What to do with holy drywall?

[billybek]

Skim coat the walls.
Sand them so the new mud gets a bite on the existing paint.
Guys that do this for a living make it look easy.

[javadog]

The small holes are one thing, the problems around the window are another, bigger one. You don’t want to just cover up that gap with the trim.

In my last house, I did a fairly comprehensive remodel. That involved removing the existing drywall in most of the rooms. That allowed me to replace the window headers, all of which were essentially non-functional at that point, to replace the insulation with something more effective and run new piping and wiring as needed.

Given that your house is older than mine was at the time, and it wasn’t as well-built, my suggestion would be to demo the drywall in that room and see what you have. My guess is you’ll find all sorts of things. At the very least, It will give you the opportunity to end up with a reasonably airtight room and flat walls and a good finish.

[Zeke]

New insulation as well as wiring and cabling as good inspirations for tearing out exterior walls.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by javadog

The small holes are one thing, the problems around the window are another, bigger one. You don’t want to just cover up that gap with the trim.

In my last house, I did a fairly comprehensive remodel. That involved removing the existing drywall in most of the rooms. That allowed me to replace the window headers, all of which were essentially non-functional at that point, to replace the insulation with something more effective and run new piping and wiring as needed.

Given that your house is older than mine was at the time, and it wasn’t as well-built, my suggestion would be to demo the drywall in that room and see what you have. My guess is you’ll find all sorts of things. At the very least, It will give you the opportunity to end up with a reasonably airtight room and flat walls and a good finish.

Originally Posted by Zeke

New insulation as well as wiring and cabling as good inspirations for tearing out exterior walls.

Good point about the ability to upgrade or fix stuff "while you're in there."

A couple of points to that.
The folks that owned the house in the '90-96 time frame did some pretty major upgrades. Then entire house is PVC for plumbing and modern romex for wiring, so that's a huge plus. Also, most of the places that I've had a chance to look seem to have some modern insulation as well. We need more in spots, and the areas around the windows seem to be lacking.

Even if the wiring doesn't require replacement, it would be nice to be able to add outlets.

The one other tidbit that I forgot to include is that the interior walls seem to be mostly shiplap.
I haven't seen much of what's behind the drywall, but based on what I can see and feel through the gap at the windows, the walls are mostly shiplap, but some boards appear to have been removed (or never installed). And there is insulation behind the shiplap (hard to see in the photos)

[pavulon]

Three is the number thou shall count.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by billybek

Skim coat the walls.
Sand them so the new mud gets a bite on the existing paint.
Guys that do this for a living make it look easy.

It's another one of my, I guess odd, hobbies. When I'm doing a makeover I skim coat all the walls. They look perfect. The last place I did had the most awful wall papering job I've seen. Then they did a few coats of paint to hide the bad wall papering. A skim coat fixed all of that.

[masraum]

It's interesting, I've actually got a bunch of votes for each option
1 - patch holes
2 - skim everything
3 - hang new drywall

Thanks all.

[javadog]

The reason for my recommendation is twofold. One, I bet you’ll find some surprises if you take the drywall off. Two, I don’t like the idea of patching narrow pieces of drywall in around the windows, trying to get the inevitable but joints flat and then putting trim over the top of that mess.

I’m not there looking at it in person, but from the pictures, what you have looks like a good case of how not to build a wall.

You can always pull the drywall off the wall that has the windows and leave the rest, I suppose.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by javadog

The reason for my recommendation is twofold. One, I bet you’ll find some surprises if you take the drywall off. Two, I don’t like the idea of patching narrow pieces of drywall in around the windows, trying to get the inevitable but joints flat and then putting trim over the top of that mess.

I’m not there looking at it in person, but from the pictures, what you have looks like a good case of how not to build a wall.

You can always pull the drywall off the wall that has the windows and leave the rest, I suppose.

Lots of good points JD.

We've got 2 rooms downstairs that have drywall, the "living room" (which was once two rooms and we'll be dividing again) and the dining room. Both rooms are full of windows and doors. There's only a single wall with no "features."

I do like the chance to check and fix things (insulation around the windows, wiring) and maybe add new wiring. And it would be nice to start with fresh walls.

Another tidbit, upstairs we have a half bath that's functional, but horrible because it's small and has a low ceiling because it's up against the roof. We have consulted a plumber about moving it to the other side of upstairs where there's more room and a higher ceiling. His advice was that to get the necessary angle/drop for the soil-drain would require the ceiling in one of the downstairs rooms to be dropped by ~6". I believe the ceiling drywall is normally edge to edge and above/supported by the wall drywall. He advised that we should do the framing for the drop, but not put up the drywall (presumably to give them easier access to run the plumbing). If we're pulling the ceiling and dropping it, then it makes sense to me to go ahead and pull the walls and drywall the whole room fresh.

If we're doing one room (half of the living room) then assuming hanging and mudding drywall isn't expensive, it makes sense to me to have the whole place redone (which would fix the huge gaps around the windows).

[LWJ]

I got really good at this managing rentals.

Buy a box of all purpose joint compound. Fill the holes with the SMALLEST fill possible. Fingertip wipe into hole is perfect. If larger, use a putty knife.

