I love your videos. I want to thank you for allowing me to feel good about my skills. Please let me explain. I spent 16 years as a painting contractor and worked on a lot of old houses. I also did some rehabbing where I had to repair old wood lathe plaster with dry wall and tie it all together to get a nice finish. After watching several videos of professional drywall crews doing production work, I feel like I can't hold a candle to those guys. I felt quiet inadequate in my skill set, and my speed. After watching your videos like this one and that nasty 70's renovation, I realize that I am trying to comparing apples to oranges. I never was a production guy. I did stuff similar to what you show in these videos. I always got very good results. Although I have done some rehabbing since, my time as a painting contractor which was from the early 80's to the mid to late 90's. The materials were different. But a lot of what you do is what I did back then. All that being said, I have learned so much from you. I have the utmost respect for you and your skills. So I feel like you have validated me. I just finished a rehab. I don't know if I have another one in me, but I am still learning things for the next project, if it comes. Thank you for all that I have been able to learn from you.
Ben, I have been watching your skateboarding videos since 2020 and never realized you had another channel dedicated to your carpentry. I recently just purchased my own home, and have been doing research about repairs for my home. You've been a huge help to me and it's so cool to see your profession.
Excellent Video !! This is THE way to handle this tricky transition to plaster, in Canada. In this particular location , you could use plywood instead of drywall if you want a solid surface to withstand the banging the wall may get next to the stairway. You can then mud over the plywood as normal. Smooth plywood or sanded works best to avoid covering the wood grain. If there is baseboard going on after the repair, the installer will Love you. Structilite works very well, but it is installed via plastering technique, no sanding. I use the corner tool for this as well, I know many drywallers don't like this tool. I find it very valuable to shape a corner like Ben is in this video. Vancouver home owners living in older plaster homes, will learn a TON from this. Thanks Ben !!
Always learn a lot from your videos. I am a homeowner in Denmark and even though the availability of materials (especially mud) is different, the principles still hold up. I’ve performed a similar repair to this job on my girlfriends apartment which is from the 1800s. ✌️
Super awesome Ben! I've definitely struggled with multiple coats o setting compound, and that explanation makes sense of it! I usually just use 210 with it, that way it's for sure good to go the next day. Sure do wish we could get confill here in MPLS, but I've done well enough pre filling with 20 min for the last 27 years.🤪
Nice ! I'm sure I'll have many such repairs on my 100 year old house ( assuming i don't have to gut everything) Thanks for explaining why NOT to use quick setting mud ( that woulda been my guess!)
G'day Ben, This Fibre Fuse looks like a good product to have in your kit, especially to get you out of a jam. I've just looked it up here in Australia and is fairly inexpensive. So thanks for sharing man ✌️ Peace from Melbourne Australia.
I have this problem in my house, I never looked into how to fix it since there's an ugly board of trim hiding it and I'm doing other stuff first. But then this video showed up. Dammit now I have to fix it
I stopped doing any kind of drywall mud awhile back. Plaster is SOOOOOOO much nicer. NO SANDING. Ya just have to be a decent taper ( and VAN Carpenter clearly is). It's so nice doing finish with a damp sponge instead of a dusty piece of paper. My 2 ( for what its worth)
The house I'm working on was built in 68 and is plaster but not lath backed, it has some kind of board. I tore out the bulkhead and scabbed in drywall then used mesh tape on the seams. I wish I would have had this video a year and a half ago lol.
I’ve had very good success using the paperless type of drywall. The product I’ve used is DensArmor Plus but I think they’ve changed the name since. It is basically a fibreglass impregnated drywall with no paper at all and it DOES NOT soften when wet at all and therefore mold and mildew don’t start on it. It’s heavy and hard for cutting and gives you a rash from the fibres and you need to roll on a thin skin coat of thinned out (water) general purpose compound to seal it for the fibres. It does though produce a very very tough smooth surface. I used it in our basement and it takes quite a lot abuse without marking. I am not any type of skilled drywall guy but it has worked just as advertised to me. I learned how to mud and tape from your videos BTW. I think it would be very good along those stairs like you are showing. What was explained to me it is basically an exterior grade drywall for stucco on commercial buildings. I’m very pleased with it, I’ve tested soaking pieces in water for days and it won’t soften. Cheers!
Last year I skimmed out a 4 bedroom house, lath and plaster walls and ceilings using Fibafuse, it worked out beautifully but you have to be really careful with the product. If you're doing long sheets cover up, hat, gloves, long sleeves long pants, because if those glass fibres get into your skin you'll be in all sorts of trouble. The fibres are much finer than normal fibreglass, after a week I ended up with excruciating ulcer like sores on my knee and one arm, also shower as soon as you finish work. Next time I'm going to go with the full paper suit.
screwing the drywall to the lath also helps stabilize the existing wall. in my house, many of the old lath strips have loosened from the tiny nails that secure them.
