Wall texture

[maxpower10]

I'm looking to cover up some cracks and holes in some old wall finish. Existing it is lath and plaster and has some minor to major cracks.  Spray texturing took care of one room, but I'd like to do something different in the other rooms.  I'm open to any suggestions of technique and/or tools that could be used.  I was thinking a heavier texture with some fun design involved.  Pictures would be great if you have tackled jobs like this before!  Thanks everyone!

Scott

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Big Wally's

 

[peter halle]

Ken,

Have you used Big Wally's yourself?

Scott,

When I texture walls - actually something that I enjoy - I always suggest that customers consider the decor and style of home.  It is possible to a great job and have it look way out of place.  Any details you might like to share?  What do you like?

Peter 

 

[Brice Burrell]

Textured walls, you're kidding right? [scared]  I understand the reasoning but you might want to reconsider.  As Peter said, it doesn't always work with the house (or it never works depending on who you ask [tongue]).

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

Textured walls, you're kidding right? [scared]  I understand the reasoning but you might want to reconsider.  As Peter said, it doesn't always work with the house (or it never works depending on who you ask [tongue]).

I agree, fix the cracks.  It is not that difficult if you prep it properly.

Durabond will be your friend and you will appreciate the subtle  waviness of plaster walls.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Brice, yes I've used Big Wally's plaster repair kits.  I've also called him up for advice on occasion since he has a lot of experience with plaster and drywall problems.

I hate repairing textured or sand coated walls.  Drives me nuts when people or contractors have tried to hide stuff with it and I have to either fix and duplicate or fix and remove it all.  I'd also rate wallpaper removal up there with PIA things.

 

[monte]

Big Wally's

Ken, hey,

thanks for the tip.
Neat idea.
have you used big wally on walls that are not lathe and plaster? , ie stud and drywall?

 

[monte]

I'm looking to cover up some cracks and holes in some old wall finish. Existing it is lath and plaster and has some minor to major cracks.  Spray texturing took care of one room, but I'd like to do something different in the other rooms.  I'm open to any suggestions of technique and/or tools that could be used.  I was thinking a heavier texture with some fun design involved.  Pictures would be great if you have tackled jobs like this before!  Thanks everyone!

Scott

hmmm,

My response is the same as Brices.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Big Wally's

Ken, hey,

thanks for the tip.
Neat idea.
have you used big wally on walls that are not lathe and plaster? , ie stud and drywall?

Roger, haven't used it on drywall since I don't see any benefit to using it in that way.  The main purpose of Rory's system is to "glue" the loose or cracking plaster to the lath that used to hold it firmly.  If the lath is damaged, obviously you won't have a strong "base" for the plaster to adhere to and you'll need to do more extensive repair work.  Drywall cracks occur from either bad mud jobs or structural movement from fasteners coming loose to shrinking lumber to more serious issues.  I always try and figure out the cause and correct it instead of just filling it quick, grabbing the check and running.  [big grin]

 

[jmbfestool]

Big Wally's

Ken, hey,

thanks for the tip.
Neat idea.
have you used big wally on walls that are not lathe and plaster? , ie stud and drywall?

With stud you might as well screw some more screws in if the boards have come loose form the stud but that is very unlikely unless it was an extreme poor job or some one fell thru the wall from the other side popping to boards away from the stud.

Dry wall you can get expanding Foam Fix  and jst drill small holes and fill it and if your worried about it pushing the board just put some screws thru to just hold the board stopping it being pushed!    

BUT like Ken said always find the cause first and solve that THEN do the repair job after!    I always like to just redo the entire wall so find the cause fix it then redo the wall and if its lath and plaster and you dont want the mess you just stick new plasterboards on top and re plaster making sure the new boards span over the old cracks.

JMB

 

[maxpower10]

Great suggestions everyone!  The last thing I was wondering is cutting into the lath and plaster to add additional wall outlets.  What is the best way to cut through it, get a nice clean cut, not crack up all the lath around it, and not ruin any blade that I might be using?  I was thinking about some sort of masonry wheel or similar.  Other ideas are welcome.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Great suggestions everyone!  The last thing I was wondering is cutting into the lath and plaster to add additional wall outlets.  What is the best way to cut through it, get a nice clean cut, not crack up all the lath around it, and not ruin any blade that I might be using?  I was thinking about some sort of masonry wheel or similar.  Other ideas are welcome.