Wipe flat with a wet rag when dry.

Refill anything needing it

Sand any high spots flat

If you have wall texture do this:

Get a can of texture (solvent! Not water based). Heat can in warm-hot water. Not on the stove!!!
Do a test shoot on a piece of cardboard or similar scrap. Look like your wall? Sparingly shoot over the sanded spots. Less can be more. Let it dry. Inspect for places to add more texture. Add if needed.

Prime wall.

Paint wall

It will be perfect to anyone who doesn’t know.

[javadog]

Drywall is cheap and not hard to install. If you hang it right, it's not hard to mud it. If you stand it up vertically, you won't have any butt joints.

If it was my house, I'd pull it off of one exterior wall, to see what other problem might exist. You might want to check the wall for flatness, before yanking the drywall.

I'd expect that you might find problems with the insulation, with the headers and with the window installations.

Beware, this may open up a big can of worms. The upside it that you'll know what you have and have an opportunity to fix the problems that were created by others before you showed up.

It's you house, do what makes you happy. I could have opened up one wall, fixed it and put it back in the time it's taken for this thread to get this far.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by javadog

If you stand it up vertically, you won't have any butt joints.

Lots of good stuff in your post, but the particular bit above is wrong. It's 8.5' from the top of our baseboard to the ceiling. (the baseboards are boards that is directly applied to the shiplap (roughly 9" x .8").) The drywall currently sits on top of the baseboard which sits almost 1/2" proud of the drywall face.

[javadog]

You realize drywall comes in sheets longer than 8 feet? You can get 9 foot, 10 foot, etc.

Looking at the way that window framing is currently, there are quite a few things to fix in that room. Having the drywall sitting on top of the baseboards is just one more thing on the list...

[look 171]

I fon't understand the drywall over shiplap? It looks like someone decided to hang drywall over existing and decided not to remove anything and "just cover it up" so you ended up with layers and layers of finish wall on top of each other. If you are just repairing that section then there's really no reason to remove the drywall which adds to the overall cost and more importantly your labor. If you decided to remove it, then I suggest removing the entire wall from corner to corner to see what's behind there and plan according from that point. I bet you will open a can of worm. There's always something else to fixed once walls are opened up. If there isn't anything else going on but a few holes from staples or nails, then just patch, paint and enjoy until something comes up like a leak from the window or something else then tear it open and perform the necessary repairs. Unless you really enjoy home repair, you will become a slave to an old home.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by javadog

You realize drywall comes in sheets longer than 8 feet? You can get 9 foot, 10 foot, etc...

Nope, I had no idea. But that's good to know, thanks!

[masraum]

Originally Posted by look 171

I fon't understand the drywall over shiplap? It looks like someone decided to hang drywall over existing and decided not to remove anything and "just cover it up" so you ended up with layers and layers of finish wall on top of each other. If you are just repairing that section then there's really no reason to remove the drywall which adds to the overall cost and more importantly your labor. If you decided to remove it, then I suggest removing the entire wall from corner to corner to see what's behind there and plan according from that point. I bet you will open a can of worm. There's always something else to fixed once walls are opened up. If there isn't anything else going on but a few holes from staples or nails, then just patch, paint and enjoy until something comes up like a leak from the window or something else then tear it open and perform the necessary repairs. Unless you really enjoy home repair, you will become a slave to an old home.

The house was built either in 1920 or 1924. The guy that built the house died in 1960 and his wife died in 1965. I spoke to the folks that owned the house in the 1990-1996 range. According to them, the house had fallen into disrepair. They spent a lot of time fixing it up and making some mods (upstairs had been an attic, they finished it as rooms for their kids), added Central HVAC, replaced knob and tube, probably completely redid plumbing to all PVC, etc....

What the old guy told me was that when they came in, there was something on the interior walls that served the same function as drywall, but it was more like a heavy duty cardboard (his words). The shiplap that I can see behind the drywall appears to have never been painted or finished in any way. The shiplap, at least where I can see, also doesn't run floor to ceiling, but it's possible that's due to some work in the past, maybe a few boards were pulled here and there to help with wiring, adding insulation, etc....

I have a feeling that I'm going to be a slave for the next year or so, but then hopefully, things will relax a bit after that.

[dad911]

Originally Posted by masraum

...... It's 8.5' from the top of our baseboard to the ceiling. ......

People wonder why I installed crown molding in my last garage/workshop...... 3" short, and I'd rather hang crown than mud ceiling corners.......

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dad911

People wonder why I installed crown molding in my last garage/workshop...... 3" short, and I'd rather hang crown than mud ceiling corners.......

Hahaha, nice!

[Tobra]

Holy drywall?

Build a church out of it maybe.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by masraum

I have a feeling that I'm going to be a slave for the next year or so, but then hopefully, things will relax a bit after that.

I think you’ll find that there’s a whole lot more that needs fixing than you originally thought, and you may be better off a little more than you want to chew on.

Fear not, my house remodel took seven years, although it was a much bigger house...

Just do one room at a time, take breaks as needed.