Extra framing and drywall/hardiboard

One thing that I forgot to mention along with the walls, windows and ceilings was that it required the framing to change slightly to accommodate the higher ceilings and full height windows. Surprisingly the furring strips on the plaster walls already extended to the top where the 12 foot high joists met the old walls, but that wasn't the case with the 1970's vintage interior walls. This required me to extend the 2x4 framing all the way up to the ceiling to give me something to hang the new drywall onto. There was some of this already in place and I basically filled in the gaps to give it even support and new support over the hallway.

 




It seems that I wasn't very good at capturing the work on camera, so everyone is going to have to look closely at the above picture a little harder. While on the surface it just looks like more 2x4s that I used to extend the kitchen wall to the joists, past that was the hard part that required a pro (Chris Wiedeman). The combo of the full height windows, low existing ceilings, and bathroom ventilation made raising the ceiling over the shower a requirement. We needed to raise the ceiling only one foot so that there was enough room for the ventilation duct/ceiling fan and that we were above the height of the full window to get the light in. Chris did a great job of framing the shower ceiling, mounting the fan in place, and then threading the insulated duct to the right in the picture and out a hole in the brick wall to the courtyard for exhaust. In the past all of these bathroom fans just vented straight into this 2 foot ceiling cavity, which is a recipe for mold down the road.

So then we went to hanging the wall board:

If I can give one piece of advice to anyone doing this, it's to rent the freaking drywall lift from Home Depot (like $35 bucks) and don't be cheap. Best money I will ever spend in my entire life. So easy and I can only imagine what my back would feel like without it trying to hang the drywall on the ceiling.

Moving on.... we also hung hardiboard to surround the shower and wall behind the sink/toilets to give a solid base for tile and keep studs safe from any errant water and potential molding.

Lastly I took pictures of my open bathroom/kitchen wall so that I can estimate where the pipes run in the future if I ever need to get in there (and so I made sure nails to the studs wouldn't intersect a pipe!). If you are wondering why I sprayed my extra expanding foam around the pipes, it was to increase the stability so that they didn't move as the water moved through them. Especially the drain pipes tended to click/knock the studs as water drained through them. In hindsight I should have added additional insulation around the main drain stack before closing the wall to dampen the sound further and I should have added metal protection plates on the studs where pipes intersected in order to prevent any future accidents as well.

After this picture was taken, I moved that left electrical outlet up for the microwave (in case you thought it looked unfinished).