RM, Are you clear about the advice that Billl gave you? It sounds as if you might not be. What he said about the window frames sticking out 1/4" too far meant that the sides of the window frame (literally the sides of the window, that are at right angles to the sashes holding the glass, the sticking-out edges of which you can not see when the trim is in place) were (after he had replaced the plaster with sheet rock) deeper than the plane of the installed sheet rock. He could have used two or more layers of sheet rock to build up the depth equal to the old plaster, or as he chose to do, he planed these edges down to meet the sheet rock evenly. He was not talking about planing the visible trim which is installed on top of the edges of the window frame and extends from there over and on to the plaster or sheet rock. The window trim bridges (and conceals) the joint between the edges of the window frame and the wall surface. That's why the window trim sticks up proud (as it is called) from the wall. It can only provide this bridge if the edges of the window frame and the overall plane of the wall covering are even. There is an excellent book on windows ( Working Windows) by Terry Meany, that you might find useful in grappling with complex construction, and nomenclature, of window frames. And I have a suggestion, I'd recommend emulating your user name's approach. Do your homework and understand what to do, what not to do and how to do each before you try to engage handymen, or semi-skilled home repair persons. Whatever you do, don't rely on the "professional" advice from workers with less knowledge, affection, or experience in old house renovations than you have. There are excellent resources on line (of course, tons of crappy info online, too); good print resources on the curatorial care of old houses, and of course a wealth of free advice here and on similar old-house positive fora. (Old House Web and Historic Homeworks are two very helpful and knowledgeable sources - Google 'em and post questions.) When I was a new old house owner, I figured that most workers knew more about houses renovations than I did. Most did, but only a few knew more about old house renovations than I did, which was next to nothing, at first. Luckily, I didn't have too much money to do renos right away, so I was spared making mistakes by not being able to pay workers. In the meantime I made it my business to learn about how my buildings were put together and, what others had done with similar structures. When I was finally ready to embark, I knew that many of the things I might have blythely embarked upon were really bad ideas. The best thing you can do for your house is clean it, study it, and learn about it. Only then would I suggest getting involved with workers. What I suggest is both money-saving (which you'll need as good old house work is never cheap) and absorbs all that new-house-I-gotta-make-it-mine-energy that everybody has right after they close. The handyman who got upset about you wanting to save money by demoing is exactly why you need to learn more about houses before you hire workers. But, please, use your energies to scrub the floors, or dig a garden, or something else, instead of demoing right off the bat. It's not that hard (but a much bigger mess than you can ever imagine, though, and once started you have to see it through to conclusion) but don't use it as a catharsis. It must be done in a deliberate manner, (I really like the "deconstruction" approach noted above) after careful consideration of whether it is the right thing to do. Sometimes it is, sometimes not. Have you tried to remove the drywall from one small area to see what's underneath? Do you know by whom and under what circumstances it was installed? There may be some clues to be gained by investigating, or querying about it. Again, a case of the benefit of not just launching into it.

Oh yeah! Tmeporary patch ups with duct tape has gotten me back home or out of the outback several times. It is true that it can not stick to surfaces wet with gasoline, antifreeze, and several other liquids, but when you are sesperate, you improvize. I had a heater hose to crack while out in the 'bush'. By wiping the hose as best as I could, I was able to make a patch by making many overlapping wraps of tape and relieving the coolant pressure by loosening the radiator cap. I mde it back to civilization. Stopped stuff from rattleing while on a long road trip. Taped over the ends of the bars of roof top carrier that was whistling. That stopped the whistle. It was at the beginning of a long road trip and I did not have the time to amke a permanent cure. That saved at least one day of vacation. During a trip, we shipped back to ourselves some boxes holding very heavy items. Got out the duck tape and reinforced the boxes. On a 3 day campout, my lightweight tent got a small rip. Duct tape held this together until the trip was complete (and was rain tight, too). Have made tags to identify wires under the hood of my car. Comes in handy if these wires have to be removed during a roadside repair. Put a piece of duct tape on wallboard, before drilling a hole through it. It keeps the edges of the wallboard from fraying. Have to start a screw in an inaccessible place? Push a the screw through a piece of duct tape and hold the screw to the screwdriver blade with the tape.

