Hi CIV- (I'm not sure I can follow the previous "hugely helpful", i.e. totally worthless post...but here goes!) Obviously, you're the victim of "moron repairs" people! You'll probably have to sand their repairs down a little more...closer to flush. * Usually, people get too much spackle on the repair spots. * When sanding seems more even, remove all dust. * Get a Spray-texture can at your paint store. There's a dial on the back side of the outlet so you can control the droplet size---shake well/often!! * Usually use can about 2'-3' away from wall. Do a couple quick practice-sprays on cardboard. Move can in quick/random little spiral motions when actually spraying. This prevents texture from forming "emphasis-lines" that may appear if you just moved your pattern left-to-right. * If I was doing a vertical crack, I'll often have slight overspray TWO FEET away from the actual crack. This de-emphasizes the actual line. * Since repairs may be extensive, I'd prime the whole wall AFTER your texture-repairs are completely dried. * I'm pretty good at it! I cannot find my repair areas in my lower bath I painted last December '09. Faron

@akamainegrower It's only one layer of drywall over some sort of thick multi-layered paper (approx 1/4 in thick), over some shiplap or tongue and groove wall. Not sure how electrical was done, but it's all behind that shiplap stuff. @sombreuil We had the house inspected for termites and it seems that we're in the clear. I'm thinking this is all old termite damage. The termite company just inspected the traps yesterday and we're a-ok. It's kind of funny and ironic, because when we first bought the house I had dreams of filling it with plank walls to go with the its country farm-housey charm. And now, I think that's what was there all along. Based on what we've been able to see in the attic, we also have this same tongue/groove on the ceiling. I still have to inspect for tightness/sealing a bit closer once I'm done tearing the rest of the drywall off. It's just lil ol' 85lb me working on it for now, so it's taking me some time. If we were to keep, we have some newer drywall-only walls in the living room that were a more recent addition, so we'd have to match those walls somehow to the existing tongue & groove. The plus side is our living room isn't too big. I'd paint over the planks like this. We were thinking white: And worse case scenario would be to put thinner drywall back up so we don't have the weird recessed window molding. Removing the paperboard will also help. I'll update again once I uncover more walls. :)

I have done drywall work anything with plaster, sanding or applying is very messy and there is a skill set to getting a good finished product. You will not be able to keep,his mess from every nook and cranny in your house without really sensing the space up. You mentioned that baseboards and trim are sloppy with paint etc, you might be better off in the end to have 1/4 new drywall installed over your existing walls. Baseboard is not expensive to pop off and replace even. I wish you the best of luck.

Thanks for the suggestion on pre-drilling every nail. Would've never known that was necessary. OK, so I understand it would be best to fill all the missing plaster at the bottom of the walls and sand flat but doesn't have to be perfect, since baseboard will hide the patchwork. But so far in this thread I've been advised to do the following: Find a plastering company, go there with photos, and beg for help Tape in areas that are particularly crumbly Don't mess with mesh tape Use durabond (a you-mix-it-up joint compound) Use Easy Sand not Durabond Yes for using real plaster. Don't use drywall compound Only use plaster for filling larger gaps and holes, but then use Easy Sand for the top coat Patch using 1/4” or 3/8” Sheetrock on places that are particularly bad With all the varying suggestions on how to do this I'm unsure what would be the easiest way to go about it. I have three bedrooms, a hallway and a living room to fix and thus, it's a lot of patchwork. And with the repairs all being at the bottom of the walls, it makes it a lot more difficult than patching a hole that's in the middle of the wall. and btw, all of the YouTube videos I've watched are aimed at middle of the wall type repairs. I just need to have a simple easy way of filling in the missing plaster so the baseboards can be installed. Like you said, it doesn't have to be perfect.