[jburchill]

So at lunchtime today I was trying to get a piece of drywall hung. Had it all measured and cut. Got it against the wall and the bottom left piece was sticking out about an inch from touching the framing.

I did check to see if it was flush and obviously didn't do a good job checking. Is there any good way to make framing flush without taking down the whole frame?

Just looking for ideas.

 

[user1007]

What do you mean by the bottom left piece? I thought you were just trying to hang one sheet? Do you mean there is a high spot somewhere causing the corner to be floating out an inch from the framing? You are going to need to find the source of that high spot. 1" is just too much to work around I fear. The corner of the sheet next to it is going to be off, at least with the surface of the sheet you are trying to hang, etc. etc.

Hopefully you can source the problem to a stud or two and reposition them. Maybe you let one past you without checking to see if it was badly crowned or something? If this is the case you are going to have the opposite problem on the other side of the wall but fir strips might work to build the wall up to flush.

If you can isolate to one such crowned area you could plane or power plane it back to being flush---perhaps. Again, 1" is a chunk of space to find at one corner though. If inspectors I work with saw 1" taken off a framing member or two I doubt they would sign off. I think you need to plan on some framing adjustments.

Do you, by chance, have an electrical box you forgot to trim for? That could be pushing you out an inch.

Others will have better ideas I hope.

 

[jburchill]

I am not sure how this wall got framed this way. Other framing looks good. I took down some paneling due to flooding. And this frame looks pieced together by someone that didn't know to much. The paneling did a good job at covering this. On the other side of the wall is some crappy put together shelving...I'm assuming by the same person.

Would this work?

Instead of taking down the studs, could I position new studs inside the old framing and have them stick out just enough to be flush?

 

[user1007]

You don't need (nor do you probably want the weight) a new set of studs. You could cut fir strips to bring the wall surface out and flush but you are going to have to move all your electrical boxes forward. And you still need to source that 1" gap or you will just be extending it the dimension of the fir strips.

It sounds like a Mickey Mouse framing job and if not hidden by shelving on the other side of the wall? It is problematic on that side of things as well. By the time you fuss with trying to make this work you may find it faster to just tear it apart and frame it properly. Sounds like you can rescue most of the materials?

 

[jburchill]

the other side is just bad shelving. Was thinking about just taking down that framing and just redo it. In the end it will probably be easier than trying to figure out how to make it flush. I will be able to re-use a lot of the material.

Plus, I can actually move the wall back a few feet and make more room.


Thanks

 

[Ron6519]

How old is the house?
Were the wall plastered before?

 

[jburchill]

Built in 1967. No plaster, there was paneling up before.

 

[thomasjmarino]

Sounds like you just need to kerf the bowed stud with a circular saw (be careful cause the saw could kick back on you).
Then install a straight stud next to the kerfed one, pushing the kerfed one in while nailing the straight one to it.
You could use a sawzall in place of the circular saw if you don't feel safe.

 

[dive_instructor]

I'm trying to avoid this very thing right now as I am framing a wall out using furring strips against insulation then concrete.

My concrete wall is not straight and most of my furring strips are bowed. I know my top and bottom plates are plumb, however given the above this doesn't really help with alignment top to bottom.

What ways would you guys recommend ensuring I have a straight wall so all furring strips are plumb with each other left to right?

Thanks,

D.I.

 

[RemodelGA]

Sounds like you just need to kerf the bowed stud with a circular saw (be careful cause the saw could kick back on you).
Then install a straight stud next to the kerfed one, pushing the kerfed one in while nailing the straight one to it.
You could use a sawzall in place of the circular saw if you don't feel safe.

If using a circular saw to cut the middle of the stud, the saw WILL kick back. Use a sawzall.

Dive Instructor - you'll have to shim out your firring strips so they are straight. Find the most bowed out point in the wall and then shim everything else on the wall out to that level. If it's bad it may require custom cut shims.

 

[jburchill]

Non-Flush wall number two!!!

Found another crappy wall. This one wasn't too bad to fix, there was one stud that bowed in. Flush on top, and flush on bottom. Middle, is was in about 1/2 inch. Attached a furring to the side and made it flush again.

Wish other was that easy.

 

[RemodelGA]

Good work on getting the wall straightened out. :thumbsup: Bowed studs in basement walls are unfortunately very common. I've even seen some builders use #3 framing material in the basement to save a buck. #3 material is always all over the place. In a normal basement finish out - we usually replace 5-6 studs in the existing walls.

 

[dive_instructor]

Thanks Remodel for the tip.

Last night I broke out a chalk line (with no chalk) tapped on a nail to hold it on the first furring strip, strung it tight and level to the last furring strip and then dealt with the gaps in between using shim.

Looks like this method worked.

J

 

[jburchill]

That is exactly what I did, just kept using string from one end to the other end finding all the gaps. Worked pretty slick

 

[dive_instructor]

That is exactly what I did, just kept using string from one end to the other end finding all the gaps. Worked pretty slick

Just a last follow up on this, I had to use this string method at 3 different levels on the furring strips because some were bowed so much. I was very happy with how it looked when I was done. Looking down the wall I could see everything was flush. Very cool.