I am redoing the gameroom as a bedroom for my son now that the pool table's
been sold. I'm removing the awful wallpaper to paint, and have discovered it
is wallpaper over smooth plaster over textured plaster over drywall, but
hey, at least it's only 1 layer of wp. Pulling off the paper has pulled off
some of the smooth plaster, and we're going to have to steam off the rest of
the paper - don't know if that'll affect the plaster or not.

We've discovered some drywall cracks, plus my kid put his forearm through
one wall playing ninja warrior and indented the drywall with what looks like
bouncing a golf ball off of it (you know, the stuff that "Idunno" does?), so
I've got some repairs/replacements to make. This whole house had foundation
work done years ago and last summer a SE said it was holding, so these are
older cracks hidden by the wallpaper.

Q1 - there are some cracks over the doorways: must that drywall be cut out
and replaced or is there anything effective that will work on approx 8" long
1/8 - 1/16" crack between the doorframe and crown molding? I used some
flexible rubbery like spray coating several years ago to finish cracks along
a window on a P&B house I sold, but I never saw if it held or not...

Q2 - there are two corners where there is about 1/8" separation between the
two walls the entire height of the wall. How would I best deal with that?

Q2 - Can I just retexture over the smooth plaster spread over the textured
drywall or is there some reason a 3rd layer could be a problem? I intend to
paint whenever we're done with this mess.

TIA - Laurie

"Laurie" wrote in message
news:Jluhi.441$7k7.156@trnddc01...
I am redoing the gameroom as a bedroom for my son now that the pool table's
been sold. I'm removing the awful wallpaper to paint, and have discovered
it is wallpaper over smooth plaster over textured plaster over drywall, but
hey, at least it's only 1 layer of wp. Pulling off the paper has pulled off
some of the smooth plaster, and we're going to have to steam off the rest
of the paper - don't know if that'll affect the plaster or not.

We've discovered some drywall cracks, plus my kid put his forearm through
one wall playing ninja warrior and indented the drywall with what looks
like bouncing a golf ball off of it (you know, the stuff that "Idunno"
does?), so I've got some repairs/replacements to make. This whole house
had foundation work done years ago and last summer a SE said it was
holding, so these are older cracks hidden by the wallpaper.

Q1 - there are some cracks over the doorways: must that drywall be cut
out and replaced or is there anything effective that will work on approx
8" long 1/8 - 1/16" crack between the doorframe and crown molding? I used
some flexible rubbery like spray coating several years ago to finish
cracks along a window on a P&B house I sold, but I never saw if it held or
not...

Q2 - there are two corners where there is about 1/8" separation between
the two walls the entire height of the wall. How would I best deal with
that?

Q2 - Can I just retexture over the smooth plaster spread over the textured
drywall or is there some reason a 3rd layer could be a problem? I intend
to paint whenever we're done with this mess.

TIA - Laurie



Save yourself some time call a drywall contractor that dose repairs and
retextures it's hard to give good advice without seeing it. When I removed
the wallpaper in two bathrooms and a bedroom it tore the walls up pretty bad
.. I know on some small cracks I used caulking not sheetrock mud the
caulking if flexible

Sacramento Dave wrote:
Save yourself some time call a drywall contractor that dose repairs
and retextures it's hard to give good advice without seeing it. When
I removed the wallpaper in two bathrooms and a bedroom it tore the
walls up pretty bad . I know on some small cracks I used caulking
not sheetrock mud the caulking if flexible

Thanks Dave - :-) I've got more time than money these days. Plus this is a
project my kid wants to do with me, which is fine. I've replaced drywall,
mudded seams and textured a kitchen before, all successfully (in the end),
so I'm not worried about doing it, just want to tap the real talent before
getting into it.

As far as the walls, I'm not pulling off the drywall paper, just a bit of
the top layer of smooth plaster.

"Laurie" wrote in message
news:Jluhi.441$7k7.156@trnddc01...
I am redoing the gameroom as a bedroom for my son now that the pool table's
been sold. I'm removing the awful wallpaper to paint, and have discovered
it is wallpaper over smooth plaster over textured plaster over drywall, but
hey, at least it's only 1 layer of wp. Pulling off the paper has pulled off
some of the smooth plaster, and we're going to have to steam off the rest
of the paper - don't know if that'll affect the plaster or not.

