Once the plaster has come away from the laths the best thing to do is
remove and re-plaster. Been there, done that with my 250+ year old house.
It's a pain in the arris but to do a good job it's the only way.
restoring my plaster walls - any suggestions?
by RevMalk 15 Replies latest jw friends
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Mutz
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RevMalk
Wow, thanks guys for all the suggestions.
The house was built in 1920, and there's one spot in two bedrooms that I had to actually rip the plaster and lathe off and I just drywalled those walls. The walls themselves were about 5 feet wide, so I thought it'd be easier to do it that way. There was a roof leak that caused a big mess in these spots.
One big reason why I did that was so I could open the walls up and see the condition of the interior. I was actually surprised since I suspect the roof was leaking for at least a couple of years. There was no rot at all. The house is constructed of 3"x8" hardwood studs and they seem to have held up well.
So far I've only gotten down to the plaster in one room. I've had to rip the paint off the walls, then go back and spray on this chemical to take the wallpaper off (all 5 or so layers). It comes off pretty easy, it's just time consuming.
When we first bought the house we thought the plaster was falling down all over the place (As did everyone else), but come to find out it's just layers of wall paper. So far the plaster looks real good aside from the few spots I've mentioned. It worked out well because we got the house for less than half it's worth once restored and it's costing alot less to restore than I thought it would. Alot more work this way than just drywalling, but we're saving the expense of sheetrock.
Amazingly enough we've found lead on only one window in the entire house. Apparently they just wall papered up into the 80's when the former owner inherited the house (then let it fall apart).
It's not insulated though, that's for sure. I'm planning on getting some blown in, unless someone has a better idea.
I'll try out your suggestions, if they work, great and if not I can always replace those spots.
Thanks again guys!
Rev
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mkr32208
the problem with mating plaster with drywall is that it's very very hard to match the surface's drywall is so smooth and plaster always has a bit of texture too it
there are some surface treatments that you can trowel over the entire wall to give it a singular surface it's called... sand surface, or trowel on or some such thing you can actually mix paint in with it and then you don't have to paint it when your done...
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RevMalk
the problem with mating plaster with drywall is that it's very very hard to match the surface's drywall is so smooth and plaster always has a bit of texture too it
there are some surface treatments that you can trowel over the entire wall to give it a singular surface it's called... sand surface, or trowel on or some such thing you can actually mix paint in with it and then you don't have to paint it when your done...
Ya, that had actually concerned me. The two walls I did drywall are at a corner (both ends), so it wasn't a big deal. But now that I've gotten down to the plaster, I noticed it's not smooth. I was doing some testing last night and watered down the joint compound and smoothed over a section to see if I could do something about that. It seems better today, although now I have to sand it :( Another thing I've found is that there are a few spots that someone did some patchwork, and not very well. It's really hard stuff, and I'm attempting to scrap down the edges, and then fan it out with the joint compound. I hope that works. I don't mind normal inconsistencies in the plaster, as I think it adds charm to the house. I always wanted an older home and I'm thrilled that I'm so far able to keep it original. Although some dumb ass took the slate roof off. Someday I'll put one back on it, as well as on the carriage house. It's really neat. Our carriage house was built to look just like the main home, except scaled down.
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RevMalk
Thanks again everyone for your help.
I tried a few different things and I've finally had success.
No matter what I tried, the screws would sink through the plaster. I got to thinking about how sheetrock works. It's plaster incased in paper. So wherever I knew I had to put screws, I actually ran a span of joint tape & compound. As it dried, I sunk the screws in by hand with a screw driver and it worked perfectly!
The house is coming along great, but now we're considering selling this summer.
Anyway, thanks again!
Rev
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Big Tex
Wow I'm impressed Rev. I changed out a toilet seat yesterday and was feeling downright handy. But reading this thread, makes me realize I don't have a clue!
Maybe I'll just sit and watch.