We want to convert this old nineties TV nook into custom built-ins.
And after today, there's no turning back
because I'm making a huge hole in my wall to prep for install.
Yeeeooww!
I'm Brad and Fix This Build That,
let's build something awesome.
I've actually got open shelving on both sides of the fireplace, but today
I'm just focused on this one over here.
I've got a special plan for this guy right there.
The old shelves and nook just look too small in this space.
So we want to make the built-ins
taller and wider so they will really fill out the wall.
And today, I'm going to be tearing out this nook and reframing it,
which is a little scary:
Woah!
*clunk*
Ow!
But, we'll figure it out.
I'm going to go ahead and remove all this stuff
so we can start tearing out these shelves and see what we're working with.
A couple years back, I did mount the TV on the fireplace
and I've got a full video showing you exactly how to do that.
A part of that project was bringing the power
from in the nook over to the fireplace.
And I used a little extension kit right here.
But now we're going to have to do is adjust where this is sitting
so that it will look good with the new built-ins
But right now, let's get started tearing it apart.
Here's all you need to really pull trim effectively.
A little box cutter to break the edge.
A small pry bar, a trim puller.
That's just a nice to have and a mallet to jam it in if it's really tight.
We'll just start with small stuff and work our way in.
You always want to score the caulk
or paint lines when you're removing trim so that it doesn't tear out the drywall.
Then you can just use your small pry bar and pull those apart.
But sometimes the trim can be pretty fragile and it might break on you.
Now, these little rosettes and the fluted trim here
might be the thing that I hate the most about this house.
These are hideous.
Not sad to see these go.
This trim puller comes in really handy when you're pulling baseboards.
You can just hammer that down in there and it gives you a nice wide surface
to pull off those baseboards, which can be tricky to do without snapping them.
I won't be reusing this trim because I need wider trim and I hate those flutes.
But if you have the nails in the back, a great way to take them out.
If you want to reuse them is to use some slip joint pliers.
Just grab right down
by the base of the nail, grab it tight, and then rock it back.
And that pulls out and it doesn't leave any damage on the front.
Versus if you try to knock it out from the back, you're going to blow out the front.
So great little tip is you're trying to reuse trim.
With all the trim off,
I can see that this is just drywall.
They've put that on a frame and I'm going to start ripping off all the drywall.
But it's already really dusty in here and we're in my family room,
so I want to keep the dust down as much as possible.
So I'm going to go ahead and vacuum everything up and keep vacuuming as I go.
I'm using the Milwaukee M18 Fuel six gallon vac
that I picked up from Home Depot, who's the sponsor of today's video.
It's pretty cool because it's a cordless wet/dry vac
so you can use it in an area if you had to remodel your house and shut
off power, or if you're on a jobsite that doesn't have power, or just outside.
Milwaukee also has a whole lineup of air tip accessories.
I'm using the two in one utility brush here,
but they've got a whole lineup for specific purposes.
And I'm going to be using another one that's really cool a little bit later on
if you want check out details on all these.
I've got links down below in the description for homedepot.com.
I've got all the drywall stripped off and you can see how they made these shelves.
It's just a two by six frame here on this side and then two by four
here down below.
Now, the funny thing is, is they've got six nails holding this thing
in on the side, six up, and yet in the middle,
none of these nails are actually even connected.
So, you know, six on the sides, you're in the center.
I guess it works out.
So I'm going to go ahead and pry these out or we'll see what we're left with.
When you're taking out the drywall, don't go all HGTV on it
and just hit it with a sledgehammer like they do on the shows.
What you want to do is find the screws
that are holding the drywall into the studs.
And you can do that using a magnet
and you just run it across the wall until it sticks.
Now you know where your screws are and you can expose those screws,
and then you can just back them out with a drill
, and then you can score the lines and take out the drywall
in big large sheets and not make a huge mess in your house.
With everything cleared out,
I can start the next phase, which is actually expanding this opening.
I want to make this
about a foot wider this way so that it'll be centered on the wall
having the same reveal over here as well as on this side.
I'm also going to make it about 12 inches taller,
so I'm going to have to move all of this framing up.
I'm not exactly sure how I want to tack this
as far as if I want to frame up first and then remove it or remove it
and then frame it because I'm going to try to keep the integrity of this drywall
as much as I can. But the nice thing is, none of this is structural.
This is my exterior wall here.
So I could take it all down if I wanted to, and then just build it back up.
And I don't have to worry about any of that.
So make sure if you're working with walls, they're not structural.
