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Plasterers – I’d like your ideas on the salvage or repair of a plastered bathroom wall.
Having enjoyed your spirited debate over the last Old Plaster question to hit Breaktime, I will put the issue in This-Old-House-Speak: While not Old, my condo is a historic transitional structure that marks the end of an era – the last appearance of both plastered walls and EMT in tract building and the start of the GypBoard Era. 😉
SITUATION
The condo was built around 1960 in Newport Beach, CA. We bought it in ’62. The walls and ceilings are plaster over a backer board of some type.
The hall bath suffers from:
Efflorescence in patches (is that the term – powdery plaster bulges? ), probably from water damage from both roof leaks and pipes going off in the walls. (Copper plumbing.) One El Nino winter had me drilling holes in the roof and running the water into trash cans to keep it from traveling all over.
Death By Decorator. My late mother papered it in successive layers of foil and vinyl wall papers – we stripped them, but it appears that the walls could not breath and trapped moisture behind the paper. The current wall shows a layer of the vinyl glue and possibly an early or original oil paint on the wall, plus attractive patches of mold for accent.
Ceiling cracks – cause?? These radiate from the heater/light/fan in the ceiling and also the light over the toilet. As the full attic is used as a warehouse, I suspect all that traffic overhead. They look rather like stress risers.
MISSION
What to do?
Patch and plaster it or rock it over?
Can we get the vinyl junk off the walls without dynamite?
A test patch of a chemical remover yielded a quantity of sticky gunk. I will try sanding another patch.
What about the powdery bulges? Dig ’em out back to firm plaster and patch?
The wife doubts we will get the walls fair enough to paint them and is urging a camouflage wall paper (breathable) over the repairs.
What do you think?
John Wells
Replies
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John,
As for the wallpaper you may want to address someone here that has more experience in it than a typical plasterer may have. My experience in it is if it doesn't come off with water or Citristrip then they need to hire a wallpaper pro.
As for your cracks.
What is above this ceiling?
You said the cracks are in the bathroom, right? If it's in the bathroom then you shouldn't have too much trouble with the cracks returning anytime soon as the walls in a typical bath are pretty close and there is plenty of support for the ceiling.
You say that the cracks are around certain openings in the ceiling? If they are projecting out from the openings then you may have some stress going on there. Just like stress cracks at the corners of doors and windows you can have the same type of stress cracks in the ceiling around openings.
If these cracks are not very deep then you can just open them up about 1/4" wide or so and get a little water into them then patch them up with some DuraBond90, since this is in the bathroom DuraBond may be the best material to use. Then sand em smooth when they're dry.
Now, you said that the plastering is the ole "button board" type of veneer plaster, right?
This is the precurser to the modern "blue board" type of veneer plastering. But the plaster for this stuff was applied over boards that were about 2 to 2 1/2 feet by 6 to 8 in length. The sanded plaster was applied over the board then a white coat was applied over that.
With this type of plaster system you may see long cracks going around the circumference of the boards making rectangular shapes in the wall or ceiling.
If these are the type of cracks you are getting then you may need to open them up and patch them as I said for the stress cracks.
As for the efflorescence you will need to dig them out and patch them in. These "cancers" will have a tendency to grow on you.
Brian Ewing
CraftsmenSquare
PS....I used to live in Anaheim and I grew up there. We used to go to Huntington Beach (Tin-can Beach). Is there still a lot of tar and stuff on the beaches there? I used to hate getting that cr*p stuck on my towels and between my toes!!! LOL
*Brian,Thanks for the info. I have never disected enough of the walls to hit buttons, but I've been told that it's button board. And - the long cracks are there in various places in the kitty litter ceilings.The condo has a mansard roof, so there is about 20x50 of standing headroom in the attic. Serious storage. It has been a warehouse and studio since '62. Over the bath - my book collection was on shelves up there for years.We just moved back down to make this our winter quarters. Given the fine weather in Seattle - good career move. Had been renting it out, so now it renovation time.Surfer dude? HB - don't know about the tar, but there are now oil islands on the way to Catalina that were not there when I left in '83. Why do I suspect there is still tar? Were you there when they installed the tanker mooring off HB? The Coast Hwy. section of HB is being Yuppified. I didn't recognize a thing.Lot of building, but the coyotes still howl in the full of the moon in the Back Bay. They also love cats.
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Plasterers - I'd like your ideas on the salvage or repair of a plastered bathroom wall.
Having enjoyed your spirited debate over the last Old Plaster question to hit Breaktime, I will put the issue in This-Old-House-Speak: While not Old, my condo is a historic transitional structure that marks the end of an era - the last appearance of both plastered walls and EMT in tract building and the start of the GypBoard Era. ;-)
SITUATION
The condo was built around 1960 in Newport Beach, CA. We bought it in '62. The walls and ceilings are plaster over a backer board of some type.
The hall bath suffers from:
Efflorescence in patches (is that the term - powdery plaster bulges? ), probably from water damage from both roof leaks and pipes going off in the walls. (Copper plumbing.) One El Nino winter had me drilling holes in the roof and running the water into trash cans to keep it from traveling all over.
Death By Decorator. My late mother papered it in successive layers of foil and vinyl wall papers - we stripped them, but it appears that the walls could not breath and trapped moisture behind the paper. The current wall shows a layer of the vinyl glue and possibly an early or original oil paint on the wall, plus attractive patches of mold for accent.
Ceiling cracks - cause?? These radiate from the heater/light/fan in the ceiling and also the light over the toilet. As the full attic is used as a warehouse, I suspect all that traffic overhead. They look rather like stress risers.
MISSION
What to do?
Patch and plaster it or rock it over?
Can we get the vinyl junk off the walls without dynamite?
A test patch of a chemical remover yielded a quantity of sticky gunk. I will try sanding another patch.
What about the powdery bulges? Dig 'em out back to firm plaster and patch?
The wife doubts we will get the walls fair enough to paint them and is urging a camouflage wall paper (breathable) over the repairs.
What do you think?
John Wells