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Kitchen wall framing

liam | Posted in Construction Techniques on July 5, 2010 10:13am

I need to frame out all 4 kitchen walls in a house that is built of brick over tile. The wall was constructed of vertical furring strips over horizontal nailer let into the joints between the tile. Lath and plaster over that. The wall are out of square and plumb that was made up by the plaster by varying the thickness where necessary. These horizontal nailers are in bad shape. I would like to just build a wall inside of he brick and tile wall and forget the furring and the nailers, but here is the problem. The room is only 11 feet square give or take an inch or two. Rather small for kitchen. There is no room to expand without major changes in structure. I have had an engineer look at it and he agrees that the best thing is to leave this footprint alone and work with what I have.  My question is how can I frame this out strong enough for drywall and kitchen cabinets, and not lose valuable floor space as conventional 2×4 and drywall would do. I am thinking that by the time I get all the walls up I will not have room for the cabinets! Space is precious in this situation.  What do you think are  any alternative methods that save me as much space as I can get.  Thanks   Liam

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  1. DanH | Jul 05, 2010 10:29am | #1

    I would think about using some sort of mechanical fastener between the wall and your furring, some sort of bolt thingie that can be adjusted to produce a flat surface.  (But of course you should also add separate anchors for the cabinets).

    And I'd look into some sort of metal furring.

    1. liam | Jul 05, 2010 10:39am | #2

      Your saying

      I have looked into several metal anchors but the walls are so out of plumb and square that I could not find a suitable way to adjust the furring as you suggested. I never thought about using anchors on the cabinets.  I will certainly explore this again. The metal "hat channels"  or ? may be an option but again it is the alignment issue.  The tile seems not to want the anchors. Has anyone got experience with  "snap toggles" I see them used in commercial settings.  Thanks Liam

      1. calvin | Jul 05, 2010 12:08pm | #4

        Toggler by Hilti.

        You drill for the anchor, slide the retaining plastic thing back, tite and flush to the wall-No you have a removeable toggle screw for your cab placement.

        I'm not sure the wall thickness they go to, but from memory-pretty substantial.  Adjust screw length.

      2. DanH | Jul 05, 2010 12:12pm | #5

        You could possibly use glue-on anchors for some of this.  I've seen them used for suspended ceilings -- a stud of some sort welded to a perforated metal plate that's glued to the wall.

  2. calvin | Jul 05, 2010 12:06pm | #3

    Is the electric and plumbing in place?

    If so, why not add furring where the cabinets need it for anchoring.  Get extended ends on cabs that quit in a run.  Or get skins that do the same.  Thus the cabs are 3/4" out beyond the existing plaster-but you're covering that gap.  Slightly deeper counters will make up the top space.  You can place shims on the furring to bring them into the proper plane.

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