Plaster Wall Patch‏

Q: I'm renting a house where the previous tenants had an entertainment center bolted to plaster walls. When we removed the piece of furniture we discovered that they were secured by nickel-sized butterfly hook bolts. They left substantial holes in the wall that needed repairing.

We used wall patching (plaster sheets that you wet and apply, sand when dry). Unfortunately they are extremely noticeable because it's another layer on top of the wall.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can make it more flush and less noticeable? I realize it'll never be perfect, but the condition it's in now concerns me.

A: You should be able to make it "perfect". You need to fill the hole, rather than cover it, with anyone of the plaster/drywall fillers such as DAP.

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Screwing Into Plaster Walls

Q: I need to put some screws into a wallpaper covered plaster wall. Anything I should know before just doing it? Nothing weight-bearing. Holding up some vertical boards with L brackets/corner braces.

A: You have to use anchors of some kind. If there is truly no weight you can use the plastic anchors that expand as you drive the screw into them. Drill a hole first. If there is some weight you should consider using the toggle style that grip from behind by expanding when a bolt is threaded into them.

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Cracks In Newly Painted / Patched Walls?‏

Q. Last June, we patched and painted every crack in the walls of our 100yr old apt.

Now I have two questions:

1. There are tiny, almost feathery looking cracks appearing on several of the walls. They are very shallow and fairly uniform (i.e. everywhere). What might have caused this and is there any cure?

2. Several large cracks have appeared on the walls that don't have the problem I listed above. I assume if we patch and paint again we'll have the same problem. Any ideas on how to get a longer lasting solutions?

A. The feathery looking cracks sound like a paint compatibility problem - undercoat/primer versus finished coat - from your description it sounds as if the paint is cracking not the wall.

Large cracks sounds like a settling problem - foundation problems in a 100 year old apt. The answer to your question is - YES , if you patch and paint you will most likely have the problem repeat itself.

Q. If I've got a paint compatibility problem (the feathery cracks), what do I do to fix it? Paint again?

Also, what, other than patching and painting the walls with the big cracks, can I do? Does skim coating take care of this? Other ideas?

A. It may be possible to correct cracking if it is confined to small areas by removing the loose or flaking paint with a scraper or wire brush, sanding to feather the edges, priming any bare spots and repainting.

If the cracking involves large areas or the entire surface, remove all of the paint by scraping, sanding and/or use of a heat gun or power washer.

Then, prime with a quality primer and repaint with a quality latex house paint.

I would also recommend that you go talk to a paint expert - Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams paint store - not a big box like Home Depot or Lowes and ask for their advise.

I am sorry to say that with the big cracks, you have to fix the problem, and if it is the foundation it is a major exercise.

A building only has to shift 1/32 of an inch to produce cracks. The only way to "possibly" stop the appearance of the cracking would be to put a layer of thin drywall over the wall. Drywall will stand-up better to shifting than plaster.

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Plaster Debris

Q. I am working on a house built in 1890 and have considerable plaster debris. I am wondering if there is any problem with dumping this waste in the crawl space? Just the plaster, not the lathe.

Or is there any "green" use for it? Anything but substance for the landfill?

A. DONT DO IT!!! I have a home built in 1898 in upstate NY. The plaster may not have anything bad for the environment in it but it probably has paint on it. The paint will most likely have LEAD in it. You will contaminate your home and the cost will be tens of thousands of dollars to clean up the soil, lead paint dust throughout, and don’t forget your furniture.

Dispose of it properly.

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Tearing Out Part Of A Plaster Wall

Q: How can I be sure there are no wires back there until I start tearing the wall down? I don't think there is but I can't be sure that no wires were run in the walls there. Also there is no plumbing around that area so I wouldn't think there are any pipes back there. I am really looking forward to doing this and the change it is going to make. I am just worried I will get started and find problems so I want to try to cover everything that could go wrong before starting.

A: You can never be 100% sure until you take off the drywall, that is why I suggest that you take off a layer instead of cutting through both walls at the same time.

Things to check are - electrical outlets on that wall - if you take the covers off the outlets, pull the outlets out and check to see how many wires are in the boxes. There should be a max of 2 sets of wires - coming in to
the outlet and going to the next outlet. If there are more than 2 sets, the question is where is the other wire running to? Same with switches - look at the direction of the light fixture that a switch controls - if you were
running the wire would you run it through the space you want to remove.

If you have a basement see if any unaccounted for wires seem to run up that wall.

If you have an attic see if any wires are coming through from the top plate of that wall into the attic. If you are reasonably sure that there are no wires or pipes, then take off one side of the drywall.

The worst thing that can happen is that you have to replace that piece of drywall and paint!

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Hanging Items On Plaster Walls

Q: I need to put some screws into a wallpaper covered plaster wall. Anything I should know before just doing it? Nothing weight bearing. Holding up some vertical boards with L brackets/corner braces.

A: You have to use anchors of some kind. If there is truly no weight you can use the plastic anchors that expand as you drive the screw into them. Drill a hole first. If there is some weight you should consider using the toggle style that grip from behind by expanding when a bolt is threaded into them.

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