# Removing ceiling drywall with partial blown in insulation



## Bshaf (Apr 20, 2017)

We have a cape cod. We had new blown in insulation done in the attic and the side knee wall "cubbies" in the roof. Had I thought about it, I'd have waited, but now we want to remove the old ceiling drywall in 2 rooms on the first floor (both of which sit under those side cubbies) and replace with tongue and groove. So for the length of the ceiling at the exterior wall, about 2' wide, there is blown in insulation above it, the rest is clear upstairs floor joists, no insulation. No access to the cubbies from upstairs since we just remodeled up there too. 

We can't put the new ceiling over the drywall. Our ceilings are just 6'10" as it is. They can't go shorter, my husband is 6' tall. We do not want to let this new insulation just fall through. We've talked about gently removing the drywall there section by section and inserting a thin board between the drywall and joists to try and save it. Any ideas?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Really need to install it over the drywall for a few reasons.
One to meet minimum fire codes, another is to stop heating and cooling loss through the T&G.
You can buy those board's as thin as 1/2" thick.


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## Bshaf (Apr 20, 2017)

Sorry I should have clarified, this tongue and groove is not lumber. It's Armstrong WoodHaven planks, which meet fire codes. If we place a thin board in between, that should cut off any air flow I would think. Thoughts?


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## Marky82 (Dec 17, 2015)

If you're insistent on removing the drywall you would either have to remove the insulation in the knee walls first or remove the drywall, let the insulation fall into the room and clean in up from there. Either way, it will be messy.

Why go through all the extra work removing the insulation in the knee walls, removing the drywall, putting up another substrate to act as an air barrier then reinsulating the knee walls? Is it really worth all that? Personally, unless your ceilings are very low, I would leave the drywall and put the tongue and groove over. It will be easier and cheaper.

Whatever you decide, good luck with the project!

//mark


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## dfphoto (Jan 18, 2011)

I second the above posters, I did the reverse of this job, meaning I had to add blown in insulation into a condo ceiling and it was the mess of all messes, on top of that, you'll then have a 2nd mess when you try to blow the insulation back in. You're looking at a week of clean up and that stuff is bad for everything. Good luck, don't forget you'll probably need to reinforce the ceiling to hold the extra weight (my guess I'm not a drywall person).


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