costs/hassle to replace wall


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Old 04-06-05, 11:35 AM
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costs/hassle to replace wall

A wall in my house that houses plumbing for the upstairs bathroom suffered some water damage before I bought the house. The water issue is taken care of. But, with regard to the wall, it's in OKAY shape, but it bows a little and is going to be a bit of a plastering mess. I'm wondering if anyone can ballpark what the cost/hassle would be for me to tear down existing plaster and replace with drywall/sheetrock. Or, alternatively, what it might cost for hired help to take care of.

The span wall itself is approximately 8 feet long (I'd need both sides of the wall done -- one side faces the living room, the other the hallway) and it connects with a wall leading to the dining room and connects on the other side to the archway leading from the hallway into the living room. I hope that explanation is relatively clear.

Ballpark estimates are appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike
 
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Old 04-08-05, 05:05 AM
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Hi Mike post some pics and tell us where you're located.
 
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Old 04-12-05, 05:55 PM
kat88
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Mike,

I like in California, I posted an add-on to an old posting today, then saw your posting.

I have an estimate from a drywall contractor to remove the wall above the shower stall and two adjoining walls. The total square footage is 71 sq. feet and his estimate was $1,600 to remove, replace, and do a knock-down texture. Toilet removal is not included.

Cost to fix (cover up problems) runs from $600 to $2,400 (wide range, go figure!) to mud, then sand, prime, and subsequently paint.

Hope this helps.
 
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Old 04-13-05, 06:45 AM
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sounds like if you did it yourself you would need 4 - 4X8 sheets of drywall [$35] a box or bucket of mud and tape [$15] and a lot of elbow grease.
tearing out the old plaster is a bit of a job and you have to get rid of the stuff you tear out but you should be able to do it all yourself for under $100 and let the pros get rich off of someone else.
 
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Old 04-13-05, 08:50 AM
kat88
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Thanks for the advice. I ws thinking of doing the work myself, however, I am a novice. I checked out some do-it-yourself and home repair books at the library but the drywall repair is for holes and cracks, etc. Not sure where to start or how far I need to go in terms of replacing the damaged drywall. As far as I can see, the areas under the window frame will need to be repaired and perhaps the adjacent flat areas framing the window. I just don't want to make any structural damage to the frame. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
 
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Old 04-13-05, 11:57 AM
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Don't worry about any structural damage by removing the plaster. If there is damage you won't see it until you remove plaster anyway. It is hard to tell you how much needs to be replaced with out seeing it. Whether patching with drywall or replacing a whole wall the technique is the same. You attach the drywall with screws or nails, tape and mud all joints, mud the screw heads. then you mud and sand until it looks right. If you need to take of window trim [or any other] pry carefully, if this doesn't work take a punch and drive the nails all the way through.

Anytime you run into problems or have questions there is always some at the forum that can help you.
 
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Old 04-17-05, 08:27 AM
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another wall -- worse problem

The wall in the front of my house has some issues. Apparently, there was some water damage at some point before I bought the house. The damage is under the windows, behind a radiator (damage is not from the radiator, though). I removed the radiator, removed the wallpaper, and started repair work. Someone had done a not-so-good job of repairing the water damage -- they just poorly covered it with some mud and literally "papered over" it.

Well, I felt the wall and it had some give, so I punched thru the "mud" and it was all "sand" behind there (house has plaster walls) in at least one area (so far). I've enlarged the hole to where -- width-wise -- the plaster become solid again, height-wise to where the horizontal 2x4 is that forms the bottom support for the windoes, and depth-wise to either the actual brick exterior or, more likely, some sort of stone/cement layer just behind the brick (anyone out there know how these brick homes are constructed? from the outside in, it's brick, then ???, then plaster.).

With all this background info (thanks for taking the time to read this much), I'm wondering:

1. as a novice, do I fix myself?
2. if so, with what materials? how complicated/difficult is it?
3. if hiring a professional, approx how much would it cost (total area of repair under window is probably 15 to 20 sq. ft.)

I've uploaded pictures here:

http://www.geocities.com/mpear055/

Thank you!!!
 
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Old 04-17-05, 09:39 AM
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I believe you would be alright in fixing it yourself. Small jobs typically cost more when a contractor does them because of all the trips involved in doing the job. 1 sheet of drywall [4X8] should be enough to do the job. You may need to add 2X4's to be able to secure the drywall where it meets the old plaster. Since drywall is typically 1/2" thick you may need to shim the drywall so it will be flush with the plaster. Once it is screwwed or nailed to the 2X4"s all you need to do is mud & tape the joints and mud over the nails, then just mud and sand until it looks good.
It is more time consuming than hard work. Each coat of mud needs to dry throughly before going to the next coat. Remember every pro out there had to start out tackling a job for the first time and when you do work for yourself it is harder to get fired.
 
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Old 04-19-05, 01:35 PM
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wall -- an option

Thanks for the reply, Marksr. I have another thought.

It's probably goofy, but I was thinking of just building that area up again with plaster or this Ready Patch material (dries up harder than regular joint compound). Basically, there's the exterior brick, then a layer of brick/stone inside of that (there's some sort of black tar/material on the back of that, maybe as a water seal), then the plaster (no lath, as it's an exterior wall). Once the plaster is in there, I can top off (for the smooth, even surface) with joint compound or the ready patch stuff.

Is this a sound idea?

Also, the wall that's damaged is right under a window and I can see the wooden framing for the window. Do I just layer the plaster in right below that (touching it)?
 
 

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