Kitchen Wall Rebuild
by
Leigh L
Tearing down the wall in between the kitchen and the living room and rebuilding a half wall.
*Options I considered for this project:
We talked about tearing the entire wall out and building a kitchen island, we looked into removing part of the wall and ultimately decided to tear it out and rebuild a half wall to open up the 2 rooms.
*Questions and unexpected events that arose during the project:
The electrical was the toughest part because the house is almost 30 years old and has 30 year old wiring. We eventually had to hire an electrician to come out and help us fix the lighting in the kitchen and living rooms.
* Cost Comments:
Cost included a $100 service call to an electrician. Aside from that it was all materials.
*My motivation to do this project:
We felt the wall divided the kitchen and living room and we wanted to open up the 2 rooms.
*Project Steps:
Tore down the wall completely and began to rebuild it. We had to pull the electrical up from the attic and run it back down and across the new half wall. We cut new studs and put up new sheet rock and built a 4 inch header at the top to cover any exposed ceiling, cross beams and insullation from the attic.
Advice:
Sheet rock dust gets every where, make sure to cover everything around the work area.
Materials:
Electrician - $0.00
(2) 4 ft x 8ft. pieces of sheet rock - $0.00
Dry Wall Screws - $0.00
3 dimmer switches - $0.00
1 fan switch - $0.00
*Options I considered for this project:
We talked about tearing the entire wall out and building a kitchen island, we looked into removing part of the wall and ultimately decided to tear it out and rebuild a half wall to open up the 2 rooms.
*Questions and unexpected events that arose during the project:
The electrical was the toughest part because the house is almost 30 years old and has 30 year old wiring. We eventually had to hire an electrician to come out and help us fix the lighting in the kitchen and living rooms.
* Cost Comments:
Cost included a $100 service call to an electrician. Aside from that it was all materials.
*My motivation to do this project:
We felt the wall divided the kitchen and living room and we wanted to open up the 2 rooms.
*Project Steps:
Tore down the wall completely and began to rebuild it. We had to pull the electrical up from the attic and run it back down and across the new half wall. We cut new studs and put up new sheet rock and built a 4 inch header at the top to cover any exposed ceiling, cross beams and insullation from the attic.
Advice:
Sheet rock dust gets every where, make sure to cover everything around the work area.
Materials:
Electrician - $0.00
(2) 4 ft x 8ft. pieces of sheet rock - $0.00
Dry Wall Screws - $0.00
3 dimmer switches - $0.00
1 fan switch - $0.00
Comments
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3 of 9 comments
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Wow Leigh, I can't wait to see the finished product. I'm sure you'll love your new open space. It will be great for entertaining so that those in the kitchen will feel a part of what's going on in the living room and vice versa.
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You speak anout cross beams in your attic in this post, and I am always hesitant to give advice on tearing down walls because many DIY ers do not realize what are load bearing walls and what are not. This is where its a good idea to contact a contractor or architecht.
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