Casework question

[RyFitz13]

Hey folks, it's been a long while since I've posted anything, and I could really use some advice.

I'm in the middle of a master bedroom renovation. The room was originally 2 rooms, some previous owner opened up the wall between the two (but didn't remove it). The remaining wall is well finished, looks plumb and square, so at least I've got a good basis to work from.

Now comes the question: I'd like to case in this opening in a style similar to the casework in the rest of the house. It's pretty close to a pair of closet doors, so I really need to keep the heights consistent or it'll look odd. So, I need to bring the height of the opening down by 6.5 inches. I'm trying to figure out how best to do so.

The surrounding wall is 5" thick - I'm assuming 2x4 framing with 3/4 drywall on each face. I need to build out something to fill a 6.5 inch gap - 6" might do as well. And that something will be completely encased by the casework around the passageway, so it doesn't need to be pretty, just functional.

So, do I:

1) Build out a 6" tall 2x4 frame, mount it, face it with 3/4" material on each side, then apply the casework to that? (Heck, I'd really only need the 3/4" material in those places where I'd physically attach the face frame/molding, and I've got plenty of scrap lying around, so this may be the cheapest method, I'm just not sure if it's the best...)

2) Rip down a couple 2/8's to 6" or 6.5", brace them along their length, and then mount them with their flat/wide sides facing outwards?

3) Some other, better idea that currently escapes me?

[Mr__Bill]

If the casing is going to completely cover whatever fills in the opening, then why fill it in. Why not just make up the casing and apply it?

Bill

[JimD]

A 5 inch thick wall is unusual. Much more typical is 4 1/2 inches. 2x4s are really 3 1/2 to 3 5/8 wide and usually you use 1/2 drywall. 5/8 drywall is pretty common but I have never seen 3/4 inch thick drywall.

You plan is fine, or you could just toe nail (or toe screw) a 2x4 across the opening at the right height, fasten another 2x4 at the top and then put plywood between the 2x4s. The plywood would be plenty to fasten trim to.

Jim

[Mr__Bill]

A 5 inch thick wall is unusual. Much more typical is 4 1/2 inches. 2x4s are really 3 1/2 to 3 5/8 wide and usually you use 1/2 drywall. 5/8 drywall is pretty common but I have never seen 3/4 inch thick drywall.
Jim

Not so unusual for where he is located. If the casing is going to cover a 6" opening then its very wide. The wall could be full 4" studs with lath and plaster on top or skimmed blue-board.

One thing to check is, did the original cutout have a proper header installed? If not you could fill the space with one.

Tell us more about the house and it's construction, inquiring minds want to know.

[RyFitz13]

Mr Bill, I think you're probably right on the money.

It's a relatively old house (built 1912) and I seem to come up against at least one odd thing with every project. I suspect that, on the wall in question, they tore off the plaster and lathe when they opened it up, did some framing mojo to create the opening, then drywalled it up (it's definitely drywall, I had to cut into it on one side to run a new cable connection and outlet box). I also suspect, based on the solid-ness of the wall above the opening, that there is a true header buried in that drywall, which I guess I can count as a bonus.

The house itself is rather interesting. We found original blueprints and type-written specifications up in the attic a couple years back - would you believe that a 4-bed, 1 1/2 bath, ~1900 sq ft house had only $18 budgeted for nails when it was constructed?

Let me see if I can't get a couple pictures into this post, so you can see what I'm working with:

Here's the bay window/window seat on the "bed" side of the bedroom. When this picture was taken, I was just prepping for paint:


Similar shot, post-wall paint. You can also get a glimpse of the opening I'm referring to in the original post:


Same shot again, with trim painted. I missed one piece (that's been fixed since!) of molding under the window seat, and I think we're going to go back and paint the window sills to match the other windows in the room, but still keeping the window seat natural:


Last up, a trio of shots of the room as it is right now. We finished ripping up the floor last night, and will be installing new this weekend (there just wasn't enough material left on one side of the room to get away with a sand/refinish - dang it!) The last of the three also includes the best/most complete picture of the opening I'm working on (Though it doesn't include the top. Shoot!).

[LarryG]

What the OP describes sounds like a "drywall opening" or "uncased opening." The beads used on the outside corners of these will build the wall out beyond the total thickness it "should" measure if you total up the thicknesses of the materials involved. Here in our building, I'm not sure whether they used 1/2" or 5/8" gypsum board over the 2x4 studs; probably 5/8". Based on that, the walls should theoretically measure 4-3/4". In reality the ends of our half-walls and uncased openings measure anywhere between 5" to 5-3/16", depending on location.

If that's the way this opening is, in fact, built, it might be advisable to remove the beads and get the wall back down to its true thickness. Depending on how far the drywall mud was feathered out, there could be a slight dish in the surface that could complicate casing out the opening. Apart from that, the first option described in the OP is how I would do it.

[cabinetman]

You've probably considered that in building down the opening may give a "closed in" look. That being said, this project is fairly basic. I would first use a finish nail and "test" the corners to see if a metal bead was used. If so, the beading should be removed. This will leave the corners rough. It's then you can see what comprises the thickness of the wall.

As for the build down, I would make it as a stand alone grid. If your height will be 6", a top and bottom plate 2x, and cripple studs 3" would comprise the grid. That would be installed in the opening. If you can't get 3/4" drywall, and if the studs are 3 1/2", and your finished width is 5", you could use 2 layers of 1/2" drywall on one side and one layer on the other. The existing wall at the ends would have to be scuffed flat. The joint should be feathered back on the walls to make it "seamless" and flat looking with no deviations.
.

[RyFitz13]

Ya know cabinetman, I stepped back from the idea last night, and asked my wife about it again. We both agreed, at that point, with an addage I've learned from some better IT trainers over the past couple years: "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." We're still going to case in the opening, but we're going to keep it at its current dimensions. It'll be a little different from the other doorways in the room, but it'll (we hope) help preserve the feeling of it being one room, and not two.

On a related note, my buddy just took off for the night after helping me work on installing the new floor. We got farther today than I'd expected - we should wrap up tomorrow pretty handily. Pictures may or may not follow, depending on interest. (The floor's a Bellawood prefinished golden teak - I think it looks awesome so far!)