If one is working on a wall where there may be some past termite damage (now
certainly gone), there is a somewhat "cracking" sound when pounding the
drywall, is there any way to reinforce the studs without having to remove
all the drywall from the walls in question?

In the house in question, the carpet, baseboards and the room itself is in
good enough shape as to not need work, so to re-do all the drywall would be
a massive effort and expense. The state of the studs is unknown, but surely
there's some damage. In a few years, no structural damage was noticed.

The fear is that being a corner room, if the studs are compromised,
eventually the structure could be damaged. Removing the drywall would allow
new PT or metal studs to be inserted.

I'm wondering if there are alternatives. For example, some INJECTABLE
polymer or something, which could be inserted into holes drilled in the
wall, which would fill up any gaps in the studs and strengthen them?

Surely there are solutions none of us have thought of which would prevent
having to take apart the carpet and baseboards etc.

Thanks!

"StarMan" wrote in message
...
If one is working on a wall where there may be some past termite damage
(now
certainly gone), there is a somewhat "cracking" sound when pounding the
drywall, is there any way to reinforce the studs without having to remove
all the drywall from the walls in question?

In the house in question, the carpet, baseboards and the room itself is in
good enough shape as to not need work, so to re-do all the drywall would
be
a massive effort and expense. The state of the studs is unknown, but
surely
there's some damage. In a few years, no structural damage was noticed.

The fear is that being a corner room, if the studs are compromised,
eventually the structure could be damaged. Removing the drywall would
allow
new PT or metal studs to be inserted.

I'm wondering if there are alternatives. For example, some INJECTABLE
polymer or something, which could be inserted into holes drilled in the
wall, which would fill up any gaps in the studs and strengthen them?

Surely there are solutions none of us have thought of which would prevent
having to take apart the carpet and baseboards etc.

Thanks!


Hypothetically speaking, if you *did* decide to remove all the drywall and
work on the studs, would you be doing the work, or would you hire someone?

On Oct 25, 5:10 pm, "StarMan" wrote:

The fear is that being a corner room, if the studs are compromised,
eventually the structure could be damaged. Removing the drywall would allow
new PT or metal studs to be inserted.

I'm wondering if there are alternatives. For example, some INJECTABLE
polymer or something, which could be inserted into holes drilled in the
wall, which would fill up any gaps in the studs and strengthen them?


Drywall is cheap. If there was some type of structural compound that
could be pumped into a wall, surely it would cost a lot more than re-
drywalling the room. Besides, if it's an exterior wall then it should
already be filled with insulation.

On Oct 25, 5:10 pm, "StarMan" wrote:
If one is working on a wall where there may be some past termite damage (now
certainly gone), there is a somewhat "cracking" sound when pounding the
drywall, is there any way to reinforce the studs without having to remove
all the drywall from the walls in question?

In the house in question, the carpet, baseboards and the room itself is in
good enough shape as to not need work, so to re-do all the drywall would be
a massive effort and expense. The state of the studs is unknown, but surely
there's some damage. In a few years, no structural damage was noticed.


Put on a dust mask and start tearing the drywall off. It's not that
bad a job, drywall is cheap, and you might be surprised at what you
find inside. I was in a similar situation with an old house once and
when I took off the drywall there were a couple of studs that were
completely destroyed. The only way you can be sure is by removing the
drywall.


GoodLuck,

Jim

" wrote:

Put on a dust mask and start tearing the drywall off. It's not that
bad a job, drywall is cheap, and you might be surprised at what you
find inside. I was in a similar situation with an old house once and
when I took off the drywall there were a couple of studs that were
completely destroyed. The only way you can be sure is by removing the
drywall.

I agree. I _hate_ working with drywall for the dust & weight, but it isn't hard
or expensive for a single room. My issues is I always screw up the textured
finish so it never quite matches the rest of the room.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

"Rick Blaine" wrote in message
...
" wrote:

Put on a dust mask and start tearing the drywall off. It's not that
bad a job, drywall is cheap, and you might be surprised at what you
find inside. I was in a similar situation with an old house once and
when I took off the drywall there were a couple of studs that were
completely destroyed. The only way you can be sure is by removing the
drywall.

