of the french doors for insulation purposes in the winter. The ability to open the doors and get air in to the dining area would be a great way to cool off the room.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Geneva, Swisscheeseland
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    1,501
    The wall has been removed. Yup. It was a definate hackjob. They even notched the studs around the base trim! I am sure that it would have leaked cold air during the winter. The hinges on the inside of the wall are heavily rusted, which leads me to beleive the outside was not sealed correctly. Now to ponder whether to completely seal the door entry, or install a window... Its all up to SWMBO.

    Dan
    A flute without holes, is not a flute. A donut without a hole, is a Danish.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504
    Dan...it may be a short term displeasure to deal with it now but long term the benefits will add up quickly. That will be especially evident in the winter when heating season arises and the area wasn't insulated.

    I don't think you will be disappointed by that decision.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

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