Drywall – Should I remove existing drywall before framing a wall around HVAC ducts

drywallhvacwalls

My friend has soft AC ductwork running up an interior wall. He wants to build a wall around it to hide the ductwork. My idea is to pack out the wall by nailing in framing between the ductwork right to the existing framing. My question is, do I need to remove the drywall to pack out the framing, or can I just nail 2x4s to the existing framing through the drywall? I would then drywall over the new 2x4s to hide the ductwork and go from there. I am certain it would be solid, I just want to be sure.

Best Answer

It doesn't really matter either way. You'll have to do the same work to finish the drywall in either case.

If it's an exterior (insulated) wall, then cutting the drywall without damaging the vapour barrier is a bit tricky. I usually try to avoid cutting exterior walls for this reason alone.

Benefits to cutting the drywall:

  • If it's an interior wall, you might be able to put the duct work back into the wall cavity a bit deeper (or even entirely -- I don't know the entire situation). At the least this might help to have the bulkhead protrude out into the room a bit less.
  • You can be 100% sure about attaching to existing framing. This isn't hard anyway, but opening makes it a bit easier.
  • You can add cross-members for support if necessary, such as if the edge of the new bulkhead doesn't line up with the studs.

So unless you have a compelling reason (mostly one of the above), I wouldn't bother cutting existing drywall.

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