I agree. I _hate_ working with drywall for the dust & weight, but it isn't
hard
or expensive for a single room. My issues is I always screw up the
textured
finish so it never quite matches the rest of the room.

Textured finishes seem to be a localized feature, especially in the
south-west as far as I can tell. In my area of North America it is never
done. So it may not be a problem for the OP.

On Oct 25, 6:57 pm, Rick Blaine wrote:
" wrote:
Put on a dust mask and start tearing the drywall off. It's not that
bad a job, drywall is cheap, and you might be surprised at what you
find inside. I was in a similar situation with an old house once and
when I took off the drywall there were a couple of studs that were
completely destroyed. The only way you can be sure is by removing the
drywall.

I agree. I _hate_ working with drywall for the dust & weight, but it isn't hard
or expensive for a single room. My issues is I always screw up the textured
finish so it never quite matches the rest of the room.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

I think a point that a couple of you may have missed is that it's not
the drywall that the OP is concerned with, it's the baseboard and
carpet. In other words, to remove the drywall would mean removing the
baseboard which in turn might impact the carpet installation.

That said, I agree that proper inspection and repair of the studs is
not possible without removing the drywall, regardless of how much
downstream work this causes.

Unless of course he wants to try it from the outside. ;-)

In article . com,
DerbyDad03 wrote:

That said, I agree that proper inspection and repair of the studs is
not possible without removing the drywall, regardless of how much
downstream work this causes.

Unless of course he wants to try it from the outside. ;-)

A few small holes and a fiber optic device might do as well. Don't
know about the expense of renting one. Is that viable or have I watched
one too many CSI's (g)?

DerbyDad03 wrote:

I think a point that a couple of you may have missed is that it's not
the drywall that the OP is concerned with, it's the baseboard and
carpet. In other words, to remove the drywall would mean removing the
baseboard which in turn might impact the carpet installation.


Yep, that's also a pain. But if you take it slowly and use a thin flat blade,
you should be able to remove the baseboards with damaging them. Be sure to score
the wall paint/baseboard seam with a razor first. The carpet shouldn't be a
problem as the tack strips are usually far enough away from the wall that you
have space to work.

That said, I agree that proper inspection and repair of the studs is
not possible without removing the drywall, regardless of how much
downstream work this causes.

'fraid so.

--
"Tell me what I should do, Annie."
"Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:15:12 -0600, Rick Blaine
wrote:

DerbyDad03 wrote:

I think a point that a couple of you may have missed is that it's not
the drywall that the OP is concerned with, it's the baseboard and
carpet. In other words, to remove the drywall would mean removing the
baseboard which in turn might impact the carpet installation.


Yep, that's also a pain. But if you take it slowly and use a thin flat blade,
you should be able to remove the baseboards with damaging them. Be sure to score
the wall paint/baseboard seam with a razor first. The carpet shouldn't be a
problem as the tack strips are usually far enough away from the wall that you
have space to work.

That said, I agree that proper inspection and repair of the studs is
not possible without removing the drywall, regardless of how much
downstream work this causes.

'fraid so.

Unless he's worried about the expense or matching the baseboard that
remains, it's not a hard job to replace baseboard. Usually a crow bar
is used to remove it. And the tack strip is usually about 1.5 to 2
inches away from the baseboard so it shouldn't need to be replaced and
the carpet can just be pulled off and put back on when all is
finished.

I agree with the rest that pulling the sheetrock is the best method
for fixing the studs. Like another poster, if the wall is textured,
matching it to the existing might be the biggest problem in my opinion
(well at least for me it would be).

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:10:36 -0500, "StarMan"
wrote:

If one is working on a wall where there may be some past termite damage (now
certainly gone), there is a somewhat "cracking" sound when pounding the
drywall, is there any way to reinforce the studs without having to remove
all the drywall from the walls in question?