We've discovered some drywall cracks, plus my kid put his forearm through
one wall playing ninja warrior and indented the drywall with what looks
like bouncing a golf ball off of it (you know, the stuff that "Idunno"
does?), so I've got some repairs/replacements to make. This whole house
had foundation work done years ago and last summer a SE said it was
holding, so these are older cracks hidden by the wallpaper.

Q1 - there are some cracks over the doorways: must that drywall be cut
out and replaced or is there anything effective that will work on approx
8" long 1/8 - 1/16" crack between the doorframe and crown molding? I used
some flexible rubbery like spray coating several years ago to finish
cracks along a window on a P&B house I sold, but I never saw if it held or
not...


I am assuming these cracks are in the corners of the door opening and not in
the middle. If this is the case the drywall was hung improperly and the
hangers put a butt joint at or very close to the corner instead of breaking
in the middle or preferrably away from the door (a full sheet across the
opening with no joint near or over the door). If this is the case the
rubbery coating you used might work. The preferred method is to put a
single sheet of drywall all the way across the door opening and up to at
least the next stud away from the door.

Q2 - there are two corners where there is about 1/8" separation between
the two walls the entire height of the wall. How would I best deal with
that?


This reinforces the inproper hanging, or in this case, improper mudding of
the corner. Either the mud was put on too thick or there is no joint paper
in the corner. Sand it down to the paper and then redo it the correct way.
They now have inside corner molding. This might not be a bad idea for this
repair.

Q2 - Can I just retexture over the smooth plaster spread over the textured
drywall or is there some reason a 3rd layer could be a problem? I intend
to paint whenever we're done with this mess.


Unless you are using texturing paint you need to use green or moisture
resistant dry wall. Either way, a 3rd layer does not sound too good, but I
have no experince in this area. I hang for a living right now and have done
standard mudding in the past.

Mike D.

Mike Dobony wrote:
"Laurie" wrote:

snipped intro

Q1 - there are some cracks over the doorways: must that drywall be
cut out and replaced or is there anything effective that will work
on approx 8" long 1/8 - 1/16" crack between the doorframe and crown
molding? I used some flexible rubbery like spray coating several
years ago to finish cracks along a window on a P&B house I sold, but
I never saw if it held or not...


I am assuming these cracks are in the corners of the door opening and
not in the middle. If this is the case the drywall was hung
improperly and the hangers put a butt joint at or very close to the
corner instead of breaking in the middle or preferrably away from the
door (a full sheet across the opening with no joint near or over the
door). If this is the case the rubbery coating you used might work. The
preferred method is to put a single sheet of drywall all the way
across the door opening and up to at least the next stud away from
the door.

I didn't know that - in the past it's all been corner cracks at windows and
doors, but this one goes right up the middle. It looks like it was a decent
sized one that was plastered over when they smoothed the wall to wallpaper -
and the top layer of the new plaster pulled away - but it doesn't go all the
way through now. I'll try it the easy way and if it doesn't hold pay someone
to do it right. :-)

Q2 - there are two corners where there is about 1/8" separation
between the two walls the entire height of the wall. How would I
best deal with that?


This reinforces the inproper hanging, or in this case, improper
mudding of the corner. Either the mud was put on too thick or there
is no joint paper in the corner. Sand it down to the paper and then
redo it the correct way. They now have inside corner molding. This
might not be a bad idea for this repair.

This I can do! As long as the house really is done shifting like the SE
says, it ought to hold.

Q2 - Can I just retexture over the smooth plaster spread over the
textured drywall or is there some reason a 3rd layer could be a
problem? I intend to paint whenever we're done with this mess.


Unless you are using texturing paint you need to use green or moisture
resistant dry wall. Either way, a 3rd layer does not sound too good,
but I have no experince in this area. I hang for a living right now
and have done standard mudding in the past.

I'll look into texturing paint. Thanks so much for your advice and education
Mike!

