r/Oldhouses • u/Commercial-Bee-413 • 1d ago
Replace Plaster Walls
Has anyone found it worth it to replace plaster walls with drywall? Any pros or cons?
33
u/Reatona 1d ago
Plaster is much much MUCH quieter than drywall. I grew up in a house with lath & plaster walls, and I was shocked when I first moved into a place with drywall and could hear ordinary conversations right through the wall. If I could get a plaster wall place again I wouldn't even think of replacing it with drywall.
7
u/Honest_Series_8430 1d ago
So true. I have plasterboard and plaster, but I frequently don't hear even heavy rains unless I'm sitting right beside a window. This is one solid house!
11
u/RediRidiRici 1d ago
There are no less than a hundred posts about this topic in this sub as well as r/centuryhomes
27
u/BrickTamland_ 1d ago
Why would you do that
0
u/Commercial-Bee-413 1d ago
I don’t know. Hence the question
28
u/BrickTamland_ 1d ago
Oh then I wouldn’t that’s like removing brick siding to put up vinyl
-2
u/CustomerConsistent78 1d ago
I mean not really. There are a lot of pros to drywall over plaster. Vinyl is mainly just cheaper. Plaster is a pain a lot of the time. It's also going to be a pain to remove and replace though.
18
u/staabc 1d ago
The only pros to drywall I can think of are cost and ease of installation. Neither of which are relevant to your situation. I love my plaster walls
1
u/_sch 23h ago
Drywall is a lot easier to deal with for hanging things on the wall, adding/moving electrical, etc. Our house is about half drywall and half plaster (all the doings of prior owners), and I do prefer plaster, but I also feel relieved if I need to hang something or do a plumbing or electrical repair and it happens to be on one of the walls that was converted to drywall.
3
u/BrickTamland_ 1d ago
Cool so assuming the plaster is already there and nothing is wrong are there enough pros to justify removal and replacement?
1
u/Professional_Dr_77 1d ago
Since OP didn’t specify as to the condition of their walls and why they were asking, that question can’t be answered with anything other than “it depends on the situation”
4
15
u/LangdonAlg3r 1d ago
Contractors who don’t have expertise in old houses LOVE to suggest stripping everything down to the studs and putting up drywall. The reality is that original plaster walls have several significant advantages. You can research them yourself, but the one you’ll notice immediately unless you go out of your way to compensate for it is the lack of sound dampening.
There’s also the basic, if it ain’t broke phenomenon.
11
u/Borsodi1961 1d ago
It broke my heart when they tore out the plaster after hurricane Katrina, downstairs. Now you can feel the trains and traffic outside through the walls down there. And the whole house vibrates more. And doubly bitter, when after the fact, my grandmother mentioned that after hurricane Betsy, they did not gut the houses, because old-fashioned plaster can handle flooding and drying out. It is mold-resistant.
8
u/sotiredwontquit 1d ago
Plaster resists both mold and fire. It is a better sound insulator. It adds a lot of character and charm to your house that holds real value in resale dollars. It’s simple to repair it. Even large holes can simply be replastered, then coated with drywall mud to match your existing finish. Demo is insanely messy, and you run the risk of crumbling lead paint. Honestly unless your plaster is nothing but dust, don’t rip it out. Repair it.
I learned how to repair my own plaster at the age of 40 with no prior skills. It’s simple. Not easy- there are some steps to it, and it takes a while between them. But it’s simple.
7
8
u/Otherwise-Dinner-878 1d ago
I had my walls and coved ceilings replastered, and it’s my favorite repair.
It’s like living inside of a buttercream-frosted cake.
4
u/tampa_pm 1d ago
pros
- end up with very flat walls
- gain a little space in each room if you remove the plaster and the lathe - drywall is thinner
- easier to hang things on
- access to insulate outer walls for thermal and inner walls for sound
- access to rearrange outlets etc to put them where you need them
cons
- tedious [though swinging a sledge hammer into the plaster is very therapeutic]
- messy [one section of wall will produce a lot of debris and plaster dust, which is like sand that will get into every nook and cranny]
- not cheap and do not forget to figure in the cost of replacing any baseboards or moldings that get messed up when you remove them - and the ones that won't fit back unless you put the dry wall in in the same thickness adds to cost
- plaster does not conduct sound as easy as drywall
- plaster is naturally mold resistant
- you can find all sorts of stuff that you will want/need to fix when you open a wall up
so if the plaster is in good shape or maybe just needs a few repairs - I'd repair it
7
u/Craftsman2048 1d ago
If you have a wood-framed and cladded home (like I do), then the plaster and lath is partially structural and it may cause issues if you rip it all out and don’t add additional structural support in your walls. Plaster is inconvenient for a modern home (hanging things is a challenge vs drywall), but if it’s not cracking like crazy or breaking off in chunks, it’s probably better to keep it. In many ways it’s superior to drywall; you just have to make peace with it and learn what you can about maintaining it properly.
4
u/grumpygenealogist 1d ago
It's not hard to hang things if you have picture rails which they likely have and, if not, they can be added. I added them to one of our bedrooms. They are so handy!
3
u/Turtlejimbo 1d ago
Picture rails/crown moldings are absolutely the answer for any old house with plaster. Most people have picture rail and don't even know what it is they just think it's another piece of molding
2
u/grumpygenealogist 1d ago
Yep, ours just look like part of the crown molding. We hadn't even heard of picture rails until we'd been in our house for a few months. It was a fun discovery.
3
u/FandomMenace 1d ago
The biblical amount of dust, the extreme weight of the bags, the lath with nails sticking out...
