My husband is going to be out of town for 2 days. =) While he's gone I'd LOVE to do something with our bedroom walls. 3 of them are traditional drywall, one is lath and plaster. All are covered in approximately 20 layers of wallpaper. I've been waiting 13 years for him to tear down the walls and put up new, nothing has happened. I know myself I can't put up drywall and tear down and etc in the short time he's gone. But is there anything else I can do? Nail up siding? Paneling?
I know the correct way is to tear it down and start fresh, but is there anything a desperate gal can do while she waits another 13 years?
=)
thanks in advance!

Why not just spend your 2 days punching random holes in the plaster. Bet it gets replaced then!

Really - not kidding.

You are correct in that the right way is to remove the plaster and replace with drywall. If you are wanting to match the other walls, then that is the only way. While you could install some paneling in two days, or even paint / texture paint over the many layers of wallpaper, frankly they would not look very good.

but would it look worse than it does now? half the wall paper is torn off, and believe it or not, i can see Beevis and Butthead in the outlines of the old paper. =) (and the Grinch and a labrador swimming, but that's only reaaaalllly late at night.)
=)
If i punched holes, well....I'm betting I've got another 13 years with holes in the wall!

Two choises, get a new husband or take it upon yourself to get it done.
Removing the old stuff is a dusty job but easy enough a cave man could do it and only takes a takes a few simple hand tools.
Best to have everything out of the room. Open a window and remove the screen and have a fan blowing out, wear a dust mask, shut off the HVAC until the dust has settled.
If you hire it out there's no reason a 2, man crew could not have the plaster down, walls shimmed, new drywall up, walls taped and mudded in one day. It will take at least two more very short days to add the second and third coats of drywall compound and sand to get it paint ready.
It will most likly need shimming to get the old and new drywall to match in the corners and the ceiling.

Is your husband capable of doing the project? If so, and if he's just kind of put it off, perhaps obtaining some estimates might encourage him. If the potential contractors come when he's there, and if he sees what it would cost, he might be motivated to do it himself.

Just be sweet about it and tell him you're thinking of him and trying to save him some work!

there is a small chance they put asbestos in the old plaster, if the house is from the 40s into the 50s. so there's your excuse... you chopped some out for testing because you are concerned about keeping him for another 30 or 40 years :-D

see if there is a mail-to-lab kit at Big Orange so you can actually do it

But for a really good sample it needs to be 10' X 10'. wink wink.

Okay, now I'm worried as I have wet plaster on all the walls and ceilings, to the best of my knowledge. My house was built in 1950.

One of the rooms has a lot of damage from a roof leak and it's my understanding that that portion of wall will have to be removed and replaced. It's about 4 - 5' wide and reaches from the baseboards up about 8 feet.

Beyond the issue of replacing wet plaster with wet plaster (which I think will be difficult because so far I haven't found anyone who wants to deal with wet plaster), do I now need to be concerned about asbestos in the plaster?

Please tell me I don't!

asbestos is dangerous if it's in the air. it gets in the air from being messed with. the pros wet it down as they remove it so their abatement equipment doesn't clog up. wet asbestos-bearing material is almost never friable (shedding into the air.) dry stuff can be if it gets moved, swept, kicked, or messed with so there is dust.

never say never, right?

they used to put animal hair into plaster on the base coat over lath for better adherence. as the use of horses went way down, there was not much horsehair availiable, so all sorts of other slop was used, and some of that was asbestos. it frankly got put into everything, from linoleum to pipe insulation to hand iron cords to wallboard mud.

if it's contained, non-dusting, non-flaking, it's not a present danger.

get a cheap N95 mask, spray down an area with a hand sprayer and anything based in water, chip out however much the test kit wants, and send it in. be sure. be safe.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: swschrad,

joe caption tried to tell you what to do.
i am a little more blunt. ho depot wants a sample
tear the wall out and give them one!!!
spray the wall with a misting of water from a pump hand sprayer, make sure all windows are open and a fan is blowing out the window. wear a dust mask
rip the wall down and bag it up in black bags
asbestos is harmfull. IF... its airbourne
as long as you mist it with water your ok
mist it..not spray with a hose and make a big ole slippery mess
or.. buy some 1/4" sheetrock and cover the wall with it. but you will have to deal with door jambs and window trim