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I just closed on my 1878 victorian and there is wallpaper in just about every room.
My wife and I want to remove the wallpaper and get the walls painted. We have been getting info and painters are telling us that this could be a BIG job because of cracks in the plaster walls which would need to be filled in.
One painter said that he had an 1870's home and instead of going through all that work, he sheetrock'd over his plaster walls and painted the sheetrock. My wife thinks this is a great idea, but it makes me uneasy for some reason.. Can anyone PLEASE let us know if this is smart or stupid.
I am an inspector and see this pretty often. No issues with it. It is getting hard to find someone skilled at working with plaster nowadays, becoming a lost art.
It'll most likely be far less work than stripping the wallpaper and dealing with the plaster, but it'll opne up a whole new can of worms with the woodwork. I'm assuming that you've got fairly elaborate trim in the house if it's like most 19th century Victorians, and you're either going to have to take it all off and re-install it over the drywall (and have to pack out door jambs and window reveals to match) or you're going to lose 1/4" of the depth of the moldings, which usually looks like crap.
I know how you feel. It feels like putting one of those tub surrounds over some crappy, mouldy bathtub..somehow like cheating and a little icky. I'd try stripping the walllpaper and repairing the plaster in one room to see how it goes. If it's a nightmare, then go the other way and don't look back.
When I lived up north most of the houses I renovated were from the early 1900s. Repairing plaster is a pain and it is very hard to do it right without the cracks reoccuring. You have to open them up in a "V" shape before replastering. My tool of choice was an old-fashioned can opener.
Depending on the condition of the walls I would sometimes fix them or more often I would carefully remove the mouldings, put up 1/4" sheetrock (glued and screwed) and then trim the mouldings and reapply them. Doing this also gives you the opportunity to go ahead and mess the walls up if you want to add some electrical outlets.
When I lived up north most of the houses I renovated were from the early 1900s. Repairing plaster is a pain and it is very hard to do it right without the cracks reoccuring. You have to open them up in a "V" shape before replastering. My tool of choice was an old-fashioned can opener.
Depending on the condition of the walls I would sometimes fix them or more often I would carefully remove the mouldings, put up 1/4" sheetrock (glued and screwed) and then trim the mouldings and reapply them. Doing this also gives you the opportunity to go ahead and mess the walls up if you want to add some electrical outlets.
What- you didn't like leaving the one-outlet-per-room knob-and-tube wiring and 30-Amp-fusebox-in-a-3,000 SF house systems in place????
Last edited by BobKovacs; 03-13-2008 at 09:27 AM..
If it were me I would just go through all the hardship and repair the plaster. I've always had a pet peeve about altering things in old houses. Unfortunately, it has become almost impossible to find a historic property with very few major alterations since 1900.
The problem with my 1921 craftsman house isn't so much the aesthetic appearance of the plaster as is the
1. lack of insulation throughout
2. the lead in the walls
3. the lack of any formal heating or cooling system reaching the upper floor since the main floor was heated by a floor furnace.
4. areas where some paint refuses to adhere (guessing oil based covered by water based?).
5. suspected water damage to joists from bathroom leak in upper floor, stains painted over multiple times but doubt they investigated for rotting beams.
The house needs new siding, so I've got this wacky idea I can have electrical and plumbing updates happening from the outside, then insulate, then do the siding. Does this sound plausable, or will I be forced to face that itchy horsehair plaster and lathe demo with tyvec and a respirator?
I've also heard of an ac/heating unit called mr slim which is supposed to be econo for smaller spaces or add ons without duct work of HVAC. Anyone try this yet? Mitsubishi Electric - HVAC Advanced Products Division
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