I have been stung by designers twice with new homes. I am a professional woman but also had four small children and grew up with a limited income on a farm. So when later decorating a large home and finally had a nice income I was so intimidated by the designers who neither had children and convinced me twice to put white carpeting in my bedroom because the "children" wouldn't be in there. Pleeeze!! The designers always looked like a million bucks and I had oatmeal in my hair and flipflops on. I had no interest in oriental design but a designer convinced me it was all the rage so I spent more $$ than I should have on wall art, uncomfortable furniture and little brass or china things to sit around on shelves. I felt like a fool. But the time before I did the Ethan Allen look with floral wallpaper and my house looked like Ralph Lauren exploded in it. Never trust a designer whose name ends in "i" like Bambi, Wendi, Mandi, Tami, etc. (Just kidding all you "i" people). So where am I today? Well, we sold our large home and I gave away a lot of the furniture to the kids (they really didn't want it) and what I didn't sell in a garage sale I gave to goodwill. Some lady shopping in a thrift store is wondering who will ever buy those ugly brass bookends. The children are all grown and my hubby and I are downsizing, we bought a cute historical cottage in a great neighborhood and with the help of an architect enlarged it some and made it fit our lifestyle. Gone is the formal living room, we only have one eating space (dining room) plus the kitchen bar/island, gone is the masterbath big enough to park an 18 wheeler in, and in is relaxed and cozy with a screened porch with a fireplace on it, rose garden, open kitchen, and a small carriage house for guests. I am having a fun time decorating it with MY style whatever that is and old enough I don't care what anyone else thinks except hubby. But it took me years to get to this place. After being married 40 yrs lots of stuff has worn out or just sick of it so it's fun buying new things. I think life for everyone is more relaxed than it used to be so lots to choose from. I use magazines, this forum, travels, etc to get ideas. I am also taking it slow, not feeling it all has to be done at once so I get something and live with that and it helps me see where I want to go next. Then I confess I do have some boxes in the attic of stuff I can't part with but really don't want and neither do the kids. I guess after we're gone the kids will get rid of it. Things like wedding presents, I had a big wedding 40 yrs ago and got silver revere bowls, silver nut bowls, candy dishes, expensive china figurines, stuff you can't quite part with but hardly ever used. We just don't entertain formally anymore. Also your taste does develop over time so probably you do have to make mistakes to figure out what you like and don't like. When I first got married we bought a large mediterranean sofa with arched cushions on the back, little wooden knobs between cushions on back, large wooden arms and it was some gold/brown mix and I was so delighted that we bought a gold velvet chair to go with it. Geez!! But at the time, I thought it was terrific. We had it through lots of kids and dogs. Don't beat yourself up, pay this designer off and tell her bye, try to make some lists of what you like and develop your style and take it slow.

Hi hdavidson7, I am a licensed civil engineer. I realize you may be past the point but I am posting for others to see. A letter is never sufficient for removing a wall. The correct way is to go through the permit application process with your city and clearly outline the scope of work. Along with your application, you submit the letter provided by the engineer with his stamp. The letter must include the necessary documentation supporting their opinion. Without a stamp the letter holds no legal merit and is useless (even if signed). This is a detail sometimes overlooked by home owners, and is one of the many reasons you are required to go through the permitting process so these details are not omitted. The city plan checking office also reviews your permit to make sure any other proposed modifications do not require additional review from an engineer or licensed contractor. You don't know what you don't know, and the permitting process is designed to protect you. Cities do not make much in permitting fees contrary to what many homeowners may think. Having said that, I wish you the best of luck with your drywall nightmare, honestly it sounds like it needs to be completely redone if you want straight walls and no cracks in the present and distant future. Good help is hard to find these days, even when you look carefully like it sounds like you did.