Walls made of nothing!

Bassman · Aug 30, 2007

I am gutting my kitchen and in the process discovered that my outside wall is nothing but studs with clapboard nailed to it. No sheathing. Nada. In the interest of strengthening what I can without re-siding the entire front of the house (the kitchen portion is only 8 ft. wide) what do you think of installing some plywood on the interior before the drywall? A full inch of plaster is coming off so I could do 1/2" ply and 1/2" rock or 3/4 ply with 1/4 rock. Thank you for any suggestions.
Neil

Dunbar Plumbing · Aug 30, 2007

It would strengthen but you'll have to pull all of your electrical boxes out farther or use box extensions.

I owned a rental property that I stripped down to the bare studs on the outside, insulated the walls well, then 1/4 sheeted the entire structure with OSB so when the siding guys did the house, all nails at least hit wood.

Sponsor · 2022-01-29T12:20:58-0800

Jadnashua · Aug 30, 2007

The ply with sheetrock over it should work fine. Note, it is not uncommon for the old plaster to vary in thickness, so your electrical boxes may or may not still line up in depth. Check with the building department re the suggested drywall thickness...that adds some fireproofing, regardless of the thickness, but 1/4" stuff would be minimal...they may have a code for it to be some minimum. May not, too. Note, the clapboards probably leak air a whole bunch, so fiberglass insulation would probably not be a great choice - it would act like a big furnace air filter, and not do a great job. You need something denser - maybe foam sheets.

Rmodeler · Aug 30, 2007

What was the existing plaster fastened to, wood lathe or solid 3/4 T&G wood with inverted V grooves. Usually houses with no outside wood subsiding had the solid wood T&G, this took the place of the exterior subsiding and also gave the backer for the plaster.

Bassman · Aug 30, 2007

Rmodeler said:
What was the existing plaster fastened to, wood lathe or solid 3/4 T&G wood with inverted V grooves. Usually houses with no outside wood subsiding had the solid wood T&G, this took the place of the exterior subsiding and also gave the backer for the plaster.

Sorry, I didn't mean plaster. The interior wall is circa 1952 sheetrock over button board, about 1/2 inch thick each. Moving outward is just studs, tar paper and 1x12 redwood clapboard.

Bob NH · Aug 31, 2007

The strengthening you need is against shear loads, especially important in an earthquake zone.

Since you have the sheetrock off you can provide diagonal stiffening in the form of metal straps from corner to corner in the room. Since they support only in tension you need to run both diagonals, from lower left at floor to upper right, and from lower right to upper left. They must be securely fastened to the upper and lower plates.

The connection will be stronger if you can wrap the strap around something and put some fasteners around the bend. The weak link in all of this will be the attachment.

You should try to make them snug but not so tight that you distort the wall. Also fasten them to each stud with one fastener.

Another way to do this is to use threaded rod. You can get 10 ft threaded rod at HD in the electrical area. You can drill the studs and fish 5/16 threaded rod through the holes. If you need to splice it you can get long splice nuts at HD. Then get some large washers (sometimes called "fender washers") for the ends and bevel off the plate at the end so you get good contact.

You can also use high strength wire or cable with eye-bolts. If you do that, get the eye-bolts with pierced ends; not the little things with simple bent loops.

You sometimes need more length than you can get with eye-bolts. You might have to splice on a piece of threaded rod using the splice nuts.

Bassman · Aug 31, 2007

Thanks Bob. The problem with the diagonal straps is that there is a window in the middle of the wall, so I think I'm back to the plywood idea, but I've seen that done. The amazing thing is that this house has been shaken and stirred any number of times since 1952 without any significant damage. I think the thick stucco holds it together.

Seaneys · Aug 31, 2007

I've been slowly doing this a few areas of my house. It is a but of a pain, you have to put in extensions for electrical outlets, window trim, etc.

Steve

Toolaholic · Aug 31, 2007

We Do E Q Retrofits Among Other Things

Shear with 5 ply 1/2" Run horizontal and block with 2/4S on the seams.

If Your using a nail gun adjust it so nails are flush never cutting a layer of ply.
This is reason to fail an inspection. My own home is an eichler and shear as i remodel. My struct. engr. has us do garage walls that line up with interior walls.Less disruptive and your strengthing the backbone of the house. GOOD
luck,Oh and how did Your gas line extension go??

spebby · Aug 31, 2007

You might want to consider spray foam insultion between the studs. It adds structural strength and seals any air leaks.

Bassman · Aug 31, 2007

toolaholic said:
Shear with 5 ply 1/2" Run horizontal and block with 2/4S on the seams.

If Your using a nail gun adjust it so nails are flush never cutting a layer of ply.
This is reason to fail an inspection. My own home is an eichler and shear as i remodel. My struct. engr. has us do garage walls that line up with interior walls.Less disruptive and your strengthing the backbone of the house. GOOD
luck,Oh and how did Your gas line extension go??

I'm not sure that by code I have to do any kind of retrofitting of shear wall since technically I'm just replacing wallboard. I have a feeling it's a bit of a gray area here. City hall trip on Monday to ask questions. Are you shearing from the outside or inside like I'm planning? With so much glass in the Eichlers it must be a challenge.
The gas line extension passed inspection. I was suprised: all the inspector wanted to see was the test gauge, he was uninterested in anything else.

Bassman · Aug 31, 2007

spebby said:
You might want to consider spray foam insultion between the studs. It adds structural strength and seals any air leaks.

Is there a DIY version? There's less than 80 square ft. of wall to deal with.

Furd · Aug 31, 2007

Bassman said:
Is there a DIY version? There's less than 80 square ft. of wall to deal with.

Yes, but it is pretty expensive. I think I got about 30-35 square feet of 2x4 wall out of my $100. (or so) kit.

Phil H2 · Sep 1, 2007

Bassman,
It sounds like you have a good repoir with the city. They should be able to give you good information on blocking and nailing the plywood. Here is a link to some information you might find helpful http://www.abag.ca.gov/bayarea/eqmaps/fixit/training.html But it may be a little dated. If your house is slab on grade, you may want to check the hold-down bolts and add any needed while the wall is open. By the way, I am suprised you have sheetrock over button board. I always thought button board was used with plaster.

Toolaholic · Sep 1, 2007

The shear wall is for Me and Mom Not the Build. Dept.Every little bit helps with shear, A good read is the twin sister houses in Santa Cruiz ca. Cont. bought 2 identical old Victorians . One was gutted and retroed before Loma preata ,one not . One $230,000 in damage other Hardly any. These two are used in the industry as text book examples

Dunbar Plumbing · Sep 1, 2007

A former builder in my area who's serving 20 years for bank fraud built condo's with interior wall studs set at 30" oc...IF you were lucky.

Absolutely no horseplay with kids around the walls; could easily go right through them.

Bassman · Sep 1, 2007

Phil H2 said:
Bassman,
I always thought button board was used with plaster.

Phil,
Thanks for the link and yes, you're correct it's plaster over the button board.

Walls made of nothing!

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