Problems in Walls? Best Answer May Be to Build New Ones

Walls are the biggest surface in your house, and often they present the biggest problems.

The worse condition they are in, the better off you may be. It won’t be hard to sacrifice them to heating ducts, plumbing pipes and electrical wires.

On the other hand, if they are plastered and range from pretty good to decrepit, you will have to decide how to treat every single surface.

If you are an ardent preservationist, or your house has historic status that requires it, you will want to save them all. Or replace them exactly as they were.

If you are only semiardent--say, one foot in the 19th Century and one in the 21st--you’ll want to keep what’s practical and replace the rest with something aesthetically complementary.

Even if the walls are too far gone to save, the room may have elaborate molding, woodwork or wainscoting that is worth preserving.

“Aesthetically complementary” is the operative term here. While we fall into the semiardent category, we are fairly rigid about the wall treatments we consider appropriate for an older house: Plaster, drywall and, in some cases, exposed brick.

We have seen--and loved--old houses where a carefully restored exterior contains a starkly modern interior. For us, the point is to preserve livable housing stock and keep special neighborhoods identifiable, not to return to the days of buggy whips and wood-fired cookstoves. The best of the old works very well with the best of the new if the applications are consistent and the treatments are in keeping with the style of the house.

Drywall is simply the modern equivalent of plaster. If Colonial and Victorian builders had had it, they would have used it. It is extremely versatile, inexpensive, quick to install, easy to insulate, somewhat fire-retardant, and lends itself to any surface treatment.

Almost anyplace plaster has been, drywall can go. However, drywall has to be finished well--with invisible seams and no nails popping out--or it can be ugly, and no amount of paint will cover the flaws (though wallpaper, an appropriately old-fashioned treatment, can cover a multitude of such sins).

Plaster, if it’s in good condition, offers a beautifully smooth surface, and it’s somewhat soundproof, but it’s not inherently superior. If you’re trying to add something to a plaster surface--molding, woodwork, or just a simple picture hanger--plaster is a very unforgiving surface. It cracks, flakes and pits.

Old plaster is subject to a host of ills. The older it is, the more likely it is to have lost its “keys”--the blobs of plaster that leak through the gaps in the lath and hold the plaster to the wood when it dries. Over time, the keys break off and leave the plaster loose. There are special washers that can be used to reattach the plaster. (We’ve never used them, but the Old House Journal recommends them.) If a plaster ceiling is loose, you might want to think twice about trying to repair it.

Plaster that’s installed over masonry seems to hang on better and may be easier to repair. (Some more modern plaster, installed over a perforated gypsum base, also tends to age more gracefully.)

Plaster will also fail if it becomes saturated with water and is not allowed to dry out, or if a structural element behind it--like a ceiling joist or wall stud--shifts, breaks or splits. Such underlying problems have to be fixed first, and if they’ve caused major plaster damage, repairs are probably best left to a professional. (Complicated ornamental plaster repairs should definitely be left to an artisan.)

However, sometimes only the plaster surface is damaged. An amateur can learn to fill small cracks, nicks, scrapes and holes. It just takes patience--though it helps if you’re something of a perfectionist.

Slightly deeper cracks and holes can be scraped out, saturated with water and filled with one or more coats of plaster mix. (A series of shallow coats that dry quickly will give the best bond.) Shallow surface damage, roughness or small holes can be “skimmed over” with a coat of joint compound and sanded smooth.

If you’re good at it, you can cover cracks with drywall tape, finish them with joint compound and sand them smooth.

If you’re serious about saving a lot of walls, the more work you do yourself, the more cost-efficient the task will be. You won’t save much money keeping marginal plaster walls, especially if you have to pay a professional an hourly rate to repair them.

A lot of rehabbers want to get rid of old plaster to expose old brick beneath. There’s something comforting and appealing about the color and texture of old brick walls, but such walls are not trouble-free.

Since it was never meant to show, old pointing is likely to be ugly or inadequate. Nearly all exposed brick needs repointing. Also, since the wall behind was not meant to show, the plaster may cover some pretty ugly things: big cracks, mismatched bricks, crooked courses, broken-out gaps where gas pipes used to run.

If you’ve never lived with exposed brick, you may not be aware that it sheds--a fine red dust that coats the baseboards and anything else that’s up against the wall. There are a number of coatings that can be applied to stop the dust problem, but nearly all change the appearance of the brick. Even coated brick may be hard to keep clean and any electrical service will have to run across the surface through wire molding.

Keep in mind also that exposed brick isn’t weathertight or very soundproof.