Great content. Keep them rolling! I just got a 120 year old house and all the walls are plastered. Some walls and ceilings are cracked or the plaster is chipping. Ive never worked with plaster and cant wait to try out your recommendations.
Doing my first remodel ever on my first home. Walls have mostly painted wallpaper, which has seen at least 2-3 coats. Would you recommend skim coating over it or attempting to remove the old paint/wall paper?
Ben, did you do a tutorial on how to deal with tape bulging out where settlement has caused two horizontal sections of drywall to compress against each other? The same goes for old water damage that causes the same problem? Thanks 🙏
This hodge podge of a remodel is exactly what i am used to ... lotsa floating ... i do it all w 8 n 10 inch knifes i should dlook into some darby like techniques but i do pretty well ... try for 2 coats settle for 3 usually on tough stuff
Imperial all day long 🇨🇦👌🏽 I have no idea what the actual metric nominal size of a 8’2x4” is. Guessing like 223cm long and who knows the cm/mm = 2’4” makes my head spin
Hi Ben, love this video. I live in an older home with lath plastered wall and ceiling in Rhode Island, USA. My walls are covered with old ass wallpaper over the plastered wall. Do you think its a good idea to remove the wallpaper down to the lath and drywall everything? Looking for some suggestions please and thanks for your help.
Hello, I am getting confused. I saw a bunch of videos priming their drywall without mudding the whole entire wall or room but just mudding the joints and nails. Pls let me know if u made a video about this. Thank u!!!
When I was adding layers of mud to try to correct the crooked wall installed by the drunk guy the biggest problem I had was adding wet mud onto dry mud. As soon as the wet mud touches the dry it starts to dry almost instantly. You have a second or two to get it right before you have to stop and just sand whatever went wrong later. All kinds of weird humps and valleys formed that I just ignored and sanded and filled on the next pass. The end result is all that matters.
Another great video. I still get confused on Mud: which mud for which purpose. Perhaps a list of mud types and brand names with a paragraph description of the best use. Here I learned of Concrete Fill or Confill as you said, and also air dry mud. Any help with a comprehensive list of muds, trade names, and uses?
Your method is certainly a good technique. Never used fiberfuse tape, but looks perfect for jobs such as this. if you have "lifted" sections that are still OK to work with, manually (or slow screw) install some drywall screws into the piece. It gives it some extra strength and saves you a lot of work. If it really old and crumbly then do remove it. I normally apply mesh tape during the prefill stage with Durabond (Or concrete fill I guess on the west coast) is a good substitute for plaster work, wet sand it then skimcoats with your product of choice. And some glue helps, either on the bare lath or plaster edges to prime it. General PVA watered down does the trick.
2:36 I think I'd be inclined to back-butter that drywall, probably with pre-mixed mud, and also put a bead of construction adhesive on the border between the old plaster and the bare lath. It may be paranoia on my part, but I've seen so many patches like that go crunchy when the weather changes, or when someone bumps the drywall as it sits on all that springy lath, that I'd want it as solid as possible. The risk of that happening probably depends on a lot of variables, like the wood used for the lath and the mix of the original plaster, but with plaster on wood lath, or even rock lath, bordering on a patch with drywall, I'm inclined to assume the worst.
I'd be interested in more videos on how to shim walls that aren't super straight. I've often had issues where my drywall is flush at the top of the wall but short at the bottom by up to 1/4 inch.
I've been using thin cardboard drywall shims that you can buy in bulk at Home Depot, and they've been a huge help, but I have no idea if this is the right answer.
Sometimes knocking off high spots on the framing with a power plane or scrub plane gives better results than shimming all the low spots... Best to figure out which will make the wall flatter... especially where you will attach baseboards, cove moldings, etc.
Can you make a video about patching drywall that's already been installed over lath? Like, what you would do if a year from now you punched a big hole in these pieces of drywall you added? I own a Frankenhouse with some walls that are 1/2" drywall over wood lath, and am trying to patch holes from electrical re-wiring, and I'm having trouble cutting out the drywall because, with the lath backing, you can't just score it and snap it off, or cut directly through without a saw. So it's going very slowly...
I am currently slo-mo redoing my old, 1940 kitchen walls here in Norfolk, VA. Slowly, bc I am 58 yr old w minor emotional and physical disabilities. I am doing one wall section at a time. Removing cheap wall board that was glued over plaster. I laugh to myself, bc this would be a great video for you to react to. Smh if if I had one of me doing this. Lol my sons can’t watch me do work, bc it frustrates them. Lol kidding kidding. We recently dug the trench for our main water line and replaced that. One grown son did half with me and the other did the second half and installed the new water main. We all filled it in together. Anyway, my question for you in the next reply comment.
