# The work begins



## scarymary (Apr 11, 2010)

As I stated in my first post on the site, my husband and I are taking on quite a project in the remodeling of our living room which was converted from a carport we believe. Our intent is to hang drywall around the entire room, and lay down laminate flooring. When the previous owners converted the carport, they hung that old yucky looking dark brown paneling. Having been a child of the 70s, and my parents having converted a garage into a living area with the same type of paneling, I hate that stuff. The room was also carpeted. We have several animals, carpet is not an option. So, on to the daunting task at hand. In the pictures you will see, you may not be able to determine that it was paneling as a few years ago I decided to mud the grooves in the paneling and paint the room. Big mistake. There was compound residue all over the place. It was awful. The room looked somewhat better, but I still wasn't happy. We have lived with for a few years, but it is time to do something better. The first dilemma we ran into after removing some of the paneling is two exterior brick walls which had furring strips attached to them with concrete nails. Not good. We also found that the previous owners removed one of the ventilation vents and created a new vent for the air/heat ductwork. I don't have a picture of that handy work yet, but I will get one. Wait until you see that one. It is horrendous. Any way, we spoke with someone who has built houses for a living, and he gave us a little guidance with our project. He says it is much better to frame and raise a wall than to attempt to hang drywall on those furring strips. I intend to agree with him. There are however a couple of issues with that.......we have two doorways along those walls, and it would change the entire depth of the framing for the doorways. I also believe that on one wall, we may possibly be able to hang drywall on the furring strips because they don't appear to be warped as much as the others along the long wall do. So here is a link to the pictures, and I hope someone here will be able to give us some much needed advice and support in this venture. Just want to know how someone else would approach this. Thanks ahead for any input.

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnails...otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/


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## scarymary (Apr 11, 2010)

Here is a sample picture of what we will be dealing with just so you can get the general scope of the project:










The door way in center of the picture is the doorway to the laundry room. There is another doorway adjacent to that door way that leads to the kitchen.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

If you can update your profile with your general location that will help people answer any specific questions


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