Attaching Trim To Decoupled Walls

Good question. I have been thinking about that too as I am getting close to that point.

For the trim, I had planned on attaching 1" furring strips to the wall and then attaching the trim to that. The reason for the 1" furring strips is because my fabric panels will also be 1" thick. In my case, the lowest channel on the wall is 2-3" above the floor level, so I should be able to attach the furring strips to that. Will probably rip 1/2" ply and double it up to make the furring strips (as well as the fabric frames). Very much open to other suggestions though.

For the columns, I attached 2x2s to the walls using construction adhesive and screws into the channel. Once I have the columns wrapped, I will attach them to the 2x2s with finish nails.

I plan to just friction fit the fabric frames/acoustic panels until I figure out the final treatment plan. Once I am happy with the room measurements, they will probably get the construction adhesive/finish nail treatment directly to the DW for final installation.

I'm sure there are other methods, and I would love to hear them!

Hitting channels or studs is highly overrated when attaching molding in a decoupled double drywall room.

Furring strips - liguid nails and either 2 inch construction staples (Roofing) or drywall screws
Baseboards, Chair rail, Case molding - liquid nails and either 18 or 23 gauge finish nails.
Crown molding, if you are using it as a light tray you need to attach some triangular pieces of blocking with LN and screws. Then nail to the blocking, If tight to the ceiling, finish nails and caulk will hold it in place. blocking is even better. No need to hit channel or studs.

Heck, I've found that using my finish nailer and 1.5" nails (allowing for trim thickness) into 5/8" DD + GG holds trim just fine without the liquid nails.

If you're doing a natural wood finish (stain + varnish), you may not need to even fill the holes left by a 23 gauge pin. The holes are really small and will often just disappear in the grain of the wood.

AGree that 2x 5/8 GWB is plenty strong to hold nails.

Even when screwing wood to two layers of GWB I've had the screw start to countersink. Doesn't happen as a rule, but it's pretty amazing how strong two layers are.

Tim

Can channels be found with a stud finder?

I haven't had a problem finding them with mine. Every once in a while I need to switch it to the "deep scan" setting, but it finds them just fine. Of course, it usually starts beeping the second I touch the darn thing...

The screws that hold the drywall to the channel can be found with a magnetic stud finder, works actually really well. The device will hang on the wall or ceiling when it finds a screw.. You can do the same with a loose rare earth magnet.


Edited by BIGmouthinDC - 2/15/13 at 5:25pm

This is one of the most helpful forums on AVS. I don't say thanks on every post to keep S/N ratio down, but for the regulars that routinely answer questions here I do appreciate the help.