I concur that if you're getting down to exposing the lath (unwillingly or not), then remove the lath before you put the drywall up attached to the studs. But before you jump either way, I'd price out re-plastering over the exposed lath. Sheetrock is less expensive than plaster, but not dirt cheap, and the difference might not be as much as you think. After you've taken off the lath, you'd have to re-lath (or hang some other underlayment) then plaster. Plaster can be put on old lath, but it needs some extra attention vs. new lath, which would likely be metal anyway. One advantage of getting the lath off is that you could insulate between the studs, add vapor barrier, etc. Something to think about. It's preferable to do the whole house, but with older buildings, it's worth doing any exposed cavity, as you come upon them. You should be able to work around the point where the cupboards join the new surface (whatever it turns out to bes). If all else fails a little run of cove molding can be added at the join to tidy up any gaping holes. If you're going to heap curses on the PO, better make sure it's all the PO's. No one could have put up 14 layers of wallpaper in one ownership. In the Old House Journal mag, what you're encountering was dubbed "The Mushroom Factor". It's the well-known (at least to old house owners) process whereby a relatively straightforward plan, exposes issues which must be solved first, but before they can be dealt with another problem is revealed, which requires even more extensive preparation, leading to exasperating encounters with local building officials, which results in new materials being needed, which when located after great trouble turn out both more expensive than expected and backordered for 17 months; attempts to find the materials on the Internet show them to be available at a warehouse six states away, which for some reason is closed when you get there with the rented truck despite the fact that you had an appointment. Fortunately on the way home you see an auction where you are the only bidder on enough repair parts for six other projects on your old house that you were going to start as soon as you finished the first one, which of course is still torn apart. Anyway, by this time it will be after Thanksgiving and you'll be out there desperately trying to caulk the largest openings before really cold weather sets in and keeps you from doing anything more until it gets warm again and you can try (one more time) to tackle the original job. The only good news is that the first building inspector has retired and the delivery service appears one day in the driveway with the parts which turned out to have only been backordered for 13 months -though a check of the invoice reveals they have now doubled in price- and you can't figure out what you wanted them for since by now you're trying to work on the project that you bought all the stuff at the auction for, but only a day or two in, you've discovered that the PO, made a connection using bobbypins and playdough, which has held up pretty well, considering, but needs to brought up to date to keep the new code official sweet-tempered. Now, it's clear that the work you did the previous year (before you encountered the Mushroom Factor) will have to be torn out, since the only way to do it right means you have to open it up from the other side. So, on the next lovely Spring weekend (when every normal person is going antiquing or playing tennis) it seems like it will a quick job except, that as soon as you've pulled the first board, you discover .......! Molly

Redbirds, If it will make you feel better, try ripping up the carpet in a concealed place (closet) and see what you see. Perhaps you won't miss it if you pull it all up, and it certainly counts as "cleaning" in my book. Also included in my definition of "cleaning", is painting, though you might obliterate some clues to former features by painting over them. If you pull wallpaper, be sure to keep samples. If your house is very old(pre-20th c.), be cautious about removing wallpaper though. There may be very interesting lower layers, that are worth investigating before tossing them. With landscaping, you won't be able to tell what you've got until you've been through an entire year. A very good thing to do about landscaping at this time of year is make an accurate scale plan. (You don't need a professional survey; you can do it just by running measured lines from a couple of known points until you've got the dimensions down. Then locate everyother point off of your markers.) Use the time in the winter to identify all woody plants, and mark on the plan. Buy a bunch of plant labels and begin, as early as you can, labeling everything you find, and marking it on the plan. Be cautious about early weeding and garden cleaning if you are new gardener as many things may look like weeds at first. Better to let a weed grow than yank out something you didn't recognize. If I'm working in an unfamliar climate or garden I also make a "parking" space where I can transplant anything I'm not sure of and can't identify enough to know whether it's a keeper. Most times, it is just a weed, but you never know and that has saved my bacon a few times. Molly~

That makes sense the water is going to the sewer drain and not a sewer line! I'm surprised the concrete is the expensive part--- maybe you're in a difficult location where it would be hard to get the concrete there? In our case the expensive part is the sheer overwhelming physical labor of it all. The contractor came back today and I had done some digging above the old coal on the outside as well as inside it (in the basement) and had an unpleasant surprise (are there any pleasant surprises with this house?). Apparently, like everything else with this house, they cob-jobbed the coal chute closed by throwing bricks into it and pouring a thin slab on top. I don't know what caused the avalanche of dirt (and insulation) on the bottom inside the basement, but I do know that there is no concrete floor under it like there is in the rest of the basement! We assumed it was concrete and that the dirt avalanche could just be shoveled out. Course not. We had a lot of rain a few days ago and as I shoveled up some dirt inside the basement, expecting to see a concrete floor, instead it was just more dirt and a growing pool of water. The contractor thinks there is water coming up from the ground as well as through the wall. So that changed our plan a bit since they're going to have to excavate down outside the house to the basement floor level, pour a footer, build a cinderblock wall to properly seal off the stupid coal chute, and then do some waterproofing inside (clean out dirt, install drain in floor into sump pump which is fortunately only about a foot away, pour clean gravel on top, cover with encapsulating material). On the exterior he thinks it should just be graded away with dirt and with a hardscape/mulch/rocks/something, no plantings. The total is now up to $8500. I'm a little shocked that it's that inexpensive, for all the work they'd be doing (pouring a footer sounds like it would be exorbitantly expensive, right?). He also isn't going to be doing the concrete on the other side of the deck (under the kitchen window) since he thinks the water on that side is also coming up from the ground (sheesh) and it wouldn't do much good. So they're just going to grade the ground there with dirt. I asked him about a door at the bottom of the stairs and he said he could put up some of that encapsulating material and have it hang down over the opening, which would be better than nothing since an actual door isn't feasible. It sounds like you did more than your due diligence with getting bids and planning, so I really hope it works out for you! It's got to help somewhat, at least, if not get rid of the water 100%. If your water table is high (like it is here, apparently) then the french drains won't be 100%, but you'd probably know that by now. My husband is still digesting all this information, but if all goes well we'll be having it done early September probably. Good luck with everything!!

Looks like wallpaper to me :) I prefer repairs that resemble the original install method but you can also look into specific repair systems with plaster washers, or even use drywall and mud. You'll want to remove all the paper (steamer, or whatever method work ok), and anything loose. A lathe/plaster wall relies on the mechanical hold of "keys" through the lathe. Basically, the scratch coat is pushed through the lathe, and those blobs harden and hold it in place. So, you'll need to remove anything that is cracked and the surrounding area. You'll know you can stop removing once you see the keys through the lathe (ie ones that haven't broken off). The actual repair would be a pretty long post, but your basic options for further googling are: 1. scratch/brown/finish, known as a 3-coat plaster (probably what you have already). Products aren't usually carried at big-box stores, so call around to plaster suppliers or masonry/stucco suppliers. They'll be able to help you with product selection. 2. Drywall patch - a sort of 2-coat plaster system. Cut a drywall patch to fit the new hole (not too thick, might only need 1/4" drywall). Use durabond to mud it in. Finish coat with durabond. 3. Look into repairing with plaster washers (I'm not familiar myself).