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Topic: bulky walls

hervoiceagain

Thu, 12/21/2006 - 12:44pm

bulky walls

i just moved into a house that has been in my family for a long time. my uncle made it "liveable" but there are things that i want to do to modernize it and give it a little bit of "me" here are my two issues: 1. i can tell that the walls has holes in them because they are bulky with plaster. it looks like he tried to cover the holes in wall with compound and he layed it on too thick because there are cracks in it and he didn't sand it. he also painted over the walls with primer (they were originally painted blue). my issue is that i they were painted over wallpaper that is peeling in some areas and you see in some spots were the wallpaper was torn down. it looks like wallpaper started peeling and they pulled of what was peeling and left the rest. so how do i fix the bulky spots of cracky compound and do i just remove the rest of the wallpaper? i was given an idea of covering up those spots with a thin layer of compound and then sanding, will this work? 2. the carpet was pulled off the bedroom floors. i really want to renew these hardwood floors. they are mostly in tact with some spots. some paint and some look like they are just worn spots. only one room has a space were the wood is a little warped. how do i get rid of the spots and refinish and how do i repair the warped spot? can i save these floors?

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If you try to cover cracked

jonathanzeidman writes:

Sun, 02/25/2007 - 3:12pm

If you try to cover cracked compound with more compound it will keep cracking. It depends what is underneath. Compound has a very limited ability to span a gap and remain strong. Really it only works well thinly applied over something ridgid, but has little cohesiveness which is why we use tape in all our joints. If we expect too much from the mud, as the compound dries, and shrinks, it cracks. The remedy would be to uncover the whole, then screw some "backing behind it, then screw a piece of drywall to the backing, then tape and mud the joints. Good backing would be plywood at least 1/2" although I'd go 5/8". Get a piece that is 1" or more wider than the hole all around, so that you can screw through the intact drywall into the backing. Keep your screws at least a 1/2" away from the hole so they have some integrity. One thing to note...if the plywood is bigger than the hole? Two options: 1) cut it in two...the subsequent drywall patch will span both and screws used to hold them. 2) square the hole. that's right, make it bigger. why not. the backing for a square hole will slide in on a diagonal, depending on how big we're getting. If we're talking really big, then forget backing, you can also just cut a clean, squarish opening from one stud to another and add a new piece of drywall that screws onto the studs (cut halfway on the stud so there is room to screw the new piece and the old piece).

I went at length into

jonathanzeidman writes:

Sun, 02/25/2007 - 3:23pm

I went at length into hardwood floors in another thread about dogs. Basically, they can be refinished, sanded, re-stained if you like, and re-varnished or oiled. While some brave souls have done this work and some few of them have even met with good results, I'm sure, that is one job I would be inclined to leave to a professional, and one with good references. It is possible to remove sections of flooring but the patching will be somewhat obvious in that the pattern of joints in the floor will meet with be noticeable uniform and square at the boundary of the patch. If you were to refinish that would be the time as at least the finish would be consistent. I imagine other possibilities but nothing that is tried and true. Assuming it is just the hardwood lifting in the warped spot, and not the joist underneath....you could *try* (this is a thought experiment) steaming the wood to soften it (you would need to get at the underside simultaneously, and you would want to try to isolate the warped spot so as not to 'free' the surrounding areas. Steaming makes wood pliable. Then perhaps simultaneous application of pressure from above and below could flatten an area. Numerous ways of trying to do this...jacks and pads...but anyways this might be a lot of hooey...