Cracks in a pier and beam house - retexture or drywall ?

Hi,

We're moving into a house which was built in 1959, and most of the rooms have small cracks in the wall plaster above the door jams and in a few places on the ceiling. Over the years it looks like the cracks have been poorly patched and painted over, so the walls in some areas look rather bad.

Is it possible to retexture the walls in hopes of making the walls appear uniform? Another option I've read is putting a layer of drywall over the plaster, but with wood molding on the doorways and entryways between rooms (like kitchen and living room), I'm not sure how this will look or work. I'd like to keep the original wood molding because it's still in very good shape.

Just curious. Thanks --

Alex

Reply to
Alex
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Just put in a proper patch. Use a scraper or old screwdriver and widen the crack making it into a nice V shape. It may seems wrong to scratch out so much material but it is necessary for the patch to adhere that new material be exposed. You may have to temporarily remove moulding if the crack goes underneath. Then use real plaster to make the patch.

Reply to
Lawrence

One thing I would consider is cause. It is possible that the floor is sagging below the area where the cracks are above the door jams. If you go under the house you may be able to jack up the floor joist back to level and place additional support under the week places.

Now patch the cracks and they should not reappear.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

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