veronica jayne

If you saw these floors you would know there isn't enough money in the world

Sophia_S

Our house was built in 1924,it's all plaster and lathe as well. The kitchen was tiny,so my husband completely gutted the kitchen and the dining room,right down to the studs in the ceiling,walls and floors!,and tore the wall down between them,but he dry-walled everything instead of redoing the plaster and lathe,it was a lot more convenient,and quicker,as well as giving him the chance to easily run new and more wiring to lots of new outlets,always handy!I drew out the design for what I wanted,then we couldn't find exactly the right cabinets which were already finished,so we bought all unfinished and did the whole lot ourselves,the stain is a lovely,warm,medium honey colour,we used laminate flooring throughout,then I couldn't find the curtains I could 'see' in my minds eye...so I bought the fabric and made them,and they are still exactly what I wanted,about 3-4 years later!...it was a lot of very hard work,but I got exactly what I wanted....he got to have a good nag,scream and bitch!....and we saved thousands of $$$$$!!!!
Have you tried looking in your phone book for plasterers?,I wonder if they would tell you what they use?,might be worth a try,mightn't it?......Good Luck.......Sophia

farmerwife

Sophia - good for you and hubby doing all that work! We haven't removed any of the lath and plaster in our 1946 house, only trying to patch up cracks.
The drywalling we've done has been in the basement and extension part - OH hangs it and I tape and mud it. Some friends have removed their lath and plaster and sheetrocked like you did. I'm really afraid to open a can of worms there, not only the dust and mess but because of what might be in the plaster

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load...280923277.html

I could send off to get it tested, but then of course there'd be disclosure on selling .... not sure what to do. (Pull it down and build another one)

Chorlton

People sometimes seal in asbestos-containing materials. In your case you could probably fix sheetrock over the plaster. The trouble is when the folks you buy your house decide to renovate, they may get a nasty surprise. Of course, its all safe unless it is disturbed or in a very poor condition.
Back to buying plaster - mention carlite and thistle in Lowes and I doubt they'd have any idea when you're talking about anymore. I'm sure plaster is available somewhere, but if you can make sheetrock fit your situation, its the way to go.

US Gypsum still make base and finish/skim plaster:
US Gypsum plaster

I guess you could call the nearest branch and find a stockist:
Locations

ironporer

My last house was the same, and we stripped it down to the studs- only to find (as Rodney did) that the studs varied quite a bit- they were not level. As previously mentioned, we had to use furring (firring?) strips and shims all over hell's half acre to get the drywall to sit flush.
Once done it was all worth it.

Hanging the drywall is the easy part- always stagger seams and try to run all he sheets horizontally rather than vertically- the seams show less. and never try to cobble together small pieces as I did to save a buck- use whole sheets whenever possible! Saves a ton of mudding and taping.
The true workmanship is in the finish- mudding and taping. Apply mud to the seam, seat your tape into the seam, with a this layer using a 5-6'' putty knife. When dry sand well, feathering the edges. Then use progressivly larger (10'' then 14'' or even 18'') sanding off the 'belly' and feathering the edges. If you cheat on this, you will end up with walls that the seams look pregnant.
For painting don't skimp- use a good grade of drywall sealer- though if you are tiling etc, this is not necessary.

As for your original question- you might check out this page-

http://www.bobvila.com/HowTo_Library...lls-A1921.html

farmerwife

Interesting link - that people are still plastering, and using wire 'lath' over brick. Every time I do a bit of sheetrock finishing I swear I'll never do it again - end up looking like a ghost. Next house will be the "whole house remodel" done professionally before we move in! Current house is just getting patched up for the time being. Where we live, when properties are sold, the smaller older houses are being pulled down ( or the fire dept. comes and does a practice burn on them), and then people are building Macmansions instead.

Rodney you plonker

Right that's bloody it. I am going to find a bag of plaster in this country if it kills me, then I am going to plaster the walls the good old fashioned way.

Thanks Chorlton

Sophia_S

Oh yes,we thought about the dust and what it could be in it,so Don duct taped thick plastic up around the work area,and had a box fan blowing out of a window and 'jimmy-rigged' his shop-vac with drier ducting and had the end of it going out of another window and he wore long sleeves and pants,as well as his National Guard issued gas mask!....needless to say,there was still one heck of a mess,but at least it was kept in the work area,of course,being an old house, nothing was straight,he had to use furring strips on the studs as well,and as is typical with everything in the house,we would've had to 'special order' windows to fit,so he closed in three of the window spaces,built up the wall around the one above the sink,and put a single french door in the wall between where the two dining room windows had been,it all took about a year,but it was absolutely worth the wait,and all the shreiks of 'G-d damn it!' from behind the plastic!....it's a miracle he wasn't struck by lightening!!!!!!!,mind you,I wonder if 'Big G' was using Don's hammer to punish him?!.......he certainly seemed to hammer his fingers and thumbs a lot!!!!
So far he's replaced all the windows in the house except for three which he plans to do this year,before he gets started on the siding!,although we're thinking of hiring a siding company,because they'll be able to get the job done so much quicker.....we'll see!......Sophia

Chorlton

You're welcome - I'd be interested to know how it goes!

veronica jayne

http://www.venetianplasters.com/?gcl...FSJ-UAodsyTJVw

veronica jayne

I c and p'd this from a 'home site'

Serious question re: sheetrock comment--does anyone put up new walls nowadays that are not made of sheetrock? What are the alternatives? Do people still erect plaster walls?

Posted by: Anonymous at May 25, 2007 2:41 PM

ali,
the records are certainly wrong, there has only been one family living here as far back as I can remember, and that is about 50 years.

Posted by: Anonymous at May 25, 2007 2:41 PM

hancock looks like a great opportunity. if i were looking, i'd jump on it. that's a great block and great looking house. yes, people do use plaster instead of sheetrock. i used fiberglass sheets to reinforce the original walls and then had a plasterer skim the walls back to beautiful condition. this is the way to do it instead of losing the details, but it is more expensive and labor intensive.

Ray

Before taking down any wall ..check the name of all previous owners
If the name Fred West is found ... live with the old wall ...

Jerseygirl

I'm not really bothered about what other women think...it's our 28th wedding anniversary at the weekend...so it's worked for me.

Tracym

Oh, I've found the helpless female thing oh so useful on some occasions - particularly those involving icky dead things and such.

"eek eek... ICKY... get RID of it for me... eeeeek"

They never think to ask what I do when noone else is around

Jerseygirl

IMHO men eventually get brassed off with a woman who can do everything...makes them feel useless.

My husband knows full well I can manage without him...he just likes to think I couldn't.