In the house in question, the carpet, baseboards and the room itself is in
good enough shape as to not need work, so to re-do all the drywall would be
a massive effort and expense. The state of the studs is unknown, but surely
there's some damage. In a few years, no structural damage was noticed.

The fear is that being a corner room, if the studs are compromised,
eventually the structure could be damaged. Removing the drywall would allow
new PT or metal studs to be inserted.

I'm wondering if there are alternatives. For example, some INJECTABLE
polymer or something, which could be inserted into holes drilled in the
wall, which would fill up any gaps in the studs and strengthen them?

Surely there are solutions none of us have thought of which would prevent
having to take apart the carpet and baseboards etc.

Thanks!


Making a few holes for inspection, or removing a strip of drywall that
crosses all the questionable studs should allow you to see how bad it
is. If you find a bad stud you may be able to sister a new stud to it
in pieces small enough to fit through the hole.

No info?


"StarMan" wrote in message
...
If one is working on a wall where there may be some past termite damage
(now
certainly gone), there is a somewhat "cracking" sound when pounding the
drywall, is there any way to reinforce the studs without having to remove
all the drywall from the walls in question?

In the house in question, the carpet, baseboards and the room itself is in
good enough shape as to not need work, so to re-do all the drywall would
be
a massive effort and expense. The state of the studs is unknown, but
surely
there's some damage. In a few years, no structural damage was noticed.

The fear is that being a corner room, if the studs are compromised,
eventually the structure could be damaged. Removing the drywall would
allow
new PT or metal studs to be inserted.

I'm wondering if there are alternatives. For example, some INJECTABLE
polymer or something, which could be inserted into holes drilled in the
wall, which would fill up any gaps in the studs and strengthen them?

Surely there are solutions none of us have thought of which would prevent
having to take apart the carpet and baseboards etc.

Thanks!

On Nov 3, 5:22 pm, "StarMan" wrote:
No info?

"StarMan" wrote in message

...



If one is working on a wall where there may be some past termite damage
(now
certainly gone), there is a somewhat "cracking" sound when pounding the
drywall, is there any way to reinforce the studs without having to remove
all the drywall from the walls in question?

In the house in question, the carpet, baseboards and the room itself is in
good enough shape as to not need work, so to re-do all the drywall would
be
a massive effort and expense. The state of the studs is unknown, but
surely
there's some damage. In a few years, no structural damage was noticed.

The fear is that being a corner room, if the studs are compromised,
eventually the structure could be damaged. Removing the drywall would
allow
new PT or metal studs to be inserted.

I'm wondering if there are alternatives. For example, some INJECTABLE
polymer or something, which could be inserted into holes drilled in the
wall, which would fill up any gaps in the studs and strengthen them?

Surely there are solutions none of us have thought of which would prevent
having to take apart the carpet and baseboards etc.

Thanks!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

What do you mean"no info"?

There's been 11 responses and just about all of them say pull the
drywall.

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message

What do you mean"no info"?

There's been 11 responses and just about all of them say pull the
drywall.

I think he's still waiting for a reply on how to be lazy and do a half assed
job. The replies so far were all how to do it the right way.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
et...

I think he's still waiting for a reply on how to be lazy and do a half
assed
job. The replies so far were all how to do it the right way.

No, I've seen *NO* responses until today, just yours and the one other.

Lazy? Hardly. Just looking for a way to save a ton of time when it's not
necessary. It's best to explore unconventional options.

"StarMan" wrote in message
No, I've seen *NO* responses until today, just yours and the one other.

Lazy? Hardly. Just looking for a way to save a ton of time when it's not
necessary. It's best to explore unconventional options.

Cutting it above the baseboard, as you inquired, is the lazy way. In the
long run, it will make more work. To summarize the previous posts, you must
remove the drywall to assess and properly repair the damage.

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
ps.com...

What do you mean"no info"?

There's been 11 responses and just about all of them say pull the
drywall.

Really???

I've seen no responses until today, until yours. I didn't check for a week
and was surprised to see nothing.

I wonder how well it would do to cut the drywall ABOVE the baseboard.