Patching and Plastering - correcting sloppy spackle work that's been painted over
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magicalpig
08-14-09, 10:39 PM
Hi everyone. The upstairs bedrooms in my circa 1940s cape cod style home have very sloppy spackling. It looks like the amount of care you would put into finishing your garage went into these rooms. The corners are wavy, the joints are pronounced, and there are a lot of splotches where it looks like they didn't bother to sand at all. On top of that, the previous homeowners glopped on loads of really horrible semi-gloss paint.
What techniques are used to resolve this? I would guess
one could
sand down the walls completely
"skim coat" (I've only just learned about this recently by reading this forum)
add thin drywall on top of the existing
remove all drywall and begin again
I have brought in professionals (though their specialty was not drywalling) and they have all thrown their hands up and turned down the work. I can predict problems with all of those methods, but I won't go into that. I'm just looking for a basic answer at this point as to what technique is preferred
Thank you
What techniques are used to resolve this? I would guess
one could
sand down the walls completely
"skim coat" (I've only just learned about this recently by reading this forum)
add thin drywall on top of the existing
remove all drywall and begin again
I have brought in professionals (though their specialty was not drywalling) and they have all thrown their hands up and turned down the work. I can predict problems with all of those methods, but I won't go into that. I'm just looking for a basic answer at this point as to what technique is preferred
Thank you
marksr
08-15-09, 05:50 AM
Welcome to the forums!
You should sand the walls but mainly to cut the paint's gloss. Latex enamel doesn't sand well and I wouldn't attempt to even out the wall by sanding alone. I would assume that you have plaster and not drywall. Have you set a long straight edge across the wall to find out how much it waves in and out?
The 2 best options are to either skim coat or laminate with drywall. Adding drywall means altering the wood work as the room will be slightly smaller. The only good reason to tear out and replace is if you need to update insulation and electrical.
You should sand the walls but mainly to cut the paint's gloss. Latex enamel doesn't sand well and I wouldn't attempt to even out the wall by sanding alone. I would assume that you have plaster and not drywall. Have you set a long straight edge across the wall to find out how much it waves in and out?
The 2 best options are to either skim coat or laminate with drywall. Adding drywall means altering the wood work as the room will be slightly smaller. The only good reason to tear out and replace is if you need to update insulation and electrical.
ecman51`
08-16-09, 11:04 AM
I can pretty much imagine what this looks like. But if you would care to treat us all to some pictures so we can all admire the sloppiness, that be nice.
You have covered about all the bases. It's a matter of picking one you feel you can afford or feel comfortable in doing.
Me? I get more tired easy from hand sanding these days. I was in a 4-plex yesterday where the new tenants complained that no painting was done. This was in a more upscale rental where the landlord (not the one I usually work for) cheapened out. And up on this section of kitchen wall was raised gobs of spackle!
I told the new tenant that if I had to tackle that area, I'd be getting out my orbital sander. I had to do that on some rental awhile back where someone thought they were doing us a favor by spackling all the holes - and they used a real vinylly spackle that did not hand sand well - and I said to myself, "That's enough of this!", and got out my power sander. I probably could have used a belt sander! How do people do such work as this?!
You have covered about all the bases. It's a matter of picking one you feel you can afford or feel comfortable in doing.
Me? I get more tired easy from hand sanding these days. I was in a 4-plex yesterday where the new tenants complained that no painting was done. This was in a more upscale rental where the landlord (not the one I usually work for) cheapened out. And up on this section of kitchen wall was raised gobs of spackle!
I told the new tenant that if I had to tackle that area, I'd be getting out my orbital sander. I had to do that on some rental awhile back where someone thought they were doing us a favor by spackling all the holes - and they used a real vinylly spackle that did not hand sand well - and I said to myself, "That's enough of this!", and got out my power sander. I probably could have used a belt sander! How do people do such work as this?!