The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

The Practical Built In Funiture

Such a framing has to be made on the floor, then pushed erect into position as Fig. 9b indicates. However, if the ceiling bulges, this will not be possible. You may then have to cut down the height of the frame (perhaps by the thickness of a 2x4), then pack the space over it with an extra 2x4 after the frame is in position. This frame can be arranged to nail through to the original studs, but on a crooked wall the nailing could be confined to the floor and perhaps the original wall plate, using spacers where necessary. When the whole structure is square and solid, other spacers may be inserted between studs and wall, and the new studs toenailed to the old ones through them. In the end, you will have plenty of nailing surface whether the studding is covered with wallboard or not.

Fig. 10 shows a wall to which wood "panels" have been attached as part of a decorating scheme that incorporates a corner cupboard — all over furring. Where you have hopelessly bad plaster walls that can be cured only by stripping off the plaster, or where you wish to install a new wall (in place of a room-divider built-in unit), this wall boarding can be fastened directly to the studs.

No particular skill is needed for this. In Fig. 11 you see a typical wall-panel joint and the method of fastening it to the stud. You can get from your lumberman large sheets of this type of board, either painted or grained, 4 feet x 8 feet or over. Into both types of "paneling" you can introduce built-in units, small or large, and get a unified room of which the built-ins are an integral part. They don't look "stuck on."

Attic Problems

Another wall problem sometimes arises in connection with attics.