Out of Plane walls in older home! Arg!

jlatulippe

Good day,

I have an 80+ old home with mostly plaster/lathe walls (no insulation of course). I gutted my living room to insulate/vapor barrier and drywall, and to no surprise found the walls to be very out of plumb and out of "plane". I "sistered" up one wall, but the other outside wall has a window. How do I sister up this wall which has a the window in it? The header throws a wrench into the process, doesn't it, as I can't get new (and straight) studs directly around the window. How would I span the gap between the new sistered stud and the window itself?

Thanks for any guidance!

- Joe

kwikfishron

I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish here.

It’s not uncommon for a 80 year old house to have moved. Bowed out walls. Dropped in places, racking the walls, giving you out of plumb studs.

You can always level a house and correct most of this, at great expense.

If your problem is when you butt new sheetrock up to the ceiling and the edge of the rock hit’s the stud on top and hit’s nothing on the bottom, then you sister studs as needed for solid nailing.

Beyond that. I don’t understand the question.

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Leah Frances

Joe - a picture would probably be very helpful. Also, note that while the studs may not be plumb/in plane the plaster may have been - that is till you removed it. The wall may not have shifted or bowed at all, it just may have been made plumb in the process of plastering.

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If I could only remember to THINK about what I was doing before I did it.

jlatulippe

As you say, the walls probably were ok prior to me removing the plaster and lathes, but there was not a lick of insulation so that is why I removed it. Basically I can sister up most of the studs along the wall in question to make them plumb and "in line" with each other. My problems arise when I get to the window as it has a double stud on the left and right and I can only sister up the outer-most one (the one not directly attached to the window). This leaves the inner most vertical studs at their original depth. Also, the horizontal window header and footer is doubled giving me the same problem above and below the window.

I'll try and get a pic of it if you are still unclear on the situation...

- Joe

kwikfishron

So your trying to straiten out a “bowed wall”?

If so you need to rip custom pieces around the inside of the windows and attach to the framing to match up with your new sister studs.

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Shamus

Joe,

If I'm following what your saying all your trying to do is bring out the existing framing around the window to be in-line with your new sistered studs. Then you can drywall over everything.

If that's right, I've done dozens of these over the years and what you are experiencing is pretty common. Those plaster craftsmen back then could fill-in 2" of bow, going both in and out from top to bottom and make it dead straight. You uncovered the bones of the wall and sistering is all you can do.

You need to measure and cut long enough and thick enough tapered shims to bring out those recessed studs around the window, to be flush with the others you've sistered in. The amount of taper to be determined by the amount of existing stud bow. If necessary, reframe or add a filler strip between the finish trim and the window frame.

If I missed your point my apologies.... and I'll wait for a pic.

Just noticed that kwikfishron beat me to the post.....

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Shamus

jlatulippe

Thanks Shamus/kwikfishron, that is exactly what I am struggling with. I didn't know if sistering and filling in with custom strips where needed was the proper (or most appropriate) method to tackle my problem, and guess I was looking for confirmation!

Sorry for my bad description of the problem at hand...

Thanks again, appreciate your suggestions!

- Joe