When we took down all the wallpaper, we discovered the plaster was in pretty bad shape, and we had lots of separation from the lath. So the original plan was to remove all the wallpaper, have an electrician rewire, and then skim and paint. The plaster had been covered in wallpaper, basically the entire existence of the house. Not a single grounded outlet on the second floor, almost all on a single circuit, and only 1-2 outlets per room. The previous owner who owned the house for 67 years had dense packed fiberglass installed through the siding, so we already had insulation. My wife and I did this to 4 rooms and a hallway, about 800 sq, all on my second floor. get the right tools for the job if you’re going to sheet rock it yourself - they will absolutely pay for themselves over the course of the project. take time off work, rent a dumpster, bring some friends over and try to get all of the demolition done as quickly as possible so you can get rid of the plaster dust ASAP. Don’t try to do the demolition one room at a time. think this through before you decide which way to go. you’ll be adding somewhere between 1/2 and 1 inch to the thickness of your walls which could cause issues with existing door and window trim. if you do try to sheet rock over the existing plaster you’ll need to figure out how to handle window and door openings. Use a respirator, glasses, and someone else’s clothes when you open up your ceiling. The superfine (in my case dust bowl-era) dust and nastiness that lives above an old plaster ceiling is the stuff of nightmares. ![]() Way back when, 2x4s were actually 2” x 4” which may come into play as you are trying to match sheet rock with plaster ![]() take that into account as you try to put up and align your sheet rock - your tape and mud guy will hate you. In one closet (where the plaster was in bad shape) I tore out the plaster & left the lath and just rocked directly over it (screwing to the studs). I kinda wish I would have done that more. But, In a back stairwell, I actually just rocked over the (structurally sound) plaster on the walls and ceiling. but I have a feeling I would have gone crazy trying to patch/skim coat the old plaster to a smooth enough finish. other than running electrical/plumbing, I probably could have gotten away with leaving the plaster walls. so much easier to do with no wall covering.) then just hung the rock like normal. I pulled down all the plaster, then put up 1x over the lath along each ceiling joist to screw the rock to using 2 1/2” screws to make it all the way into the joist.Įxterior walls - no insulation in the house, so it was worth the time & effort to do the exterior walls (plus we replaced all the windows, so we had to reframe around them. cracked, separated from the lath, fell down easily when provoked. ![]() Here’s my advice (your mileage may vary).Ĭeiling - seemed to be the most “suspect”’of all the plaster in the house. Just (literally today) finished sheetrocking a small 2 bedroom built in the 30s that was lath & plaster as part of a “down to the studs” remodel. TBD on whether we will take on this particular challenge given that there are many other projects that we also want to spend time and money on! Not sure if this is relevant, but we are in Oregon (the dry half, not the rainy half).Įdit: Thanks to all for the advice! Seems like I was maybe underestimating the size of the challenge I had set for myself. Other benefits include letting us update wiring and insulation as we go (if it's needed).Ĭurious if anyone here has attempted something similar or has any experience with plaster walls! From my brief Googling and Youtubing, it seems like this may be a relatively straightforward (though time-consuming and messy) project. I'm considering replacing the lath and plaster with sheetrock as we take on projects in each room. Some of the plaster walls and ceilings are cracking and some are in good shape. ![]() The house has mostly lath and plaster walls on the inside except for a few places where there has been more recent remodeling. The house has solid bones, but is definitely a bit of a fixer-upper, so we are getting ready to embark on a journey of learning many new home improvement skills (both of us are relatively new to this). My partner and I are buying a house that's just over 100 years old (not historic, just old).
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