The old plaster wall in the Jefferson house finally gave out on me yesterday.

I was just doing a simple patch job on a ceiling, but when I went to feather the edge, a whole section of the original horsehair plaster behind the drywall just crumbled. It was like trying to work with wet sand. I had to stop everything, pull down about four square feet of the old lath, and sister in new studs before I could even think about hanging new board. Anyone else run into this kind of surprise on a remodel lately? How do you handle it without blowing the whole bid?

2 comments

2 Comments

kelly.nora3d ago

Ugh, horsehair plaster is the worst. That exact thing has blown up so many of my timelines. You just have to build in a big contingency fund for old houses, honestly.

the_troy3d ago

Yeah that contingency fund is key. When we hit horsehair plaster in our kitchen reno, we ended up having to sister new studs to the old ones to get a solid base for drywall. Added like two weeks and a couple grand we hadn't planned on.