When the builder takes a shortcut...

[Nestor]

In the movie "Hanna", there's a scene where jet airliner passes overhead of the girl. While having my audio set to -ahem- "reference" levels I encountered this scene and heard a startling flapping noise from one of my THT's.

At first, I thought I blew out a driver, but closer inspection revealed some loose drywall.






Being a split level house with an unfinished basement, I do have some access to this wall, so I headed down and discovered this:





I'm guessing the framer forgot to put in the corner stud before the electricians ran the wiring.

Should I notch the stud and tap it in straight, or should I knock out the drywall and re-do it?

 

[Pyrrho]

I would think that just straightening the stud would be fine, if the notch you need to create is not too big, and then attach the drywall to the stud. I would not bother putting in new drywall, though to make everything look right, you will unfortunately need to repaint your room regardless. If you have some leftover paint from before, you can just touch it up, or if it is in a room that most people do not go and if it does not look too bad after the repair is made, you can just leave it until you decide to repaint the house anyway.

The lesson to take away from this is to inspect the house a little better before buying in the future, though obviously you would have trouble finding such a careless mistake if the wall were finished on both sides. The house I am currently living in has enough stupid mistakes that it makes me glad I am renting rather than owning it. It is a great location, and the house should hold up for a few years, but it really is poorly made. Anyway, it is distressing that so many things are made as poorly as they are. I think sometimes contractors hire idiots because skilled workers cost more, so one ends up with a mess.

 

[Nestor]

FWIW, I did have it inspected prior to purchase, and besides a couple of minor issues, everything seems to be in order.

I probably would never have noticed the crooked corner stud had it not been for the unusual stresses placed by the corner-loaded sub.

The joys of unintended consequences.

One can usually get away with touch ups if the entire wall is painted.

I'm just wondering if additional drywall screws will hold, or if I'll need to redo the wall with construction adhesive.

 

[Pyrrho]

I think that additional drywall screws will hold, assuming that enough are used. I don't think a new piece of drywall is needed, as the old one looks to be basically okay (insofar as I can tell from the pictures, which obviously isn't the same as looking at the thing itself).

If you are concerned about it, you might also put in the adhesive at the time you straighten the stud, and immediately then use drywall screws before the adhesive sets.

 

[Nestor]

I think that additional drywall screws will hold, assuming that enough are used. I don't think a new piece of drywall is needed, as the old one looks to be basically okay (insofar as I can tell from the pictures, which obviously isn't the same as looking at the thing itself).

If you are concerned about it, you might also put in the adhesive at the time you straighten the stud, and immediately then use drywall screws before the adhesive sets.

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking too. Although moving the stud will tear up the drywall that screwed to it.

 

[Alex2507]

I don't think a new piece of drywall is needed, as the old one looks to be basically okay.

Agreed.

I can't tell what that stud is doing there, if anything but for heaven's sake don't be tearing the wall apart! If you need that stud for anything and you want to do it right: maybe you can drill a hole in the stud and reroute the wire through it by disconnecting it at an end. Maybe a Romex splice from Home Depot or as you said you can notch the stud and then sister it up with another stud notched the other way.

A bead of adhesive along the stud/drywall connections would work to stop the sheets from rattling against the studs. That's probably better than having to rescrew the whole wall. You can just sort of pound the wall with a closed fist and listen for rattles and sometimes you can see popped screws through the paint. Rescrew only where you have to in order to keep mud work to a minimum.

Is that one of those Danley subs? You may need a new house.

 

[Nestor]

The corner stud is backing for the drywall. Without it, there's nothing to drive the screws into.

I like the idea of the splice, provided it doesn't need overlapping wire. Failing that, you did give me the idea of just putting in two junction boxes on the unfinished side, since I have spare boxes and wire.

It's not a Danley, but it is a 36" THTLP.

One of two.

 

[ImcLoud]

I think you need a smaller sub, but seriously, give the builder a call and let him know about the issue, how long ago was the house built.. If thats not an option get a contractor over there to take a look.... Hard to tell whats going on from the pictures...

More importantly though, is that a piece of Cybex gym equipment, I have a Cybex hack squat in my gym and a good friend of mine has a Cybex Jungle gym in his house, their stuff is amazing but expensive, I think he paid $20K for his J-gym...

 

[Nestor]

I think you need a smaller sub, but seriously, give the builder a call and let him know about the issue, how long ago was the house built.. If thats not an option get a contractor over there to take a look.... Hard to tell whats going on from the pictures...

More importantly though, is that a piece of Cybex gym equipment, I have a Cybex hack squat in my gym and a good friend of mine has a Cybex Jungle gym in his house, their stuff is amazing but expensive, I think he paid $20K for his J-gym...

House is about 6 years old. I'd call and complain, but I doubt they'd do anything. I'm the second owner, too. I'm handy enough that I can fix it, so it's more of an annoyance than anything. Was looking for feedback from fellow audioholics who may have run into similar issues.

As for the weight equipment, that's probably the leg curl you're seeing. I have commercial equipment from my health club that I shut down a couple of years ago. I kept everything I could stuff down in to the basement.

 

[Actran]

Well.... my sub will shake pictures on the wall. So...yeah. *insert my jealousy here*<INSERT here jealosy my>

Did you say 36"? As in a 36" driver?

 

[Nestor]

Bill Fitzmaurice plans allow one to build to different widths. The "36" I refer to is the maximum width of this particular design.

The driver is a 15".