Plaster walls are some of the most misunderstood parts of an old home. And many homeowners are quick to tear them down and put up drywall. But replacing plaster walls with drywall is not only a major mess and expense, but it also destroys the character of your home. Each plaster wall is unique. You can truly see the hand of the plasterer who made the wall as opposed to monolithically boring drywall. Combine that with the extra strength and soundproofing a plaster wall provides and you now know why I won’t do drywall anymore.
The most common problem with plaster walls is cracking or pulling away from the lath behind it. If this is happening in your house there is a simple solution that you can do to save your plaster and your money. At my historic restoration company we started using Big Wally’s Plaster Magic for our plaster repairs. Funny name, serious product. The system is easy enough for anyone to use and works great! In my opinion, it’s a much a better system than the old way of doing plaster repair. This isn’t a paid endorsement. I get no money from Big Wally (unfortunately!). I just wanted to help you find a better solution to save your plaster walls.
So, we put together the video below to teach you the process we use and how you can do it in your own home:
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Hi Scott,
I love my old walls. Every so often, when someone would come into our house for an unrelated issue, they would stop and look at the walls and say they knew somebody that could put up dry wall for us. My answer ” Does this house look like a cookie cutter house in the sub divisions?” Jeesh, this brain wash about drywall. Thanks for the video, it’s terrific.
Anyes
The Dusty Victorian
I love it! No cookie cutters around here!
When interviewing contractors to work on our small 1924 Craftsman bungalow, that’s one of the clues I use. Any contractor who’s not sensitive to, and appreciative of, my home and its historic features doesn’t get to lay a hand on any part of it. And yes, it does eliminate the vast majority of potential contractors.
Laura, I’m glad you’re so particular about who gets to work on your house. I only wish that more people thought like that. I’d probably have less work fixing their mistakes, but there would be more historic homes that haven’t been remuddled.
Anybody know of a historic home-sensitive contractor in the Kansas City area?
Hi Scott, Love the website! I live in earthquake country and I need to bolt my bookcases into these old walls. Any tips on how to bolt the bookcases into the walls without causing major damage to the plaster walls?
Ron, I would just screw into the studs for security if possible. If securing it to the studs isn’t a possibility then you should pre drill holes for anchors that are rated for the weigh of the load you need to support. Just avoid any hammering as that will loosen the plaster’s connection to the lath.