November 6, 2004 Radio Show Tim Answers Barb’s Email Question About Drywall and Wallpaper

Tim:  Okay, really quickly before I got off the air, I got a
really neat email from Barb, who delivers the paper every
morning. Barb, I sure hope you're still out there. She says
she's `wondering if the plaster on the walls is the real
stuff in my house with lath strips behind it. The walls are
falling apart and need to be replaced. My question: Can I
put regular drywall board on the walls? How do I determine
the thickness of the board? After I get the walls up, what
do I need to do to paint them or wallpaper them?'

Here's what you do, Barb. You would actually tear out where
the plaster's loose. You actually kind of square it up, and
after you take that loose plaster off (I wouldn't take it
all off), you're going to find out how thick the plaster is
in different areas. And you're going to find out pretty
quickly that it's different thicknesses. Okay?

You can get 1/4 inch drywall, 3/8 and even 1/2 inch. You're
probably going to end up using 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch drywall.
You're going to screw it to the wood studs of the lath board
and you're going to tape the seams with a dry setting type
joint compound. It comes in bags. You mix it with water.
It's called Durabond. It's made by USG and it's sold any
place where they sell USG products. I've seen it at the home
centers, and it works just like the stuff out of the
buckets. But here's the difference. Once you mix it with
water, in so many minutes it starts to get hard. And that's
the best thing to use to stick to old plaster. If you try to
use regular joint compound on old plaster, it doesn't stick
very well. That's why you've got to use the joint setting
type. Once it's done, then you've got to seal it with a
really good product for wallpaper, and that's at my website
askthebuilder.com. Go the wallpaper section.