Plaster Walls (PLease HELP!)


  #1  
Old 01-09-03, 11:45 AM
jeepman64
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Plaster Walls (PLease HELP!)

I bought a house that was built in the 50's. it is a great looking house and it is my wife and I's first house. One problem is the walls. mainly the upstairs walls. Whoever did this to the house wasnt thinking, or was in a hurry. My guess is that the walls were plaster and after 50 or so years they began cracking and falling apart. Well instead of fixing it, the owner at that time put up some kind of panelling and then texture painted over those. We they didnt secure the boards very well and more of the plaster is falling. You can push on the walls and move the pannelling in and out. The cracks also show, it is jsut awful looking.
What can i do to help this. is it going to take, taking all the walls down and re plastering or putting up drywall? I am newly married and dont have much money. I would hope to do it myself. please help. Has anyone seen this before?

thanks in advance
 
  #2  
Old 01-09-03, 01:40 PM
C
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If the plaster is falling off of the walls, it will need to be repaired or replaced. I don't understand how great of an extent this problem reaches.

You might as well pull down the panels and take stock of the situation. If you have some way to post pictures of this, it may help.

You can remove the plaster and replace it with sheet rock. Some would say that this creates the opportunity to renew wiring and insulation. Depending how badly damaged the plaster is, repairing it may be a better bet.

It might be worth while to have your friends or real estate agent recommend someone or two or three to come look at it and tell you what is recommended and how much it costs. At least you would have a first hand view of the situation.
 
  #3  
Old 01-10-03, 03:11 PM
T
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Plaster walls

I am with chfite in pulling down the paneling over which someone applied plaster. This was a band aid to cover problems beneath. You need to find out what those problems were. If restoring old plaster is not an option, it can be covered with drywall and coated. This would certainly eliminate problems with existing wall surface and cover any problems with the old wall surface that you discover beneath.

It may simply be a matter of a previous owner wanting paneling. Then, another owner came along and decided paneling was not what they wanted, so they plastered over. You may find some decent plaster beneath, but more than likely the paneling was used to cover cracked plaster and other problems.
 
  #4  
Old 01-24-03, 10:55 PM
fjb_68
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I know it sounds like alot of work but i would just bite the bullet and tear away at it would be a great spring time adventure into home ownership the materials are not that exspensive if you buy them yourself and the grate thing is your labor is free
I taught my brother how to drywall in a few weekends
of help trial and error where his best teachers though
and would be yours .....DONT BE AFRAID
it is your house and if ya tear at it the landlord will not yell at you because it yours
the improvment would be money in your pocket
take baby steps though and do alittle at a time
dont overwhelm yourselves with it
 
  #5  
Old 01-25-03, 09:23 AM
Mr Jody Hudson
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From the way your post reads, it sounds like the best advice is what is already given above.

I used to buy UGLY homes, that is homes that were good homes but had cosmetic problems such as yours that allowed me to purchase them for a lot less money than if they looked nice.

I tried, when I was younger, to get away with less expensive and less time consuming fixes on such things. I soon found that the fastest and cheapest thing in the end, on walls such as what you write about, is to pull out everything, replace the wiring, insulate and straighten out any little structural problems such as leakage around windows or such things. Then it may take some work on the old studs to shim them out or plane them down for a smooth start; then put wallboard over the insulation. The reason for the insulation is for sound deadening and some improvement in heating and cooling efficiencies, even with the interior walls.

As stated above, it doesn't take long to learn how to put up the wall board or sheet rock correctly and if you consider your labor free the cost is very little. You may need to bring in someone who knows what they are doing for a few hours to get you started and then go on from there after you have learned how to do it.

In most places that I'm familiar with, you can run all the wiring yourself in your own home, even replace all the recepticals, switch plates and lights -- however I do suggest having a real electrician go over all your work before you cover it up, at least the first time.

You can add a lot of comfort, value and pride of ownership to your home for relatively little money doing these projects one at a time, or room by room.

Just a note: I suggest doing it one room at a time so that you don't end up with too much time and money invested before you see a COMPLETED project as these things can seem mentally overwhelming if you bite off too big a project at first.

Most of all, it is a lot of fun to learn about all these new and useful things.
 
  #6  
Old 01-25-03, 11:21 AM
brickeyee
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Instead of shimming and trimming studs from a plaster wall to try and create a plane for drywall, sister each stud with 1/2 of a 2x4 ripped to make a '2x2'. Screw the strips to the side of the old stud. Align the faces of the sisters to give a flat surface. Fasten the wall to the 'new' studs.
 
  #7  
Old 01-25-03, 11:29 AM
Mr Jody Hudson
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What a fantastic idea... I wish I had known that before, it makes so much sense!

Fast, simple, good, sensible!!!!

Thanks!
 
  #8  
Old 01-28-03, 07:28 AM
sams
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Brickeye

Great I dea w/ sistering the studs. I am just jumping into a very similiar project (1st house, built in 50's, not a single straight wll in the place) that will save lots of time and effort of rebuilding structural walls.

Sam
 
 

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