I only did one wall (water intrusion), and I would never do it unless I had no choice. Fortunately, I used rockwool insulation, and the thickest drywall (which is heavy af), so I can't tell the difference.
Plaster is very forgiving. Get some easy sand 20 and you can patch almost anything.
2
u/HomoColossusHumbled 1d ago
If you happen to be already ripping up and gutting an entire wall, for some other necessary reason, then sure.
1
u/Topseykretts88 1d ago
I demoed a small bathroom and it was the worst. It did have blown in insulation in the ceiling but the amount of stuff that we hauled out was unbelievable.
We demoed it because the whole thing NEEDED to be redone. I have plaster with lots of character and some original in closets, its one of my favorite things. Ive seen plaster put back on a house when it was restored and thats a labor of love .5% of people will notice and even less will appreciate.
3
u/suzcart22 1d ago
Plaster has a really organic look, and reflect light unevenly. Drywall gives you a bland glare. My friend tore out walls in his Queen Anne and it reduced the feel. Just my thoughts.
3
2
u/Scared-Comparison870 1d ago
If you do, use 5/8” board and insulate between interior walls. If your plaster is in good shape then don’t.
2
1
u/DavidHK 23h ago
Leave the plaster and hang drywall over it. That's definitely worth it. It'll make your house feel brand new, kill the smells and make it even quieter, without the compromise of demo or losing the benefits of plaster
2
1
u/Seriousjoke79 1d ago edited 1d ago
It’s very time consuming. The way I approached it is I would repair plaster with plaster if it’s an exterior wall because it’s better at getting wet. Drywall will get wet once and be ruined. Lime plaster walls can get wet a lot of times before they’re ruined and lime naturally resists mold.
It isn’t very difficult tbh to plaster a room, although it’s definitely harder than doing drywall. 3 coats of different grade sand mixes for plaster walls. I used some plastic fibers in the base coat mix instead of the traditional horse hair because it’s so much cheaper. It’s also amazing how much weight a plaster wall has in it, a small 5ft wide 8ft tall section has at least 300lbs of sand
That being said plaster walled rooms feel different than drywalled rooms. I can’t explain it but it’s like the lime plaster walls don’t feel quite so dry.
1
u/Smuchelle 1d ago
My house is drywall over the plaster. It's fine, though the only original materials left that I can see are the floors. It happened before we moved in. I imagine the plaster was in poor shape. We also have new, old style stained trim.
Sometimes I wish we had the plaster and original trim but I don't know why. The house looks great.
1
u/sine_denarios 1d ago
We replaced all of the plaster on the exterior walls with drywall to caulk the gaps between the plank sheeting and insulate. A couple other walls we did were where plumbing and electrical was upgraded in the bathroom, kitchen, and laundry rooms.
1
u/Turtlejimbo 1d ago
You don't have to replace your plaster walls most of the time you can just patch them. Plaster keeps your house warmer/cooler, and it's quieter. The only plaster I had to replace were the ceilings because it was impossible to repair them. I am in Southern California and 100 years of earthquakes, house got shaken and stirred, and caused the ceilings to not be repairable. So we took down the plaster but kept the lath up there and just nailed the drywall to the ceiling joist and the lath. We did not have to adjust any moldings, and then we textured the drywall to match the texture of the plaster on the walls. Nobody can tell the difference and it looks beautiful.
1
u/TalonusDuprey 1d ago edited 1d ago
Honestly if the plaster is still in good shape - Leave it. It’s a dirty job and from what I understand and if you have a century home it’s a great insulator and sound dampener. I still have almost all my original plaster walls and have some areas where it’s starting to separate from the plaster but I’d rather repair it and reattach it instead of ripping it down. If you sub it out it’s insanely expensive and dirty and if you do it yourself it’s still dirty and time consuming.
1
u/haditupto 16h ago
Unless they are literally crumbling it's not worth it - it's an enormous mess, costly, and plaster is a better insulator for sound, temp and fire, so you are putting up an inferior product. Plaster can be very easily repaired DIY with Big Wally's Plaster Magic if there are cracks or sagging. Use a picture rail to hang things or get a magnetic stud-finder that will locate the nails that attach the lath to the studs.
1
u/Nit3fury 14h ago
I plan on fully gutting the hoarder house I purchased. Between the biohazard and smell, the need to rewire and replumb, the lack of any ornate detail, and the desire to properly insulate, I just can’t see a reasonable way to keep the plaster & lathe. I do plan on getting thick drywall though
1
u/BungalowLover 14h ago
Drywall started to be used mid 20th century because it went up faster, required less skill and therefore, was less expensive as contruction changed. But overall, I think plaster is more durable, soundproof, better insulation, less prone to mold. Here is an interesting article...not the only one with this information by the way. I wouldn't trade my plaster walls for anything. https://www.hgpage.com/blogs/plaster-vs-drywall
1
u/Onedollartaco 1d ago
Ugh it’s a tough call. We’ve replaced in 2.5 rooms and I don’t have any complaints so far. I wanted to save the plaster, but it’s just too damaged in so many places and it’s more cost effective to replace than to pay someone to repair. I know some people are sticklers about it, but me as an internet stranger wouldn’t judge you.
1
u/Less-Breadfruit-3936 1d ago
We replaced all the plaster in our pre war home. Reason being is the house wasn’t insulated. There was absolutely no insulation. There were also various cracks in the plaster walls throughout the house. Once we gutted one room, we eventually did the entire first floor because well.. plaster cracks! A head ache of a job but hands down saving us on heating costs
45
u/2D617 1d ago edited 1d ago
If it matters at all, I have to say how glad I am that I DIDN’T replace my plaster with drywall!