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Developing A Project Plan

This is an excerpt from the Book called “Interior Walls, Framing, Drywalling, Trimming” by Des Moines, Lowa. Continue reading to learn more about Developing A Project Plan, thanks to the author.

Remodeling a house, or even just a room within a house, disrupts daily home life and requires hard work and money, making it well worth the time it takes to plan the project before you begin. A good plan reveals problems before they happen and suggests solutions that might not have occurred to you otherwise. 

The first part of developing a remodeling plan is to put together a program. 

A program is a list of the results you would like to accomplish by remodeling. Try to be as objective as you can when working on the program. If you start out listing “more closet space,” you are likely to be locked into developing a plan for closets.

If, however, you list “more storage space,” you may discover a better, more workable solution than an additional closet provides. 

Once you have your program, draw a floor plan of the existing space and make copies of it using tracing paper overlays. Sketch in ideas that accomplish the goals defined in your program. Draw each idea on a different copy of the floor plan to compare or combine them. 

When To Involve The Building Inspector 

Almost every community has some kind of building code: a set of rules that spell out who can build what in a house, and what standards a construction job must meet. While the requirements can seem a nuisance, building codes are worthwhile-they protect everyone from shoddy work and potentially dangerous construction practices. 

When To Involve The Building Inspector 
When To Involve The Building Inspector 

Rules vary from community to community. In some areas, for example, anyone can do electrical wiring, as long as it is inspected.  In other areas, inspections are only required for jobs costing more than a certain amount. Some areas allow you to do your own work; others require a licensed electrician. 

To stay on the right side of the law, the best thing to do is to call your local zoning or code enforcement office. Find out exactly what is allowed in your community and what you must do to comply. You may even want to set up an appointment to talk with a building inspector about your project. 

If you do meet with an inspector, wake up a list of questions to ask ahead of time. While most inspectors are happy to point you in the right direction, they are busy and will appreciate it if you have thought out what you need to know ahead of time.  Key questions to ask are: 

  • Do I need a permit to build the project I have in mind? 
  • What information will I need to provide to apply for the permit? 
  • If I need to supply drawings, do they need to be signed by an engineer or architect? 
  • What inspections will I need? 
  • How do I arrange for an inspection? 
  • Is there anything I am forgetting to ask? 
  1. Start by drawing a floor plan of the existing space on graph paper.  Most of the time, a scale of ¼ inch to 1 foot allows plenty of detail without being so big that you need a large piece of paper.  Show all the walls, doorways, and windows.
  2. Once you have completed your floor plan, make tracing paper overlays to test out possible designs. Avoid erasing-if you make a mistake or if you don’t like the way something looks, just make another overlay.
  3. When you are happy with your new floor plan, make a scale elevation of the new design. An elevation is a view of a wall’s face. The same ¼-inch-to-1-foot scale works well here.
  4. Create an overlay for the elevation drawing. On it show the framing that you will be doing and include the critical dimensions of the new design.  If there are problems or special circumstances, note them in the margins.
  5. Use your framing diagram to make up a materials list. Keep in mind the bottom plate of a wall runs the length of the wall even if you plan to include doors. You’ll cut the part that runs across the doorway after the wall is in place.

Thinking About Light And Traffic 

Any time you build new walls, whether to divide an open basement into rooms or to rearrange other living spaces, you alter the dynamic within your home. Some changes are obvious-you now have an office instead of a desk tucked away in a corner. Others are much subtler-the basement is now a lot darker because the only window is in the new office. 

Subtle changes can be tough to predict, and therefore, hard to plan around. But there are two that you specifically need to consider: how your alterations will affect traffic flow.

Thinking About Light And Traffic 
Thinking About Light And Traffic 

As you plan, sit in the space at different times of the day and note how light enters the room. Perhaps your plan to divide a room allows plenty of windows in both new spaces, but are you blocking morning sun from the new breakfast nook? What can you do to keep the alteration from having a negative impact on the space?  Can you add interior windows or a half-wall partition that lets the light continue to penetrate deeply into the space?  Filling the top half of the wall with glass blocks is an effective way to create privacy without blocking light. 