I am removing this cheap, thin pressboard wall covering. Then, scraping and chipping old surface plaster and chunks of deeper plaster a tiny bit. I plaster holes and bare gritty spots first. Wait a day or so, then I plaster the entire wall. It still looks like Tuscan plaster. Not all modern and smooth. We don’t care. It’s clean and smoothish. I am noticing that some parts the plaster I am laying down (w a 5”spatula and a ten inch scraper) peels up over a painted spot and has this oily coat on it. If I go over too many times. I am trying to patch coat. Then basically cover the entire wall. Then, I plan to wet sand wipe and let my son do a smooth top coat. The oily part seems to be drying and connecting with the joint compound I’m using for plaster. Have you encountered this? Should I have probable prepped the surface better after patch coating holes and sandy parts? I guess I’m using one of these joint compound coats as the primer. It seals that oil paint in I guess. Idk What do you think? Have you encountered this?
This kitchen is a tiny box. 11.25’x7.5’ I would do say the corner behind the fridge in one go. Because I can pull the fridge out and work behind there and do those two half walls at a time. Currently, I have removed the two upper cabinets beside the fridge and the base 4’ cabinet to do the other corner of this fridge wall. Fyi idk if you do this. Answer questions. Anyway. Love your stuff.
You are probably coating over glossy oil based paint. Sanding it first helps as it dulls the sheen and helps it stick. Also adding glue to your drywall mud helps a lot. Just search "adding glue to drywall mud" and my video on how to do that should come up.
Very helpful as always! Q: If ceiling lath is cut back to the center of a joist and some don't have a nail supporting that edge what specifically would you secure them with? An air compressor is available. Is splitting the lath end a big deal?
A pneumatic stapler is a great choice but so is a drywall nail. It’s okay if it splits a bit as long as it is still holding it down. Even caulking the edges down with construction adhesive is better than nothing.
Great video, along with your other lath & plaster repair/reno videos. If this was a personal project for you (instead of a job for a customer with a set budget/schedule) would you have taken a different approach? (e.g. taking the time/effort to remove more/all of the old lath & plaster, or gone the easier/faster route of just putting a a veneer of 1/4" or 3/8" drywall sheets over all the old walls)
I don't know what Ben would do, but I can tell you from personal experience, trying to board over plaster walls is a nightmare waiting to happen. Not only do you have all the lathe nails waiting to jam your screws and help snap off heads. You also have all the wonky framing. Old houses tend to be balloon framed. Which means you never know when they are just going to run short on a stud, and just nail another one next to it to extend it. It's not so bad on the first floor, but it generally happens all over on the second floor. This means trying to screw blindly into plaster covered walls to attach sheets of drywall is going to lead to lots of screws not biting into anything. Then the frustration of running even more screws into nothing as you try to figure out where the stud is.
@@tay13666 Yeah, I've never tried to put drywall over plaster, but it seems to be a common suggestion on DIY forums (and comments to videos on this channel). I could see it working well if you could see the bottom and top of each stud (so you'd still have to patch the top and bottom of each wall regardless), but you're exactly right about not being able to count on precise 16" framing when you're working on a 1920's building with a century of wear & tear & unknown repairs behind each wall.
You made it a little more difficult brother. Use 3/8 over lath. Shim the board so not so much filling. Done a lot of plaster repair over the years. Just try to shim to do as little fill as possible but you do good work bro.
In another comment he replied to he said he used filling mud that air dries. So either green all purpose or if you have a heavyweight mud, that will work better
Love your videos. When do you need to use that fiber roll that you applied at around 10:07? I know the paper tape and the mesh tape but this is the first time I am seeing that kind of fabric/fiber roll
It’s called fibafuse. It comes in 2” , 6” and 3 foot wide rolls. Use it in place of paper tape if you want. It has no crease so it doesn’t work well in corners.
So i don't have access to concrete fill and im wondering what you suggest as an option we can get in the states. i see other plaster repair videos using USG durobond in varying speeds as a base fill. Do you feel that is an acceptable base fill? im always worried about how things bond and whether there will be cracking down the line due to improper products used.
Since gypsum plaster, lime plaster, earthen plaster and Portland cement stucco are all referred-to as "plaster" in some contexts, it seems silly not to refer to drywall mud as plaster when it's applied the way plaster is applied.
No no no!!! You should be using a mix of hydrated lime that has been soaked in water, sand, animal hair or other strong fibre, and a bit of pozzolana substance like washed wood ash. Lime plaster only gets stronger with age and hardens by ABSORBING carbon dioxide from the air. Lime plaster doesn't grow mold and can regulate moisture, unlike modern gypsum and portland.
Mix up the metric and Imperial measurements all you want. It will help us measurement impaired Americans to catch up to the rest of the world in terms of a measuring system that makes sense and is easy to use.
