Tearing Out Walls In Your Home

By Author: Jason Delmar
Total Articles: 335
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As with any home improvement project, planning is the most important aspect to the project. A well thought out renovation or project can lead to less stress, fewer hours of work, and an easier time in general. Keeping to the plan and following guidelines that you set, can be easier said than done, but if your own rules are followed and you add in some of these useful tips, than a wall removal project can be easy and maybe even fun.

Having the right tools for the job, is one of the most important factors to a renovation project. If you do not want to make the big commitment of buying good tools, then the other option is to rent tools. Look online and see where the nearest tool rental store is located, you may be surprised to find that there are usually a few in each town or neighborhood of a city. Tools that you may need include: large iron pry bars, smaller crow bars, a flat pry bar (sometimes called a wonder bar), hammers (large and small), safety goggles (safety will be covered later in this article), heavy duty gloves, and maybe the most important item - the sledge hammer. So it is usually a good investment to ...
... buy these tools, especially if you plan on another renovation project anytime in your life, however, if this is a one time thing, then a tool rental store is the way to go.

Planning is the next step that should be undertaken. Estimate your time needed, get advice on how long this project should take, and plan from there. Keep in mind the clean up, random wires in the wall (this will add plenty of time to a wall removal project), random water lines or other pipes in the wall (again this will add time), and also any incidentals that could arise from this type of project. Always have a game plan and try to stay with it. Equally important is the safety aspect. Keep this in mind at all times, make sure you have heavy duty gloves, safety goggles, and ear protection. Make sure you are aware of what you are tearing out or knocking down - any extra precautions are always suggested for this type of work.

If there is a basement in the house, go into this area and look under the location of the tear out. From here you can see if there are water lines, random pipes or electric wires running into this wall. If nothing is there - you got an easy tear out, if not, make sure you allow time for some re-routing work.

Now that you're onto the actual physical part of tearing out the wall, the best way to start is the removal of the drywall or plaster. If you can strip the wooden studs down by removing the actual wall, this will make it easier to see what is inside of your wall. Using your tools should make it simple to knock out the drywall or plaster - then from that you can start using the heavy duty tools to actually knock out the studs. After this you're on to the clean up and small finishing details. If you can get to this point then you should be pretty much done the job -- which you set out to do. As always consult a professional if problems arise, but other than that a wall removal project should be a simple job.
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