Wall sheating

[upnorthguy]

I'm currently renovating my house, which I thought was built in the 40's. But after doing some remodeling I found some newspapers in the wall dating 1910.

The 2x4 studwalls are 24 oc. My question is - on the interior of the house they have some rough cut lumber on all of the walls 3/4'' thick and 4-8'' wide. This is the same material they as sheathing on the outside of the house. On the inside they used a "decorative wall board" which we found under some paneling and sheetrock. It was basically just a thin piece of cardboard with a design printed on it. And they blew insulation into the walls with my best guess sometime in the 40's when they added an addition on and resided the house.

Just curious if the rough cut lumber on the interior is anything I should leave up? I would like to take it down because the insulation has settled and there is cold spots. I have to rewire the house, and I'd rather do it with out having to try to keep the old insulation in tact. I would then sheet rock the walls. Anyone ever seen this rough cut lumber on the inside of a house before? Is it something I can take down? or will it effect the structural integrity of the walls?

Attached is a picture of the 2nd floor.

Thanks!

[HayZee518]

I live in upstate ny and bought my house here in 1999. I thought it was unusual to see how my house was built. I got one room where full sized 2X4 rough cut lumber forms the outside walls. They are 16 foot long with a bottom and top plate, also rough cut. The outside walls have siding, fiberboard sheathing, 3/4 X 8 planks, some kind of rockwool and vermiculite insulation between the studs, 3/4 X 8 sheatheing inside and sheetrock walls. The inside walls are all rough cut lumber and the floor joists are just logs with the top made flat. you could do a search for your property using "propertyshark dot com. Mine was also built in 1910. Keep the rough cut.
BTW my type of construction is called "balloon construction." any cross joist is nailed into one face of a 2x4.

[upnorthguy]

Yeah mine is balloon framing too. I'd really like to re-insulate the walls. If I took down a section of the rough cut, insulated, ran wire, and then sheathed it with some 1/4'' ply before sheetrocking, do you think it'd be good and strong?

[HayZee518]

the framing is what holds up the rest of the place. the sheathin is just there to provide an easy way to fasten the plaster and lath or sheetrock. why would you insulate just the inside walls? dead air space on the outside walls is what you want to insulate. but if its insulation you want get the highest r value, kraft faced you can find for a 24" oc installation.

[upnorthguy]

I am talking about the outside walls. I'm asking about removing the sheathing on the INTERIOR side of the outside walls Those are the walls I want to insulate.

I was just wanting to know if it's okay to take down the rough cut sheathing on the inside of the house which would enable me to insulate.

Thanks

[HayZee518]

yeah go ahead. I don't see why not? check out if the studs line up after you've rewired the walls, rip up some shims if you need to. pine sheathing is up to you but you can sheetrock directly to the studs

[pushkins]

IMO if you remove the 3/4" interior side material make sure you use 5/8" drywall as a bare min. Best idea would be to use 1/4" ply or sheathing material then 5/8" drywall. Not only will this help maintain rigidity but more importantly it will offer far greater support of the drywall, 24" is a big span for drywall on wall studs.