# drywall over old plaster..need advice



## SCC19 (Mar 23, 2005)

ok,so i know this is kind of being hypocritical to my "repair expert" lol,but im doing this in an old residential townhome,and i do very little residential,and i cannot tell ya the last time i delt with plaster...


so i'm doing a job for a friend with old plaster walls,behind it is the old wire mesh and done up with a brown coat. She had a roof leak and got it repaired,the problem is the leak went down behind her walls,hence..needs to
be repaired..now i've repaired drywall over a million times,as has any contractor..but maybe plaster once or twice. my question is..after i tear out the area where the plaster was damaged,can i tear out the wire mesh and replace it with jack studs? or does it have to stay,and if so how what the hell am i going to screw to? also,she has 3 or 4 dents on her outside corners at the opening leading to the dining room..i want to put a corner bead over it and mud it in so she can paint it and it will cover the damage,will the mud damage or mess with the plaster at all?

any advice would be more than appreciate it,thanks!


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

SCC19 said:


> my question is..after i tear out the area where the plaster was damaged,can i tear out the wire mesh and replace it with jack studs?


I can't imagine why you'd use jack studs there. Perhaps you meant shims? or lath? 


SCC19 said:


> ...will the mud damage or mess with the plaster at all?


nope.


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## JustaFramer (Jan 21, 2005)

As a matter of fact setting compounds use plaster of paris in them. I don't know how much time you want to spend on this but using a "hot mud" might be what you want.


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

Just fill it was some sort of backer, anything will do, drywall, screen, couple of old tires? Mud over the whole mess and match the texture.


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## IHI (Dec 25, 2004)

All my patch jobs with existing plaster were with drywall backer/fillers and I use hot mud exclusively for patch work since I dont wanna be there anylonger than I have to. Never had a crack call back


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## SCC19 (Mar 23, 2005)

thanks guys! i think i am going to try the hot mud and see how that turns out

tore out the wall last night,turns out there was a wooden frame already in place,and drywall nailed up! someone came on and put plaster over it! no wonder it was falling apart with nothing to lock the plaster in!

as for the ceiling she told me she had johnny contractor come in and repair it the first time,he had 3 sheets of 3/8 up there screwed to a 1x...besides the fact that he stripped all but maybe 5 screws,i barley pulled on it and it fell on my head(was not prepared for that). her trusses are a little moldy but if i let the ceiling dry out it should be a breeze repairing it.

thanks again!


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## Teetorbilt (Feb 12, 2004)

Kill the mold and put an exclusion in your contract. Here's mine.

"The Contractor can not and will not be held responsible or liable for the presence of any fungi, algae, lichens, slime, mold, bacteria, wet or dry rot and any byproducts of these organisms however produced that may or may not be present now or at any time in the unforeseeable future."


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