Remodeling kitchen with horsehair plaster walls?
Jun.29, 2010 in
Do It Yourself (DIY)
I want to remodel my kitchen. My house was built in the 1930’s and one of the previous tenants glued sheets of fake tiles to the kitchen walls. I want to tear them down and put ups some wainscotting. Does anybody know anything about working with horse hair and plaster walls? Any suggestions for getting the glue off the walls without damaging them? Thanks for any suggestions.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:59 am
The adhesive from the tiles is probably pretty strong, it sounds like you are gonna have to use a chisel and hammer to remove the tiles, dont worry about getting the adhesive off, apply your wainscoating over the exisisting adhesive use a strong adhesive like pl2000 or liquid nails…………….. now for removing the adhesive above the wainscoating : try diffrent solvents like lacquer thinner, xzlol, xzlene, tolulene acetone etc. ….your going to have to experiment because you don`t know what base the exisisting adhesive is…..if all that doesn`t work try a belt sander , if that doesn`t work then rip the walls down and put up new dry wall.
June 29th, 2010 at 1:59 am
I agree with Robert C & gave him a "thumbs up" for his advice…but I just wanted to add a couple details – at least investigate the possibility of getting your wall replastered instead of resorting immediately to drywall. Plastering is a dying art, but I hate to see plaster wall disappear. The finish will look definitely different, & even paint will "take" differently – noticeably. You may want to look for a home restoration specialist. I guarantee you that it will be more expensive that throwing up a sheet or 2 of drywall, but I like to see the integrity of old homes to be preserved whenever possible. I can also assume that your baseboard is also original, which will take some care to preserve while being removed, or could be costly to replace if it has to be milled to match the original. While I’m at it, the wainscotting is a great idea – go with a high profile 48" instead of the lower 36".