Move Diagonal Wall

[Katie]

I am seriously considering "straightening" out the kitchen wall. It is the goofiest design I have ever seen: diagonal with two angles.
One end of the kitchen is very narrow, and the wall ends up right at the marriage joint making the whole kitchen into a large, deformed "V" shape. It is awkward, ugly and has a "bad feel" to it.
I wonder how it would be to take out the kinks in the wall, and have it just go straight next to the marriage joint... it would also make the living room (on the other side) look better, instead of this crazy diagonal which gives a bad optical illusion, plus I am sure creates negative "feng shui".
I have a handyman who said it isnt that bad of a job, but I would love to hear from any of you out there who may have some thoughts.
I may add that we had to rip the cabinets out anyhow because of a hole in the floor that the fridge is about to slide (eggageration) into, due to a leaky icemaker in the past.... (the former owners let everything leak that was possible to leak) and it (bad floor) may also extend under the wall into the LR.
OK, long enough explanation... thanks for reading..

Katie

[Jim from Canada]

In my place, walls are pretty easy to take out. It should not be too hard of a job. Probably easiest to remove the whole wall and rebuild from scratch. If there is electricity/plumbing in the wall you are removing you need a permit. Unless you are experienced with electrical a pro is advised. When you put the new wall up, use standard framing practice. As you have a double wide, you will have to figure out if the wall is supprting anything, temporary bracing might be required. A picture would help to cover all the bases.

Jim

[Yanita]

Hi,

LOL, I can totally relate to what you are saying, I think I have the same wall or very similar. About the only other thing I could add to Jim's good info is consider how you are going to fix/repair your ceiling.

Yanita

[Greg]

You will also need to paint the WHOLE ceiling, trust me on this. Greg

[Katie]

This is a saga. I painted the ceiling so awesomely (just the way I learned on this site...) already, at the first, when we weren't planning on moving any walls or redoing cabinets.... it is a real nice cream-colored semigloss....looks lovely. At that time I had to repair what was left after a botched wiring job where someone in the past hung a fan from the middle with a couple of screws and an extension cord stapled along the ceiling from the light fixture........(there was also something like that in the bathroom)...and I masterfully patched up that mess and even the handyguy couldn't tell were the "contraption" used to be.....
the way I see it, if we deal carefuly as we take out the wall, it wont be too bad, the main patch will be where the tube comes down to the vent over the range....... but I am planning on doing some fancy "etching" in plaster once I get to that point, or maybe I will string an extension cord over from the light fixture and screw up a ceiling fan over the hole! LOL.
No, seriously, I have considered that I will have to patch. (AND paint) I will probably ask for ideas once I get to that point.... or I will do it like how I learned to patch a large hole in plasterboard.... but its hard to describe w/out a picture....
anyhow, I started removing some of the paneling from the wall yesterday and it gave me a feeling of great power.... I love ripping out stuff. You may laugh to know that the dismantled upper cabinets from the offending wall fit neatly into one medium-sized trash can.... such junk! My next door neighbor, Harry, came over and gazed with awe.... he has a diagonal wall too, and wants to see how mine turns out....
thanks for you all's input.... it helps and it especially helps me to feel I have some company in all this craziness. Who would have thought we'd be fixing up these things......

[mokehillannie]

I have a diagonal wall in mine too. I can't imagine what they were thinking. It wastes space and looks so dumb!!

It is coming out!! We are taking out the dropped ceiling in the kitchen too. It serves no purpose other than to provide a place to put the florescent lights. They are coming out. The whole thing was sagging anyway. Sawsalls are wonderful things.

[Nichodemus]

Just wanted to chime in with a "me too" on the diagonal wall. We have one, and it separates the (now completely renovated) kitchen from the living room. We never did straighten ours when I redid the living room, but I did take out the fire place that was on the other side of it, the diagonal w/o fireplace actually made the living room seem much larger. But good luck with your repair, I'm sure it will be nice.

[Nichodemus]

...and I always figured I had the only diagonal wall, too! (Fuqua Homes, 1978 model!)

[NorthernLight]

*hand waving in the air* Oh! I have one of those too. We're trying to make the most of it. In our MH there's a cathedral ceiling from kitchen to living room...so right at the top of the diagonal wall is a large opening that allows quite a bit of light to come in from the living room. If we squint and stand on our heads long enough it almost looks good..lol.

[Katie]

Thanks to all of you for your comments.... I figure some genius ate some spicy food one night and it kept him up late and because he couldn't sleep he designed a diagonal wall to get revenge on the world in general.....
Our wall is still there. this project is moving slowly.... due to the need to constantly wait for another "payday". Also, we had a major plumbing backup, and an electrical issue.... and window issues... this seems to never end. It's kind of like the movie "Groundhog Day".
Handyguy is chomping the bit to do the kitchen. We better start it because I have already changed the color of my beadboard once, and it just may get changed again the longer I have to think about it!!!!!!!
By the way, there is some kind of hurricane headed toward Florida..... I sure hope it leaves me alone.... I had two new windows just installed!!!!!

Bye for now, Katie

[Yanita]

Hi Katie,

Thanks for the updates and be sure to post some pics when your project is completed.

I am going to lock this thread.

Yanita