Hole in the wall

A while back when we were re-doing the door we removed an old window unit from the side of the house. This project was completed a couple of months ago so I apologize for the tardiness.

The first thing we had to fix after taking out the A/C were the two studs that had been cut out when it was installed. We cut two pieces of 2x4 and screwed wooden strips on the side so they could be attached to the existing studs.



We ended up enlarging the hole for two reasons. The first was just to clean up the edges so when we put the patch in the joints would be nicer. The second reason was to hide the vertical joints under the new slats of wood we were going to put on.



Here you can see the patch with the four new slats we put on. We ended up cutting our own slats because the 1x2's today are not as wide as the ones that are on the house.



Primed and ready.



It's not perfect but I think it turned out really well. Then again, anything is better than the old AC hanging out of the side of the house. Eventually we will replace all the siding with Hardy board but that is way down the road.



Patching the inside was pretty straight forward. We filled in the hole with some new insulation and then cut a piece of drywall to cover the hole.



The main issue we had with patching the inside was that the wall was warped. The weight of the AC had pulled the wall in above the hole and pushed the wall out below. Once we started to do the mudding we realized it was going to take a lot it to make the wall look smooth.

This is the only picture I took of this stage of the job. Once all the mudding was done the patch was about 3 times the size of what it looks like now.



Now that everything is sanded and painted you would never know there had been a giant hole in the wall. We are so happy to have this fixed. Now I don't have to explain to people what the box on the wall is anymore.



I took this shot because Hayward wanted to be on the blog again.



Be seeing you!