Hi,
Another quantry in my 80 year old house. 2 of my rooms were left in their original plaster state with many crack repairs having been done over the years. They are also uninsulated to the exterior...I am itching to either rip out the plaster, insulate and drywall. I know this is opening a can of worms, but what tips or suggestions does anyone have to make the job seem a little more do-able as a DIYer?
Thanks for your help.
Sheetrocking is cheap. The labor is in the demo. If you can demo the rooms, even one at a time. save all the trim if it's in good shape, insulate, then hire sheetrockers and tapers to do the drywall, then finish the trim yourself, it'll be worth it. A horsehair plaster job is going to be over an inch thick, so window and door trims will need some extra work, but the rooms will be suddenly much larger. It's also a good opertunity to install new wiring.
>Those are all good points...thanks.
Taking down the old plaster walls & ceiling in my similarly aged house was a pleasure. If you don't already have em, pick up ventilators for anyone who'll be helping out, or your lungs will hate you.
It's going to be a very dirty job, dress appropriately, and make sure that the room is empty of stuff with appearances you value. If you can't move everything, get some 6 mil and cover up what's left.
Our demolition was essentially hammers and brute force. I assume you already have safety glasses :) Heavy duty black trash bags are also in order, as plaster gets heavy. Some kind of gloves are good too, assuming you've got wood lathe & nails behind that plaster.
While you've got the walls off, consider any upgrades you can do. Plan, plan, plan. We rewired the entire first floor (2nd floor is getting similar treatment in a few months) and I put speaker cable access in the living room, so that one can easily set up a surround system regardless of what side of the room you choose to put your TV in.
Good luck!
One thing I noticed when moving from a new house to an older one with plaster walls was that the house was considerably quieter. Those plaster walls transmit less sound. If you decide to take out the plaster, you might consider having it replaced with a double layer of drywall to make up the extra thickness, and provide more mass for soundproofing. -- H
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