Traffic is the other issue that deserves serious consideration. Will your proposed change redirect traffic through your house?  Will the kitchen suddenly become the preferred thoroughfare to the back door? It may be worth marking off the proposed spaces with tape, or even cardboard, to try out various arrangements before settling on the final plan. 

Is This Wall Structural? 

As you plan a remodeling job, you’ll begin to see your house in a new light. Things that appeared permanent before-walls, for example-may not seem that way anymore. You will soon realize that almost any alteration is possible, if you are willing to do the work and bear the expense.  Before you get carried away and start knocking down walls, however, you need to understand that there are two kinds of walls in a house: bearing and nonbearing (or partition) walls. 

Bearing walls help carry the weight of the building and its contents to the ground. Partition walls simply divide up the space.  It is far easier to remove or relocate a partition wall than it is to do the same to a bearing wall. In many cases you may want to rethink your project before deciding to remove or modify a bearing wall. 

How To Spot The Difference 

The next step in planning is to determine whether an interior wall is a bearing wall. This book deals only with interior remodelling, so discussion is limited to interior walls. 

If the wall runs parallel to the ceiling and floor joists, it is probably not a bearing wall. Short closet walls, for example, usually are not bearing. If the wall runs perpendicular to the ceiling and floor joists, there is a good chance that is a bearing wall. 

How can you tell which way the joists run?  Most of the time joists run perpendicular to the roof’s ridgeline. If the wall is under an attic, go up there and see if the joists cross over the wall. If joists end on top of a wall, you know for sure it’s a bearing wall. If the attic has floorboards, they run across the joists, and you’ll see the lines of nails where they are fastened to the joists.  If your roof is supported by trusses, the answer is simpler. Trusses have diagonal pieces that run from the attic floor to ceiling. They transfer the weight of the roof only to the outside walls, so all the interior walls in the story directly below are probably partition walls. 

If you can’t check above, check below.  Is there a wall directly under the one you want to remove or modify? If there is, they are probably both bearing walls. If there is a basement or crawlspace below the wall you want change, go there and see if a beam supported by posts or piers is directly under the wall. If so, you can assume the wall above is bearing. 

 If you still have doubts, hire a carpenter or a structural engineer to help you.

What’s In The Wall? 

When you start thinking about modifying existing walls, you need to consider what runs through their bays. The walls in most houses are strung with a network of wires, pipes, and ductwork for the various utility systems.  If you decide to move or get rid of a wall, you must deal with the utilities it contains. 

At the very least, a wall contains some electrical wiring.  You’ll see evidence of it on the surface in the form of receptacles or switches.  Wiring is easier to reroute than other utility systems.

modifying existing walls
modifying existing walls

As for plumbing and ductwork, the best way to determine if the wall contains one or the other is to get underneath the house in a basement or crawlspace and see what goes up into the wall. These utilities seldom run horizontally through a wall, so if you don’t see anything running up into the wall from underneath, there’s probably no plumbing or ductwork n the wall. Note likely utility locations on your plan. 

Once you have an idea of what you are up against, call the appropriate trade professionals and explain the situation to them. Tell them what you are doing and ask at what point they want to come and remove, reroute, or add to the system.  Most will want you to notify them when the wall is stripped of its covering, so they can come in and get right to work. 

Electrical wiring is found in most walls. Most receptacles are wired in conjunction with receptacles on other walls, so changing the wiring may be more involved than it first appears. Check both sides of a wall and neighboring walls. 

Plumbing also can be part of a wall modification. If there is a bathroom or kitchen directly above (and sometimes below) the wall you intend to work on, you will probably find pipes in that wall. 

Heating and air-conditioning ductwork is difficult to trace. Often second floor vent lines and return air lines pass through stud bays but are difficult to spot from underneath because other ducts block them from view. 

Drain-waste-vent lines can be trickier to locate than plumbing supply lines; they take less direct routes. Besides being much larger than supply lines, drain lines often run from the basement through the roof, requiring extensive work to reroute. 

Developing A Project Plan
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