Laurie

"Laurie" wrote in message
news:JnPhi.2254$7k7.395@trnddc01...
Mike Dobony wrote:
"Laurie" wrote:

snipped intro

Q1 - there are some cracks over the doorways: must that drywall be
cut out and replaced or is there anything effective that will work
on approx 8" long 1/8 - 1/16" crack between the doorframe and crown
molding? I used some flexible rubbery like spray coating several
years ago to finish cracks along a window on a P&B house I sold, but
I never saw if it held or not...


I am assuming these cracks are in the corners of the door opening and
not in the middle. If this is the case the drywall was hung
improperly and the hangers put a butt joint at or very close to the
corner instead of breaking in the middle or preferrably away from the
door (a full sheet across the opening with no joint near or over the
door). If this is the case the rubbery coating you used might work. The
preferred method is to put a single sheet of drywall all the way
across the door opening and up to at least the next stud away from
the door.

I didn't know that - in the past it's all been corner cracks at windows
and doors, but this one goes right up the middle. It looks like it was a
decent sized one that was plastered over when they smoothed the wall to
wallpaper - and the top layer of the new plaster pulled away - but it
doesn't go all the way through now. I'll try it the easy way and if it
doesn't hold pay someone to do it right. :-)


I talked to my boss about this, the long time pro. He suggest you make sure
the joint is well nailed as it is likely only nailed at the top and bottom.
You want a minimum of on nail per side in the middle of the butt joint,
preferrably 2 or even 3 if you are having problems. Another possibility is
that there is no header, must stringers running from the door to the
ceiling.

Q2 - there are two corners where there is about 1/8" separation
between the two walls the entire height of the wall. How would I
best deal with that?


This reinforces the inproper hanging, or in this case, improper
mudding of the corner. Either the mud was put on too thick or there
is no joint paper in the corner. Sand it down to the paper and then
redo it the correct way. They now have inside corner molding. This
might not be a bad idea for this repair.

This I can do! As long as the house really is done shifting like the SE
says, it ought to hold.

Q2 - Can I just retexture over the smooth plaster spread over the
textured drywall or is there some reason a 3rd layer could be a
problem? I intend to paint whenever we're done with this mess.


Unless you are using texturing paint you need to use green or moisture
resistant dry wall. Either way, a 3rd layer does not sound too good,
but I have no experince in this area. I hang for a living right now
and have done standard mudding in the past.

I'll look into texturing paint. Thanks so much for your advice and
education Mike!

Laurie

Mike Dobony wrote:
"Laurie" wrote in message
news:JnPhi.2254$7k7.395@trnddc01...
Mike Dobony wrote:
"Laurie" wrote:

snipped intro

Q1 - there are some cracks over the doorways: must that drywall be
cut out and replaced or is there anything effective that will work
on approx 8" long 1/8 - 1/16" crack between the doorframe and crown
molding? I used some flexible rubbery like spray coating several
years ago to finish cracks along a window on a P&B house I sold,
but I never saw if it held or not...


I am assuming these cracks are in the corners of the door opening
and not in the middle. If this is the case the drywall was hung
improperly and the hangers put a butt joint at or very close to the
corner instead of breaking in the middle or preferrably away from
the door (a full sheet across the opening with no joint near or
over the door). If this is the case the rubbery coating you used
might work. The preferred method is to put a single sheet of
drywall all the way across the door opening and up to at least the next
stud away from
the door.

I didn't know that - in the past it's all been corner cracks at
windows and doors, but this one goes right up the middle. It looks
like it was a decent sized one that was plastered over when they
smoothed the wall to wallpaper - and the top layer of the new
plaster pulled away - but it doesn't go all the way through now.
I'll try it the easy way and if it doesn't hold pay someone to do it
right. :-)

I talked to my boss about this, the long time pro. He suggest you
make sure the joint is well nailed as it is likely only nailed at the
top and bottom. You want a minimum of on nail per side in the middle
of the butt joint, preferrably 2 or even 3 if you are having
problems. Another possibility is that there is no header, must
stringers running from the door to the ceiling.

Thanks for the extra info Mike - I've been out of town and am just back -
and getting ready to tackle this project head on. There are some other
"interesting" creases in the wallpaper where there's SOMETHING going on
beneath it - either a new crack or more imperfect repairs. Everything you've
told me will come in handy - I learn how much I don't know every day!!

Thanks again - Laurie