Keep plaster walls or replace with drywall?
artemis78
13 years ago
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juliekcmo
13 years agojejvtr
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Complete rehab of 1901 house - drywall or original plaster walls?
Comments (11)Bill - Yes, fishing wires takes more time than stapling them to bare studs, but it's not going to be so expensive that it's more cost effective to gut the place. When you add up the cost of demolition and rubble hauling, and then the drywall and finishing costs you don't save much if anything. If you get hit with lead or asbestos remediation because of removing large quantities of old materials, it quickly gets really expensive to gut. And if you remove 'too much" old material, it becomes a remodel and not a repair ... which triggers other expenses. ============= Hoopersjudge - You will have to be REALLY certain what your plans are for each room. Get several estimates for "if gutted" versus "make holes", ask owners of fixed-up homes in your area who they used, and take your time. Take a survey of the walls and ceilings - tap on them, and push on them and map where they are "squishy" or sound hollow (plaster separated from lath). Cracks can be filled, loose areas re-attached with "plaster washers", and missing areas can be replaced. It's amazing what you can do to fix plaster, and if the lath is intact, replastering is not out of the question. It's tedious and strenuous, but definitely possible. The two rooms that are most likely to benefit from gutting are kitchens and bathrooms: one because the wiring and plumbing runs will probably need major work, and the baths because of decades of water damage....See MoreRemoving drywall from plaster without damaging plaster
Comments (22)Progress: And 1 inch of what may have been the original 1887 wallpaper. I like the green: I ended up using the circular saw to make grid cuts 12-18" apart. I used the multi tool to make cuts closer to the wall and corners where the circular saw couldn't clear. I tried different methods to pry the sections off; some were too narrow; some had too much flex. A 5" wide blade, hammered in and then pried down, did most of the work. Where the ceiling met the wall, I did a combination of breaking the paint and skim coat with a putty knife hammered upwards, and just cutting around with a multitool. There was only about a 1/8" thick bond to break through so it came away, thankfully, easily. I'd say it was altogether 10 hours in a 6 x 8 room to get this far--crazy! I definitely won't be doing the rest of the house. In most other rooms I plan to knock off the flecky balls and skim coat the ridged scallops, like Worthy suggests. In the double parlor, which has crown molding, I'll go through this routine. It's a great upper body workout! Some of the original ceiling is loose, so I'll be putting in some plaster washer anchors. You can also see where they poked holes to verify the location of studs. Those and the cracks will get fiberglass tape and patched. A little skimming, a little sanding, a little paint, and she'll be done. Of course, before all that, I'll do a thorough scrub down with tsp and water, then rinse, dry, and coat with benjamin moore calcimine recoater. Then plaster bonding agent to all the damaged places, and then fiberglass tape, patch/fill with durabond, knock down with a putty knife, then easy sand, then sanding, priming, and finally paint. What could be easier?!? Hope everybody else is having as much fun as I am this weekend! And yes, I'm saving a sample of the wallpaper for the house book....See MorePlaster? Drywall? Need help!!!
Comments (15)Thanks for the input Beth, and about the walls, it's been determined that they're not plaster but an older form of drywall. I don't think there has been any kind of water damage to them but they have sustained heavy damage from the last owners nailing in the wood panels. Holes everywhere... what a nightmare. And they're big nasty holes too not just little holes that could easily be covered with spackle. Like I mentioned before, with this material, it's been really difficult to hang anything without damaging the walls because whenever we start to predrill a hole, it's like it just turns to sand. That's why I am more on the side of tearing it down and replacing it with the new drywall. I feel that even if I scrape off all the muck and spread mud over the holes and cracks and make it look nice again, we will still have the problem of hanging frames and stuff....See MoreKitchen remodel old plaster walls and new drywall
Comments (7)I had parts of my large living room wall that was both plaster and drywall. I couldn't easily tell where one ended and where the other began, unless I got up real close and peered intently at it. (We ripped it out because we were reconfiguring that wall so it's all gone. I'm not shy about ripping it out, because there were very few walls with plaster left in this house. It also allows us easy access to the old knob and tube wiring (makes it easier/cheaper to wire) and we can insulate things better. I'm more of a fan of drywall...)...See Morekatsmah
13 years agoBilll
13 years agobrickeyee
13 years agomag77
13 years agoartemis78
13 years agobrickeyee
13 years agodirt_cred
13 years agolizbeth-gardener
13 years agobrickeyee
13 years agomag77
13 years agoartemis78
13 years agobrickeyee
13 years agoartemis78
13 years agoMary Anne Tobin
4 years ago
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