Walls and Doors

Today Liz and I worked on the North dining room wall. We decided the 1/2″ variance from the bottom to the top of each joist wasn’t something that bothered us… and since we’re putting on 5/8″ worth of drywall on top of everything… that variance would likely not be noticeable. So while we debated shimming some of the studs, we decided ultimately not to.

An unfortunately long time between the first photo to now, when we put in our first bit of backerboard. I had a really, really difficult time understanding conceptually what we needed to do for the bottom backer board. Liz was really patient with me, but my brain just wasn’t grokking what needed to happen.

We’re working with 8′ drywall boards, and so we measured 8′ 1’4″ from the top. We did this at a few different spots on the wall, and marked a line. From there, I wasn’t able to understand what height we needed for the backerboard… and also where, exactly, we’d be attaching the backerboard.

I was under the incorrect impression that we were going to rest all the drywall on the backerboard. And that we needed to make sure it was level. This was not correct, and I just couldn’t wrap my head around these details.

Ultimately, the backerboard was attached using the lowest point we marked. The idea that we needed this backerboard to be level was an incorrect assumption on my part; as long as we were more than 8′ away from the ceiling, we were good. The drywall wouldn’t need to “sit” on the backerboard necessarily, as a certain amount of space or room wasn’t a problem.

This was a harder thing for me. In a lot of our work with drywall and plywood, measuring and precision was a good thing. In this particular case, we needed to get close but didn’t have to be as precise. We’re working with our first layer here: the backerboard and 3/8″ drywall. On top of all of that, another length of 1/2″ drywall will be put up. While that layer will require precision, what we’re doing now does not.

Liz spent a lot of time working with me here, and I definitely exhausted her in our converastions. But we eventually got to put up a few pieces on the wall, despite my slow start.

After lunch, we talked a bit about our pocket doors. And realized that before we could put up drywall against these doors… we’d need to investigate whether the pocket doors themselves needed work. Were they ok, do we need to replace the track system? That kind of thing.

Note: the doors kind of stick a bit, and don’t quite close all the way.

On looking more, we realized that the doors were attached to rollers, that were then resting on a set of wooden rails.

View inside the pocket doors.

Ultimately, the track system seems really dirty and in need of cleaning. But looked remarkably good. What remains is trying to take down the doors and inspectiing the other mechanisms/wheels, to see if those need repair.

Check out that door stopper on the right!

All told, the track and mechanisms seem to be in good shape. One thing we’ll be trying to do is to see if we can track down a professional outfit that repairs vintage doors. Our pocket doors definitely need some love and help to bring them back to their original state, and it’s likely more than we’re able to do.

While looking into all of this, it was quite exciting to be talking abour our doors. We’ve done a lot of structural work on the house – and to start to get to this stage of things was very, very exciting.

Interesting side note: after pulling out both doors and fiddling with the gears that allow for the height to be adjusted… the doors actually close 100% now. Will be exciting to see if we can get these things cleaned up properly.

Related:
Dining Room Insulation
Dining Room, Ceiling Drywall, Day 1
Dining Room, Ceiling Drywall, Day 2