Don't touch the molding!
One of the great things about living in an old home is all the lovely architectural details. One of the worst things about living in an old home is all those same lovely architectural details — at least when you want to make a change to the floor plan.
My family and I have been wanting to add another bedroom to our pre-war apartment (not an impossible thing considering the lengthy living room), but co-op laws and our own reluctance to do any damage to the molding had put our plans on hold for many months. Finally, my dad found a contractor who assured us he could do the work without harming our walls. I was a bit skeptical (particularly considering some of my dad's past judgment calls on contractors), which is why I was so pleased to come home from work on Monday to find this nifty, stacked frame leaving all the molding (and cable lines) free from nails and direct contact. See after the jump for more photos of the modified structure and it's new French doors.
Posted by Natalie Rodriguez | Categories: Quick Fixes & Tips | Permalink
(4) Comments
Hope those studs on the side go into something solid. Other than that it looks good. I like the idea of the french doors to keep the room looking open, although who ever is in the bedroom will have to make sure to keep it clean :-/
i can't believe that anyone would think that this is anything close to being a good framing job.
You know I have to agree w/ fronbo that this has got to be the worst framing job ever. All you have to do is either put a sleeper on the wall to accomodate your crown/trim or just build the wall under a joist above and use drywall scribe around the trim. Your contractor should fired for this framing.
"Your contractor should fired for this framing"
Why??
This framing job will do exactly what it's intended to do. Hold drywall, support the doors, and not damage the molding. It's framing not a piece of art.
That actually looks like a pretty elegant solution to me. That looks like a 9' ceiling. Because he extended the 'header' he was able to do the whole thing with 8' studs, and all those built up pieces around the crown are just scrap.