The problem with that has always been having to cut 2 or 3 different types of materials in one operation.  You've got plaster, possibly wire lath and wood lath.  Each has a best way of cutting, but put together, can result in  problems for the person attempting to service them.  The masonary wheel or diamond wheel is a good choice, but you will get burning of the wood lath, so if the smell is an issue for you and others, take that into consideration.  Also keep a fire extinguisher handy.  A Rotozip tool with either the recommended bit by them or the wheels previously mentioned will work.  Saws and especially reciprocating saws vibrate and grab the material too much for my liking, usually breaking surrounding plaster.

 

[mastercabman]

Great suggestions everyone!  The last thing I was wondering is cutting into the lath and plaster to add additional wall outlets.  What is the best way to cut through it, get a nice clean cut, not crack up all the lath around it, and not ruin any blade that I might be using?  I was thinking about some sort of masonry wheel or similar.  Other ideas are welcome.

Fein Multimaster!

 

[vwdave]

Last weekend I cut in 3 8x8 hvac boxes in my house, which is 75 yr old plater and wood lathe. I used the multimaster and a wood/ metal blade from imperial blades ( they are much thicker then the fien blades) to cut the plaster. I then used a wide wood blade in the MM to cut the lathe. I wood/metal blade held up really well cutting the 3 holes and I didn't lose or crack any plaster. I've also used a grinder with a masonry wheel to cut some holes in the past, but I liked the MM better. I had my brother hold a vac up to the MM as I made the cut and only the large chunks fell to the dropcloth.

Dave

 

[jmbfestool]

Great suggestions everyone!  The last thing I was wondering is cutting into the lath and plaster to add additional wall outlets.  What is the best way to cut through it, get a nice clean cut, not crack up all the lath around it, and not ruin any blade that I might be using?  I was thinking about some sort of masonry wheel or similar.  Other ideas are welcome.

Like mentioned the Fein multi master is the best tool for the job!  I have used the grout removal cutter  for the fein as it's a few mm thicker than the wood blade so cut through the plaster with the carbide grout removal blade then use the wood place too cut through then lath.  I have used the wood blade to go all the way butmit seen wears all the teeth away. 

Down side is if the lath is loose the fein does not cut it as it vibrates with the lath. So to avoid loosening a lath always come from the side don't pluge straight into to it pushing it away from the plaster behind.  If you do have a loose lath you can stick a screw through the plaster screwing it making it solid again.  Or remove the plaster square you cut around and break the lath off or hold it so the fein cuts it.

Jmb

 

[WarnerConstCo.]

Mark the box, use an old chisel and chisel out on the lines, pop the chunk out.

MM to cut back the lathe.  Super easy, quick and fairly clean.

 

[davee]

I traded in a 60+ year old house with lathe and plaster for a 100+ year old house also with lathe and plaster.  We've had good luck in patching with fiberglass impregnated filler.  We've had to repair some textured walls and find that to be a real pain.  Trying to match texture is hard.  For the most part we scraped off the texture and started over.

With regards to adding wall outlets, I've mostly gone the manual approach.  Drill out the corners, chip out the plaster and then cut the lathe by hand or with a jig saw.  A sawsall is too aggressive and tears up the lathe.  I don't have a Multimaster so can't speak to that.  Hand is pretty quick work.  One note of caution, many lathe and plaster homes also have knob and tube wiring.  I once hit an open wire with my snake making my eyes water a bit.  I've since replaced almost all the knob and tube over time.

 

[Holzhacker]

Forget the textured look, it blows. I've done it on jobs. People end of sick of it.
As far as patching old plaster, use Structolite. Works great, good coverage and it breathes. Very important though, you must mix at least some durabond into the Structolite or it will take forever to dry. Mixing DB into structo also essentially doubles the drying time of the DB. 30 becomes 45, 45 becomes 90 etc.
As far as cutting, the Fein multimaster or a Trion with a metal blade work great. If you use a wood blade it may grab the lathe and crack things up. For extremely delicate, 'you better not screw up my walls' work, I use the method davee mentioned. Takes the risk out of it.

 

[maxpower10]

Nearly all of the above methods were tried.  What I found to work best was to use a masonry wheel on a 4" grinder.  I cut as deep as I could while vacuuming the dust then simply pried the rectangle of plaster out.  Once I did that, I used a small hand saw with a metal blade on it to cut the remains of the lathe pieces.  The real trick was to center the box on a a piece of lathe so that when the dog ears on the retro box turned they had the upper and lower piece of lathe to grab onto for support.  Ideally if you could locate next to a stud, you can simply get the boxes that screw in from the sides and mount to a stud.  This worked very well as I did not have to center on a piece of lathe.  Thanks for all the suggestions!  The grinding wheel made a super smooth cut and cut through the lathe as well.  I was very happy with it.