Plastering over old lumpy wall???

[donnaval]

We have an old lumpy wall in a rental unit. The wall is very solid, just doesn't look good. Does anone have any idea if it's possible to just plaster over it to smooth it out? Hubbie doesn't want to rip out the old plaster and put up drywall since the rest of the unit is all plastered. He's parged exterior walls with concrete before and figures this ought to be sort of the same but isn't sure. For example, when parging an outside wall he had to put a wire mesh over the old surface and then smear concrete into the mesh and go from there. Anybody have any experience with plastering over old plaster??? Thanks for any info!

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We have an old lumpy wall in a rental unit. The wall is very solid, just doesn't look good. Does anone have any idea if it's possible to just plaster over it to smooth it out? Hubbie doesn't want to rip out the old plaster and put up drywall since the rest of the unit is all plastered. He's parged exterior walls with concrete before and figures this ought to be sort of the same but isn't sure. For example, when parging an outside wall he had to put a wire mesh over the old surface and then smear concrete into the mesh and go from there. Anybody have any experience with plastering over old plaster??? Thanks for any info!

Why not apply a knockdown texture on it, same as you would to finish drywall? Since the wall is lumpy, you would want to use a heavy knockdown, maybe even do it twice.

 

[Mydogs2big]

If I had it to do all over again, I would just cut out the old wall (very carefully) and replace it with sheetrock and insulating that wall while I was there. I have spent much angst having people that don't really know what they're doing try to fix and repair lathe & plaster.

I've had one successful float, but it was so much more work than just cutting out the one wall and replacing it with sheetrock that it wasn't worth it. It looked new at the end anyhow and I had to texture it, not matching the surrounding walls.

I've also had good luck just going over the lathe & plaster with thin 1/4 " sheetrock. But, you have to make sure your wood work sticks out enough to not look funny and you need little electric box extenders (remodel kits).

Cutting out a wall takes tape, snapping a line, and using a circular saw to cut just through the plaster. you can then knock out the middle, moving out, but be careful around the outsides. You then need to cut the lathe closest to the edges and pull it all out. If it's an outside wall, insulate and when you're done sheetrocking you can simply use a roller and texture paint, cheap fiberboard molding to match the rest of the room's molding, caulk around the edges and paint. It's much easier than anything else, but only if you're careful. If you pay someone else to do it by the hour, they will accidentally make it a very big long job! Still, it is very easy and there's absolutely no reason for that to happen. Good luck!

 

[nkldavy]

I've Had Good Results With Joint Compound

It's difficult to know what I'd do without actually seeing and touching the wall in question. If a plastered wall is lumpy, it usually means that the plaster has come lose from the lath. I've had excellent results taking out the lumpy areas and putting joint compound back in - just like I was plastering the wall so that the compound gets behind the lath and grabs onto it. It takes 3 or 4 coats, but no one can tell that it's joint compound once it's done and a coat of primer put on the area.

Uncle Davey