Why I hate drywall!

[Verve]

One of the many reasons I hate dry wall!

Bathing a big German Shepherd who got overly excited afterward and this is what happens to dry wall ...



If he would have jumped against one of my plaster walls he would have just had a sore hip! lol Oh well, how can you stay mad at a face like that .

[Texas_Ranger]

Yup, second that... not even two layers of 1/2" drywall solve that problem.

I recently saw a show on TV here they tried out James Bond scenes in real life (with experienced stunt men of course). On thing they tried was running through a sheetrock wall. This guy started running towards the wall, and fractions of a second later, only crumbs were left.

So, no drywall for me either!

[YinzerMama]

It's easy to fix at least. I got a crash course at our house in CA when my son slammed a door knob through the wall. First time doing it but I fixed it like a pro. Now I am working on a hole in my bathroom ceiling - there was water coming in and I had to cut a hole to figure out why. Now I am stuffing the hole back up, should finish my 3 coat of goo today and you'll never know there was a hole. Could have never cut such a small look-see hole through lath and plaster... Drywall has some good points.

[Abuela]

I definitely miss my plaster walls. This is my first house that ever had drywall and it's just not the same. Though I will admit that part of the issue is that I suck at drywall finishing (if I cut a patch and then repair it, you can tell it was patched), whereas with plaster repairs in my old house, there were already so many variations that my not-quite-perfect plaster repair never stood out.

[YinzerMama]

I definitely miss my plaster walls. This is my first house that ever had drywall and it's just not the same. Though I will admit that part of the issue is that I suck at drywall finishing (if I cut a patch and then repair it, you can tell it was patched), whereas with plaster repairs in my old house, there were already so many variations that my not-quite-perfect plaster repair never stood out.

I don't cut anything. What I do is shove a piece of metal mesh inside the hole so it lies flush with the wall. I tie a piece of string to it so I can manuever it. Then I shove a bunch of spackling in the opening. In the past I have used vinyl spackling with excellent results but haven't been able to find it recently so I did the first two layers with joint compound and the top layer I am doing with some white fluffy spackle I have (I don't know what it's called but it has the texture of nugat...)

I do it in a few layers so each layer dries all the way. I found the joint compound shrinks and cracks which is why I am finishing with something else. The vinyl spackle didn't do that.

Now the string allows you to pull the mesh towards you as you apply the paste so the mesh doesn't go anywhere. You want to really smoosh the paste on to the mesh so it oozes through the back and stays put.

For vertical surfaces I shove some paste inside and around the edges before I shove the mesh in, to sort of hold it in place. Then tie the string to a chair while the first layer dries. Not an issue with ceilings... just tug down on the string and work around the string for the first layer.

Once you are near the end, cut the string close and cover with spackle.

When its all done, sand flush and paint.

It may sound convoluted but it results in an invisable fix if you do it right and I think it's easier than cutting and anchoring drywall.

I guess it's really akin to a mini plaster job.

For mesh I use gutter guards... you can get a big piece for like $2. Just use tin snips to cut a piece a little bigger than the hole

Hope this makes sense. That's how I fix holes and it works great for me.

[Tujo]

I've never really tried to repair the finish on plaster. My house when I bought it had glass smooth walls and ceilings - that showed every single repair that was ever attempted on them. I was able to piece together much of the original layout of the house by looking at where the extremely rough patches of plaster were. I know I can I usually repair drywall so it looks pretty good - you can usually see it if the light hits it at just the right angle - but that's not too bad.

[philsvintageradios]

my drywaller showed me a good trick. I love this one..

cut that hole square about 3x3 inches.
get a scrap of drywall about 9x9. turn it upside down and cut the back paper as if you are playing x's and o's with the square in the middle 2 1/2 x 2/1/2. snap the drywall along your cut lines. peel the edges around the plug, off leaving the front paper 9x9 with a 2 1/2 x 2/12 square of drywall stuck to it.
now you have a plug.

butter the plug and around the hole with taping mud, or my favorite, mud with elmer's glue mixed in. Stick it in the hole, then use a knife to smooth it out. it leaves a nice patch with a flange all around, and only takes a minute to do.

if it's a bigger patch you can cut the hole big enough to hit a stud and get a couple of screws in the patch.

if you tear the face paper around the edges instead of leaving sharp cut edges it helps to feather it in.

phil

[ceviga]

I'm trying to repair walls in an old Victorian home. They were covered in ratty old wallpaper which I've scrapped off. Afterwards I fill the cracks with Durabond mixed with glue and paper tape (can't find fibafuze anywhere for miles) best roofing company in northern va. Now I'm on the second room and there is a ton of damage I have to repair on one wall. I'm going to end up pulling off chunks of plaster right down to the lath a foot wide. Do I use durabond and glue to fill this too or should I use something else to adjere to the lath and then durabond over top of that?

[oldhouse]

Ken Holmes here ... I founded this site 25 years ago, sold the company 16 years ago, and happened to find myself taking a look tonight at what remains of OHW all these years later.

As to your walls: It sounds as if you are saying that rather large chunks of crumbled plaster are getting ready to fall off from the lathing because they've become unkeyed. If that is the case, I would try reattaching these loose chunks with plaster washers before attempting to fix any cracks. If that worked, I would then cover my crack-filled, pretty-darned-rough walls with sheets of 3-foot-wide self-adhering fiberglass mesh. This stuff, if you haven't used it, is pretty much the same stuff as standard 2-inch-wide fiberglass mesh tape ... but it comes in much (much) wider rolls.

And then I would skim coat the entire wall with drywall mud. This will fill cracks, smooth everything out, and give you a fresh surface for paint or wallpaper.

Hope this helps!

Ken

[V-Man]

Ceviga, I think it depends on how much plaster down-to-the-lathe repairs you have to make and how much of a project you want to take on. As an unexperienced DIYer, I found it relatively easy to repair areas say 6-8 feet square and under using Plasterweld (i.e., glue), Durabond as a base and EZ Sand as finish coats with a pretty good result. As Ken says, you'll want to attach any loose plaster and areas around the patch area using washers/screws. If you have large areas to repair, Ken's method of using wide tape and skim coating might be the way to go. Here's a 6 foot square area I patched using the Plasterweld/Durabond/EZ Sand method. Yes the Durabond coat is rough but the finish coats took care of that. The finished area is behind the Windsor chair in the last pic.