Frame out and case a room transition

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kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

If I was on top of everything I'd be posting more often for each little home improvement thing I do. The short of it is, I've removed my living room wall paper, crown molding (only 1 wall over the fireplace was covered), baseboard trim, window trim and door trim. I've also replaced my front door and storm door. Lots of patch work and crack repair was required to bring the wall up to a level it could be painted and there's still some areas of wall paper glue that need to be addressed. For now, I'll let this thread be about one facet of my living room update project: case out the opening/transition between my living room and dining room. I think it will add an element of architectural interest in what is a fairly plain house, noticeable upon first steps into the living room. I also plan to do all new trim in this room, including crown molding all the way around the room.

With bare walls and no baseboard trim, it looks like this:
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Basically I'd like to case this opening which just means trim it on the sides and top. But I can't do that as it sits because the wall is flush on each side, so there's nowhere to install trim. I decided if I am going to use a roughly 3" trim, I should frame out about 5" on each side so the trim isn't sitting flush against the wall on the right side (looking either way, it's the right side that's the issue, the left sides could take trim but that doesn't help much).

After some measuring, I realized the main beam above the opening is about 5-1/8" wide (5" wide in the center, nice and old housey). So I will need to build something about 5" wide on each side to get out from the wall. Here's the plan:

- Layer 3 2x6s against each wall (so twice). This will give me 4-1/2" of rough wall extension on each side. They will need to be ripped down to about 3-7/8" wide and about 80" tall. Probably just use regular deck screws into some studding that I located using a combination of stud finder and driving a finish nail into the wall in a few places. I'll put one 2x6 on, into the wall, then probably the remainder into the first 2x6 or however far the screws go. I don't need any 2x6s on the top because there's already a beam there under the wall.

- Now that I have rough framing, I can start to actually add my finish board product. I'll use 5/8" white primed board, ripped to about 5-1/8" wide for the sides and top. The boards on the inside of the opening need to go to the floor, unless I decide to shoe mold it. The other boards don't have to go to the floor as the trim will cover that gap fully. I'll add the board on the 3 sides of my new "mini wall" on both sides of the opening. I'll blend it into the wall probably just using some joint compound. Not sure if I need any metal reinforcement.

- The next technical step would be to paint the room (and the boards a nice bright white, like any doorway would be) but after that's done, I can trim out this new opening on the sides and top, with a 1/4" reveal planned to match the rest of the house.

I already splurged on a nice finish nailer for all the trim work I'll be doing in this room. I'll also use it to attach the finish boards to my framing lumber. I bought 15ga 2" nails to use. I got a discount on the nails because it was an open box, but I think they're all there. I also had some gift cards to help take the edge off this purchase.
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Link to the nailer (highest rated nailer of any kind on Lowes website for things they carry in the store):
http://www.lowes.com/pd_29862-67702-NT6 ... facetInfo=

Even has a 5 year warranty. The price isn't outrageous for something that seems like it's high quality.

Side note, Lowes leaves something to be desired in their lumber department. Home Depot seemed to have a much better selection of finish board product. And they also have saws because I don't have a table saw for ripping boards, so that will be very handy.

More to come.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

My original plan included 5/8" board but that was only in PVC and I decided that was more than I wanted to spend. So I got 3/4" finish board, primed white. It was still kind of pricey at ~$15 for an 8 foot 1x6. Since I had to use the 3/4", I re-did the calculations for my framing thickness. It ended up being almost perfect for a 2x4. By the way, Home Depot does have saws but the only thing they rip is sheet product. They'll shorten things but not rip boards. Makes sense.

Anyway, so I got 7 finish boards in 1x6 by 8 feet long, and 6 2x4s by 88" long.

Measure from the floor to the main beam. Looks like 80-1/4" to me.
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Then measure and mark the board.
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This was my first plan.
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But I decided to build a fence. The saw has a 1" set back on the blade so I just measured 1" back from my original line, then clamped another board to that, flush with the line to guide the saw.
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Fits fine.
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Look, framing!
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But the hard part is placing the board at the right place on the wall before screwing it down. My first technique was to measure for the center of the main beam, which was 5-1/8" at the wall. Then I made lines and connected them.
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I tried lining it up in my marks then checked for level.
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In the end, this wasn't a great plan. Since my walls are plaster, they're not flat, flush, plum, straight or any of those fancy things. The best approach seemed to be to simply set the board in by about 3/4" since the point is to be able to get a board on that edge flush with the dining room wall. Since the wall wasn't straight I ended up having to inset the board more at the top and bottom so the middle was 3/4". I tried to do this while maintaining level for good practice but the thing is, adding a perfectly straight/flush/plumb thing to a non-anything wall is not going to solve anything. In fact, it will cause problems. Anyway, here is my first board with screws.
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And the second.
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And the third.
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Repeat procedure on other side.
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Framed! I need to make one adjustment to the board on the right, which is why using screws is handy.
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And a shot from the other side with the good camera.
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After flipping that board, I will probably measure and cut the top finish board. This will require cutting and ripping so I'll fashion some kind of fence like before. Then I will start measuring and cutting the side boards. For the finish boards, I can use my new nail gun! I better make sure I'm good with board placement. I could set the board with a finish nail manually before using the gun, I suppose.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

I took another look at the side with the warped 2x4s. Actually two out of the three are warped. I will have to redo that wall and buy two (straight) 2x4s. I thought I was being careful at the store but live and learn.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

Two replacement 2x4s later and that's all set. Maybe a real lumber supply place would have had better boards. Next step is actually to remove the wall paper around the opening on the dining room side, because it's much easier now than it will be later. Plus I will have to use joint compound where the 1x6s meet the wall/ceiling, and I really need bare wall for that.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

I ended up buying a steamer to deal with the wallpaper. The paper separated and left the backing paper with adhesive on the wall. The steamer and a scraper is the way to tackle that, though it's still tedious and messy.

