Thinking alike for sure! Do you happen to know if cement backer board meets fire codes? I seem to remember there being a special fire resistant drywall for garage walls, but maybe it's insulation I'm thinking of. We're still in the research and planning stage. Work will begin early September when dh has some time off. Not sure if we're talking about the same thing but the metal furring strips I looked at do look like a U and I believe are also called Furring Channels. Probably same things? [URL=http://www.radiantbarrier.com/basement.htm]This site[/URL] talks about installing a basement or masonry wall insluator - but the revelant part states to use either a adhesvie caulk or nails to attach the furring to the masonry. Other websites I saw mentioned using Liquid Nails - sounds a whole lot easier than driving a nail into brick! It doesn't seem that difficult of a project once you break it down. Glue the strips; Measure, Cut & Screw on the backer board (guess we'll need to remember the distance of furring strips...and drywall screws long enough to go throug furring but not brick). Tape, Mud, Sand. Finish work (the fun stuff imho). It'll probably only be 10x as hard and 100x as many hours as I hope for ;) And my dh is *still* considering knocking out all the brick - I'd love to get rid of the jutting sides but not sure about all that heavy work. Have you dry-walled before? We did a basement in our old home a few years back. Here is a link that might be useful: Picture of Metal Furring Channel

You should first determine that no other appliance utilizes the chimney, like water heater flue. While demolition of the chimney is the easy part, repairing the subfloor, flooring, ceiling, walls, roof decking and roofing takes some know-how. You can get estimates which will help you make a decision. It may involve a carpenter, flooring guy and roofer or possibly you can find a handyman to do it all. Check for licensing, insurance and references from whom ever you choose. This is one of those DIY projects where after the demo is complete, the hard part starts and can take a while to finish with all the patchwork involved. Hope that helps, Dan Martyn

I wouldn't bother with the tape - use a bonding agent like plaster weld or elmers pro-bond - & apply to all surfaces including edge of the plaster, drywall edge and the gap between, and then fill gap with patching plaster. Is this a corner joint? If so you can get a corner shaped trowel type thing to shape it. I've done numerous plaster/ drywall joints using the bonding agent and 10 yrs later they're still looking good.

i could tear out the wall, since i dont really like it, but would have to diy it and i'm a little afraid of being able to do it safely myself. i could leave it and plan to put something (like slate?) over the brick, that would be more in keeping with the modern feel of the house. i could let the contractor slap up a piece of trim, but not sure what shape the trim should be. i was wondering if i could pack some sort of material in there, and then put mortar in on top - but worried about matching the existing mortar, worried that it would look sloppy what do you think?