I have a late 50’s early 60’s home with plaster over drywall backer (about 1″ thick). I’ve cut away the lower 1/2 of the kitchen wall to make room for the electrical and plumbing work. I had planed on filling the void with drywall and mudding the joint between the old plaster wall and the new drywall.
I have been doing some research on the net and I’m finding that drywall mud is not recomended.
Any suggestions?
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Replies
Drywall mud should work just fine, But, I would recommend Durabond setting compound instead. I've used regular compound successfully but only for small joints, such as repairs. For a larger/longer joints like you have, Durabond will provide greater strength.
First, fill any gaps between the plaster and drywall with compound. After that hardens, use joint tape. I particularly like Fibatape 6" crackstop for these kind of joints since it overlaps both surfaces more than regular joint tape. It's the only fiberglass tape that I like.
Sounds like they way I planned on doing it, just with a better product to fill the gap, then standard drywall mudding techniques.
Thanks for the reply.
Is the drywall already up? Because of the difference in thickness you need to cut some strips, probably 1/8" thick for 5/8" drywall, or 1/4" thick for 1/2 drywall, to fur out the studs. That way the surfaces line up better and you don't have to build up the difference with mud. --------------------------------------------------------
Cheap Tools at MyToolbox.netSee some of my work at TedsCarpentry.com
Not yet, the electrical and plumbing have not been done. I planned on using strips cut from 2x4's or plywood as needed to shim out the drywall. The question surrounds using somewhat differing materials, drywall butting up against plaster, and joining the 2 correctly.
The first pic shows one of the kitchen walls to be covered. The second shows an old doorway I've filled with drywall, but have not blended in the wall yet.
Same problem on both.
Why didnt you take the last two feet of the walls out too? Are you trying to save the wallpaper?:>)
Seriuosly, it might have been easier to go to the ceiling and just mud in the corners.
My thought was that this would retain the integrity of the ceiling and most of the seems will be behind cabinets. The corners are all fortified with wire mesh, so not going to the ceiling saved me from that mess.
Oh, and we are saving the wallpaper, in the alley for the trashman :-)
I've done plenty of the mesh corners. Their not that bad really.
If you're planning to hide seams behind the cabinets, you better be a damn good mudder, or have alot of shims. Its no fun hanging cabinets on torqued walls.
Thats a good point, I may have to reevaluate my plan.
Wow, what a nice clean work area. How the heck do you get anything done?? LOL
I got the main question, but I figured since you were calling rock lath "plaster over drywall backer" you might not be clued in on furring out. Not to mention the others already covered the joint material pretty well, and I hate being left out.
You gonna share some photos of that job as it moves along? :)
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Cheap Tools at MyToolbox.netSee some of my work at TedsCarpentry.com
Edited 6/11/2008 5:37 pm by Ted W.
Sure, can do. It'll be slow going as I'm doing this when I'm not working.
BTW, nice work on your website.
Thanks blt.
What you see there is just the highlights of my career. Most of my work is just repairs, but I ocassionally land some of the nicer projects. And actually just finished a nice built-in hutch about a month ago, that I should add some pictures of.
So that work is your own home? Nice to get home from work just to start working again. :D--------------------------------------------------------
Cheap Tools at MyToolbox.netSee some of my work at TedsCarpentry.com
I had wanted to keep this post updated with pics as we went along, BLT is my cuz, we were using his account as he was helping on the project. Unfortunately busy work schedule, baby on the way, etc. precluded updates. And of course I didn't take enough pics along the way, always seems to happen.
My kitchen remodel is done, so is the rest of the house, full basement remodel with egress window made the kitchen seem easy. The kicker is we sold the house this summer!
A few pics for those interested.
I agree with durabond. i've actually had instances where the plaster was missing to the lath and used durabond. It worked great for a relativey small patch. It was on the ceiling and once in the attic I could see how the durabond locked in just like the plaster.
Webfoot (IIRC) floor patch.
Used by sheet good floor installers on floors and desperate contractors as a plaster substitute. sets fast , is much "creamier" in consistency then durabond fast set.