On Feb 11, 8:55*am, "Colbyt" wrote:
"John Grabowski" wrote in message

...



This is regarding a possible rehab of another property that I own. *It's
an older home with wood lath and plaster wall. *I am considering tearing
out the lath and plaster down to the studs, then having it rewired
throughout, then having the ceilings and walls sheetrocked. *I would
rather not sheetrock over the existing lath and plaster.

My question is about how contractors typically go about doing the
sheetrock over the old ceiling joists and wall studs. *How do they deal
with the fact that after the demo of the original lath and plaster, the
ceiling joists and studs are often uneven -- that is, not "planed".

Do they usually just do the new sheetrock by going with what they have
and just shimming the areas that need to be shimmed to end up with a
flat, "planed", and even new sheetrock wall? *Is there some other way
that this is usually done?

Unless all the electrical boxes, doors and windows are being replaced,
the studs will need to be built out to at least 3/8" to allow for the
removed lath. *A finished wall using plaster and lath was about 7/8"..
Drywall is 1/2".

This is no big deal but it is an added expense. *Ripping up a 4x8 sheet
of 3/8 CDX will give you a net material cost of about 44 cents per 8'
stud (based on 12-31-10 prices). With labor a dollar per would be a fair
price estimate.

As someone else said, chances are what you have is more true than many
new homes being built.

*I haven't seen this done, but you got me thinking about that extra depth.
A layer of 1/2" and a layer of 3/8" drywall would give the needed 7/8".
However I am wondering if all of that extra drywall would cover-up slight
differences in stud and joist protrusions enough that it would not be
noticeable on the finished surface?

Most homes old enough to have plaster and lath also have 3/4" sheathing on
the outside securely nailed to those studs when they were straight and
fresh. *I don't think I have seen more than 1 or studs in 40 years that are
out of alignment by more than 1/8".

You've been a bit luckier than I have with the straightness, but I
agree that if the alignment is out, it ain't by much. I always enjoy
cutting into an old stud and seeing fifteen or twenty growth rings per
inch. The stuff you get now might have seven or eight if you're
lucky. Makes a big difference in stability of the wood.

I do walk around the room with a 4 or 8 foot level and throw it across the
studs at eye level to verify no major problems. *Bowed in I hit it with a
couple of passes with the planner. *Any low spots are filled with short
scabs of the proper thickness. *IMO, amounts that vary less than 1/8" *do
not reflect in the finished wall.

Right. And if you're going for that perfectly flat wall you're
probably going to be skim-coating the entire wall anyway.

You can use a second layer or drywall strips in lieu of the plywood but I
find that to be more work that wood. *It also requires longer screws when
installing. *Wood panels are available from 1/8" to 3/4" to provide just
about any stud build out needed to meet the jambs.

I am actually working on one right now. *If I remember I will post a link to
some pictures after I install the strips.

In New England strapping ceilings is common - like Cliff did. Other
people might call it furring - attaching 1x3s perpendicular to the
joists and making them form a level flat plane by shimming where they
cross the joists. One thing I never understood about people still
doing that - I've never seen any pictures where you could see that
they blocked off between 1x3s along a joist for fireblocking. From
what I've seen it seems that people just ignore that 3/4" gap - I mean
fire couldn't get through such a small gap, could it?

R