I just pulled down a thick sheet of laminate in my kitchen and under the laminate is some worn old wallpaper and under that is cement. I want to drywall the kichen, so I can paint. I'd rather not lose any square footage since its already a small narrow kitchen. Can I affix drywall directly to the concrete wall, or do I have to put up wood studs? If I attach the drywall to the concrete will that make re-hanging the cabinets more difficult or impossible?

Thanks for your help!
Kristin

 

Kristin, welcome to the forums!! It's too early for my brain to conceive what you have. You are saying the wallpaper is adhered directly to the concrete? Then there was a laminate sheet over that?
Sheetrock will need space behind it, although I have seen it glued with construction adhesive directly to dry monolithic walls. Would it be possible for you to take a couple of pictures and post them on a site such as photobucket.com and copy/paste the HTML code to your reply post? That way we can more clearly see what you are up against.

Larry

 

It's never a good idea to install drywall directly to masonry. Masonary can hold moisture which can ruin the drywall

Is your kitchen above grade or below? Above grade you can use furring strips - pt 1x's attached to the masonary, insulation between strips, vapor barrier and then drywall. I'm not fond of using furring strips below grade.

Are you sure it's cement? Is this an exterior wall? Are your exterior walls masonary? Could you be mistaking cement for the brown/hard coat of plaster?

 

Will you need the space from concrete for elect. recept. boxes? Is this an exterior wall?Is it block or smooth concrete? Be safe, G

 

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I'll do my best to answer the questions.

First, this is a rowhome in Philly with cinder block on all three walls of the kitchen. Currently, the back wall has furring strips and sheet rock. One wall has furring strips and rock lath (sp ?). The wall that I share with my neighbor is just cinder block which is the wall of concern at the moment.

The only electrical on this wall is a 240V for the range and one outlet mounted in the baseboard which will be hidden by the range.

It is an above ground kitchen and yes, the wallpaper was glued directly to the cinder block and then linoleum was adhered directly to that. I will definitely try to get you all some pictures of this!

So, after talking it over with some folks and based on the responses I've gotten here (thanks again!) I think furring strips are the way to go and then drywall and then finally i'll have a smooth wall...yay!

thanks, Kristin