Hi everyone – nice to see you again after what feels like forever! If you’re new to hanging around with me, my name is Michelle and while a healthcare consultant during the week, I am a fearless DIY Weekend Warrior on my off time. Each spring and fall I like to participate in a little big challenge called the One Room Challenge (ORC). The ORC Fall 2022 round will be my fifth round – mostly because I never finished the ORC Fall 2021 round. Originally, I was going to tackle two projects – my daughter’s fairy tale bedroom and her playset. However, this week changed everything. Read on to discover the carnage.

Catch up on the plan for this room:

Week 1 | Week 2 & 3

The Fairy Tale Bedroom Begins

It started innocently enough. It started the way most of my room renovations started – with ripping out the disgusting flooring. Emily was 100% in on this part of the project and wouldn’t let me even work on it without her at first!

We first took off the baseboards with a pry bar and then easily peeled the carpet off of the tack strips that line the room’s edges. Once we tossed the carpet and padding out the window, we took a nice look at the sub-floor. That is when the real fun began.

Dramatic Findings

One of the least fun things to find when you take up flooring has got to be water damage.

Of course, I ask my mom to show my dad the video and I already knew what was coming – discovery phase.

Discovery

Discovery is just what it sounds like – you start to dig into the problem to discover the full extent of it. I’ve done this a few times in houses I didn’t live in, but never in my own home. I was terrified. I started ripping drywall off.

From there, I could tell that this was likely a leak that had happened (or is currently happening) along the roofline where it meets the chimney. If the flashing was messed up or installed incorrectly, water can seep between the chimney and the exterior wall. It totally did.

I got in past the insulation… looked at the studs… and saw they too were rotten to the core.

Sometimes All You Need is a Bigger Hammer

I’ll tell you what – if you have some underlying rage or frustration, sledgehammers are a solid option.

Anxiety inducing to use in your own home? Absolutely.

Completely satisfying and worth it? 100%!

It is especially worth it to know that you are improving the living conditions of your daughter’s room. I removed mold spores from the wall, cleared out a stink bug colony that had taken up residence, reinforced the rotten structural components and fixed an underlying issue that could have resulted in far worse damage left to its own devices.

I left the previous studs in place overnight to support the wall, but immediately the next morning I headed to Lowe’s (for the fourth time in two days) to pick up fresh studs and plywood sheathing.

You can’t have a fairy tale bedroom without a wall, so I needed to build one.

Building the Wall Insert

So, typically the exterior plywood sheathing is repaired and installed from the outside. However, I was not about to dismantle my chimney brick by brick. So, I decided to cut back to the fresh plywood sheathing and install a new sheet along with the studs. The sheathing needed to be attached to the studs, so I would have to build it as a single unit.

I knew I wanted the studs 16 inches apart on the center, so that leaves the spacing between at 14.5″. To maintain that spacing and keep everything square, I blocked with 14.5″ sections. What I ended up with were three 2×4 studs attached together with blocking 2x4s. They were all cut to length so they could slide right in under the top and bottom plates.

Then, I moved to the sheathing. I had cut a section that was 48″ wide, and the sheet I had purchased was 48″ w by 96″ tall. However, in order for it to slide right behind the bottom plate (bottom 2×4 that holds the studs) and underneath the top plate, I needed to trim it to 93″. I measured several times, cut it to length and pre-placed it to make sure it fit. Every board and every panel was pre-placed to ensure that it would fit as one unit into that space.

I measured from each of the existing studs to determine the placement on the new piece of sheathing. It was pretty precise measuring. With the studs aligned on the left and right and flush with the top of the new piece of sheathing, I temporarily attached them to the sheathing with a few all-purpose construction screws. That way, I could lean the entire piece up against a wall and screw it in securely through the sheathing and into the new studs.

Finally, it was time to place this massive wall piece! Solo, this was a trip. But, I managed to get it in place, snug behind the bottom plate and flush with the top plate. A few solid hammer whacks (and choice language spells) later, I had my new wall!

See? Sometimes you just need a bigger hammer.

Updates to the Fairy Tale Bedroom Plan

Originally, I was going to try to tackle her playset as well, but this room turned into a monster on me. So, we’ll stick to one project for now! The new scope creep for sure set us some new goals for our room plan, though.

  • Order light fixture
  • Order or get sponsored flooring (Oh my gosh remember when Lowe’s tried to tell me someone else picked my floors up? WTH)
  • Order or get sponsored wallpaper Exciting announcement coming for this one!
  • Rip up flooring
  • Demolish drywall
  • Bust down the studs
  • Install new plywood sheathing and new exterior wall studs
  • Check roof for leaks
  • Install New Flooring
  • Wallpaper walls
  • Install new baseboards/crown
  • Install new light fixture
  • Install accent trim (maybe)
  • Fun closet surprise (maybe)
  • Thrift dresser on Facebook Marketplace
  • Upcycle said dresser from Facebook Marketplace
  • DIY Halo Canopy
  • Decorate
  • Stage
  • Photos

Wow, if you look at my crossed off items, it’s really coming along isn’t it? Ha!

Find me on Instagram for live updates!

One Room Challenge
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