Here's the wall after tearing the top layer off and trying to scrape a small section.
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Almost 2 hours later I ended up with this.
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After that unpleasantness was out of the way (I will have to do the entire room), I took a look at my framing. I realized I had a small problem.
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A little warp to the 2x4. My finish boards really need to be pretty flat so I can nail them without causing issues. The solution? A $15 block plane and some elbow grease. Came out great. The only other thing that I could have used for this was a belt sander. The plane seems like a nice, simple solution and will do a better job keeping things, well, on a plane, than a belt sander.
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Shaving pile.
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In lieu of a table saw, I rigged up this ripping jig which would ensure straight cuts. Just measure 1" back from the actual cut and that's the edge for where the saw can track. I also bought another one of those Irwin clamps. Highly recommended.
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Measuring and board placement actually required some thought. My process was to determine what edges would be exposed with trim, and what would be hidden by trim. Edges that are hidden can have gaps. Exposed edges or seams must be dealt with. What that meant was, the side boards could be cut a little short of the total height and leave the gap on the bottom (push flush with the main beam). On the other hand, the boards facing inward need to go all the way to the floor because their faces will be exposed even with trim. Finally, I decided to wait until everything was in place before measuring and cutting the top board, which needed to fit fairly well.

For width of the boards, I ended up cutting around 4-1/2", or maybe a tad short of that. The 3 stacked up 2x4s should theoretically measure 4-1/2 inches but I didn't need the boards to go to the edges (the trim covers that gap). For the inner boards, I just went with the 5-1/8" to match the main beam and centered the inner boards under the beam at the top, and centered to the side boards at the bottom (again, working with old work, plumb/level has less meaning).

By the way, a single charge cut all the 2x4s, and ripped/cut 6 of the 7 1x6 boards. Crazy, considering that's one of the original batteries from when I got the kit (must be 6 years old now).

It was now time to fire up the new finish nailer.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

And what a nice piece it is.
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Not too complex to operate. 5-10 drops of lube in the air line (which comes installed), load the nails (slide them into the magazine then pull back the spring loaded mechanism which pushes them down to the hammer part), decide if you want single shot or continuous (pro-style where you hold the trigger down and just tap the safety and it fires), and go. Actually, there is no force adjustment. Apparently the adjustment comes from your air pressure. Rated pressure is 70-120psi. I figured it would be wise to install a regulator on my air compressor. I ended up using the 70psi, after test firing with no nail (quite a bit of force).

So here's my first board and first use of a nail gun.
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Macro shot of how in-set the nail head is.
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So how do I like it? Well, at the risk of sounding dramatic, it's pretty much the best thing ever. It makes such easy work out of finish nailing. It's actually a pleasure to use (the pop is kind of loud though). I have this and an entire living room of trim to do. Totally glad I bought this.

I did the other two boards on this side but I noticed something was off. The board on the dining room side was sitting proud of the inner board which would make trim fit very poorly. Solution? Take a guess.
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Plane to the rescue.

Same deal on the other side. Here it is all done. It was so satisfying to put these boards up.
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A shot of both sides.
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Almost forgot the top board. I did actually put the nailer and air hose away before I realized.
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Shot from the living room.
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Next, joint compound and wood filler.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

Where the side boards meet the existing walls I had to use joint compound, except on the top board. That joint will be covered by trim.
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I also filled the nail holes in with a product specifically for that, made by Elmers. I used my finger to apply, or sometimes direct from the nozzle. Here are a few shots of the finished product (well, no trim or wall paint yet). I used an inner 90° tool for the right joint where it meets the wall.
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Assorted shots.
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The next step is wait for the joint compound to dry (I used almost an entire small tub) and begin sanding. I like my Ryobi "corner cat" sander for finish work. I may very well need to reapply more compound after sanding. After that, this trim would be ready to paint white. Before I case the opening, the living room needs to be painted (outside the scope of this thread).
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

Borrowing this from a buddy at work: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-14-Amp ... 5yc1vZc2d7

Reasonably priced and well-rated. So if I had to buy it, not the end of the world. This will be great for trim and, really, anything that needs a compound mitre. The tricky part, I guess, is measuring to see exactly what angle I need. There are tricks of the trade for that which I will have to look into. Can't always assume 45° angles, especially with older homes.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

This is going to be perfect for my trim work.

Set to zero-zero.
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A random compound mitre adjustment, for illustration.
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Did another round of putty and the nail hole filling. It will need a third round. I completely used up the tub of joint compound and had to dip back into my plastic patch, which is also almost gone.
kevm14
Posts: 15200
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:28 pm

Re: Frame out and case a room transition

Post by kevm14 »

I forgot to post a pic of the Ranger hauling the 2x4s and 1x6s. I don't need more truck than this. In fact, a B-body wagon would have been a better choice since the load floor is actually wider and longer. But nothing is more convenient than a truck. No trailer, no folding down seats (and cleaning out the interior to do so).
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