Our house was built back in the 1940’s and originally had plaster walls throughout. Sometime between then and now, somebody hung faux wood paneling over all of the plaster walls. We’re not big fans of this look and would like to hang drywall.

We thought we could just hang the drywall over top of the paneling, but someone mentioned to me that if the plaster behind the paneling gave way, the drywall would fall in.

Should we go ahead with the original plan, or do we need to tear our current walls down to the studs before we hang the drywall?

Removing the paneling as suggested will cause more damage to the lath and plaster under it. This is due to the fact that most paneling is hung using paneling nails as well as glue. If gutting the room is not in your budget then by all means go with your initial plans. I have done this in several homes where finances were tight. In most cases things turned out nice. In a couple since the rooms were not square the ceiling and walls were a bit wavy where they met. A quick fix for that is crown molding or a decorative border.

My bathroom has a section where there is cement board. Over the cement board is a layer of plaster. Tiles were glued to the plaster. However, the plaster came off of most of the cement board over time. Of course, the tiles have fallen off too. So now I have bare cement board partially covered by plaster.

I’d like to remove the remaining plaster from the cement board and then retile directly over the cement board.

How to best remove the remaining plaster? Is chipping away at it the only method?

Use a four inch razor scraper to scrape off the worst of it then use a wet sponge and the rest should wash off easily.Also if you need to you can wet the plaster to help make it easier to scrape.

I have a very old house that has the remnants of plaster on the basement walls. Any suggestions on how to remove it without damaging the 210 year old bricks? Would you use a muratic acid solution once the sand base is is removed to clean up the bricks?

We have a house built in 1855,brick w/ lots of varying depths of horsehair/sand plaster all through it. We wanted to see some of the brick wall in the kitchen and decided to remove the plaster on one wall. I used a hammer (gently) to break most of the plaster off and then used a sharpened putty knife to get under the rest and popped it off in chunks. It took a long time and was one hell of a mess, but it was worth it ! I then used a heavy wire brush to clean up the brick washed it down and then sealed it w/ a water based flat varnish. It protects the brick,lets it breath and kept the rustic color and texture that we loved ! It’s held up for ten yrs and looks like I just did it !

I recently took down wallpaper in my bathroom to find out the walls are in bad shape. Making them smooth is out of the question and so is wallpaper. What are your opinions on taking plaster and making streaks with the trowel all the way down the wall like waves in the plaster. Then painting it. I was hoping this would cover all the imperfections and keep the look updated. Any other ideas with plaster or any other way to cover would be appretiated.
Venetian Plaster effect would be nice but needs to have smooth walls to start which is my problem. So unfortunately that is not an option.

I just re-did my bathroom and faced the same problem. It turned out beautifully! I used what is called "sheet rocking mud" and slapped it on the walls, then used a home-made tool to texture. There are infinite ways to texture! Get creative! Here are some sites:
http://www.ehow.com/how_15412_texture-drywall.html
http://www.plaster-wall-ceiling-solutions.com/wall-texture.html
http://www.artoftexturing.com/
Happy remodeling!