Walls and Ceilings - Post-Katrina Drywall Restoration Questions

6" of flood water and I call myself Lucky.

House is gutted to 49". The joints were all horizontal and that makes for a much easier house gutting!

Now the fun begins. I'm an amateur do-it-yourself guy, but I did do a summer of construction work while in college, so I'm going to tackle this myself.

I have an air-compressor and a "Spraying Mantis" texture hopper/gun. I'll follow the directions for my desired orange peel result (I've never liked texture rollers, for large jobs they leave a noticeable direction track). I'm planning on spraying texture as high as the ceiling for an even texture look. All of the remaining drywall is textured and painted of course.

Question 1: How much sanding do I need to do on the existing sheetrock (everything above 49" that I did not pull out)?

When gutting the house, I used tin-snips to cut the corner metal at 49" on all outside corners. I did my best but some of the metal pulled higher than the 49" line and the plaster has cracked as high as the ceiling in some cases.

Questions 2: Should I pull the rest of the corner metal on these outside corners or am I going to end up retexturing the ceilings as well? (or how well will I be able to repair the corner metal below 49"?)

Grab-bag Question: The den had paneling with unfinished drywall behind it. consequently, the ceiling/wall joints are all un-taped. Any suggestions?

6" of flood water and I call myself Lucky.

House is gutted to 49". The joints were all horizontal and that makes for a much easier house gutting!

Now the fun begins. I'm an amateur do-it-yourself guy, but I did do a summer of construction work while in college, so I'm going to tackle this myself.

I have an air-compressor and a "Spraying Mantis" texture hopper/gun. I'll follow the directions for my desired orange peel result (I've never liked texture rollers, for large jobs they leave a noticeable direction track). I'm planning on spraying texture as high as the ceiling for an even texture look. All of the remaining drywall is textured and painted of course.

Question 1: How much sanding do I need to do on the existing sheetrock (everything above 49" that I did not pull out)?

When gutting the house, I used tin-snips to cut the corner metal at 49" on all outside corners. I did my best but some of the metal pulled higher than the 49" line and the plaster has cracked as high as the ceiling in some cases.

Questions 2: Should I pull the rest of the corner metal on these outside corners or am I going to end up retexturing the ceilings as well? (or how well will I be able to repair the corner metal below 49"?)

Grab-bag Question: The den had paneling with unfinished drywall behind it. consequently, the ceiling/wall joints are all un-taped. Any suggestions?


Question 1: I just finished "blending" a section of new drywall into an existing section using a similar sprayer. I was lucky enough to be able to match the original pattern pretty closely it seems as, once painted, not even my wife can tell where the new stops and the old begins. I didn't do any sanding on the existing texture.

Question 2: Personally, I would remove the entire corner bead and replace it. I've never been real lucky making those types of cracks disappear "long term".

I agree with thezster on completely removing the corner bead. It doesn't add much work and possibly won't affect the ceiling. It is highly likely that the mud over patched corner bead will crack if the corner takes a good thump [or even any house settling]

I would lightly sand the painted walls for better texture adhesion. Also any walls coated with enamel should be sanded WELL and might require primer if the gloss isn't sufficently scuffed.

I'm not sure I understand your last question. Are you not replacing the paneling? If it is to be finished drywall, it will need tape and finishing. If you have concerns where the wall and ceiling meet and are leary of taping because of ceiling texture, you can add crown moulding to hide the gap.