More questions - this time re: wall repair

[sbj405]

Plumbing work is almost done. I'm left with some large (1 ft and 1 ft) holes in the wall. These are plaster (I think) walls. How do I go about repairing them. Part of the area will be covered with tile and the rest will be below the sink, so it doesn't need to be really pretty. Thanks.

[NMDemDist2]

1. you can replaster or cut the holes nice and even and then lay in

wall board, then tape and texture them.

you'll need to figure out how deep your divets are and decide. plastering will need some kind of mesh to hang on to depending on the depth of the divet. If your lath is still there it shouldn't be too bad, but it's messy no matter how you do it.

i'm sure someone with more experience will be along shortly to give you better advice. we just did a ceiling repair and it made a mess every where when we sanded down the joint compound we used when we had to retape the seams

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I will assume you're talking about plaster-on-lath walls ......

The lath might be wood or metal mesh, but that doesn't really matter. The patching process is essentially the same.

If you were doing a true-to-the-era restoration, the only way to fix it is to replace the lath and do a proper, multi-layer plaster job. That is difficult to do and as much an art as a science.

Sounds to me like you can get away with using drywall for the patch. That will work fine, particularly that the work will be hidden by tile.

You need to expose some studs on which you'll fasten the drywall. Here is the only really tricky part. You need to expose (pretty much) exactly half of the studs that form the perimeter of the area to be patched. This may well mean enlarging the holes. The point is to get enough stud exposed to which you can screw the drywall, all the while not disturbing the nails that are holding the lath in place.

The drywall is likely to be thinner than the lath and plaster walls. Just shim up the drywall or even use two layers. You want to bring the drywall to within 1/8 to 1/16 of the surface of the original walls. Be careful that the patch does NOT stand proud of the original wall, though. Next is a simple process of filling the patch with joint compound. Let it dry, sand and prime it, and then paint it. I'd advise painting it even if you're going to cover it with tile. Keeps the water out.

For smaller holes, there's another way. Cut a few 1x4 boards of such a length that they are longer than the hole is wide (or high). Put the board through the hole and arrange it such that it bridges the approximate center of the hole. Shoot some sufficiently long dry wall screws through the wall and into the board. You now have a board screwed to the backside of the wall. Cut some drywall to fit the hole and screw it to the board. Patch as for any other drywall joint. This method has the advantage of not making you enlarge the hole to be repaired. With lath and plaster, however, the board may not go on straight and cause the patched board to be a bit out of whack. The mud might fix that, however, so long as the drywall isn't standing proud of the surrounding wall. Also, if the hole is prety big, you could use two boards and place them each in the approximate center of one half the area. (Overall, thjis method may be best with drywall walls, but also works with lath walls.)

Bon chance!

On edit ....... for the board method ....... you could also screw a few shorter board to the perimeter of the hold. This gives a solid place to screw all edges of the drywall and prevents the cracking that might otherwise happen at unsupported joints.