I'm going to go ahead
and lay out the new opening size and then just start working from there
and see how it goes.
I transferred the layout lines
from the front using a jam saw and poking that through on the line.
Then you can see on the inside exactly where your framing needs to go.
All right. I'll give you guys
a view of what's inside here so you can see what I'm doing.
That is the two by four I just removed.
But basically, the way they have this framed up is a little bottom plate here.
So these pieces were basically a or for the shelves that were there before.
So what I'm going to do now is come down in here and move this two
by four, which is holding up the drywall, 11 inches over there to the side .
And you can see in here, this is my fireplace insert.
This is just a gas burning fireplace.
And then you can see where the wires were that I ran for the TV earlier.
Get some electricity.
You won't have to deal with, too, but thankfully it comes up and goes
into the wall there and then comes down to these two outlets.
All right. I think we are finally to the spot
where I can start building it back up.
But let me show you what I've taken out
and where I'm going to go back in and have structured this opening
and it might help you out when you're opening up your wall.
All right. So here's the
new framing member here that moved over 11 inches and I removed all of this.
And if you track it and follow it up, this header still here,
it will come off when we take up the drywall.
And the OSB piece right there is where that top header
will stop and where the opening will begin.
So looking on the left side of the wall, here's where the OSB was cut
to the height of that opening.
So I'm going to do is run a little header that comes all the way across here,
across the top of the opening frame that out with a little supports in between.
And then we should begin to cut away the drywall.
And now we are finally ready
to remove the drywall and establish the new opening, which is awesome.
So get the new opening framed up behind here
and now I can just take a rotary tool with a drywall bit
and just zip all around there and pull it off.
But before I do that, I want to make sure that this drywall is securely attached.
So I'm going to run some screws
right along the outer side into the new framing that I just put in there.
Now, all the framing that I did put in
there was reused from all the things that I took down.
And I even pulled out the drywall screws and I'm going to reuse those in there.
So I have to go out and buy
any new material, save the trip, and, of course, save some money.
Let's get this in here.
So I've got a little drywall
built, chucked into my rotary tool, but I'm going to be making a huge mess.
You can see I have
a fitted sheet over the TV to try to keep some of that dust off it.
But this Milwaukee air tip accessory, I'm hoping is going to save the day.
This is their dust collector
and it's got a little opening on the back here and a funnel on the top
so I can hook this up to the vacuum and turn it on and then it will
hands free, stick to the wall and capture all the dust coming down.
At least that's the theory.
I'm going to use it
and hopefully it's going to cut down on a lot of the major dust.
There's going to be some airborne.
This is a really cool accessory if you hate dust like I do.
That was not quite going as planned.
I don't know if you saw it or not,
but that whole piece almost just crashed completely down.
Luckily it wedged itself in there, but using the rotary tool is a bit
too much for me.
I'm just going to go to a nice little jab sore to finish off the rest.
I think it'll capture a lot more dust
because the rotary tool to shoot it everywhere and it shoots it out the back.
So I'll use the air too, along with the jab sore.
And it should be a lot cleaner.
Right. Check this out.
This new opening is awesome.
We have extended it a foot in each direction,
so now we're five feet wide and just under eight feet tall.
So I can't even touch that up here.
Even though we didn't use Jack stones on the side, this framing is really stout
and I can easily put my full body weight.
I need to work out to three, so this is going to work really well.
And if you tie into the joist above like I did,
it's all the structure in the support that you're going to need.
Because when I put the built ins in there, just me resting on the floor
and this won't be carrying any weight whatsoever.
And now that we've got all of this exposed
and all of our drywall is out of the way, I can take out this little base set
setup that we had here for the shelving , as well as these bottom plates over here.
So I'm going to cut those with my tool and then just pull those out
and I'll make it completely clear so that when I do the base
for the built ins, that will fit right in there with no obstructions.
Wow. If there was any doubt,
these guys were for sure getting paid by the nail, I think.
Who did this to?
Four, six, eight, ten, 12 nails, 12
plus a screw for good measures and two on the back in a 12 inch board.
So, you know, if you can nail things down, we'll do it, right?
Now we truly have everything out.
And I got the floor all vacuumed up and it's clean and ready for install.
And this opening is looking great.
And I still have to deal with the electrical and the cable,
but I'm going to save that for the next video.
And next time we'll do the built ins and get them installed.
If you see me make and install the built ins,
I'll have that video cued up for you right there when it's available.
I want to give a big thank you to those folks
who have been joining the FTBT Builders Club.
And until next time, guys get out there and build something awesome.