Help Restore My Staircase Walls!

11 years ago

I am restoring a 1927 Craftsman home that was significantly damaged in a flood (we had 3 feet of water for 23 days). We have be able to salvage all of the original woodwork as well as the hardwood floors. Unfortunately we were not so lucky with the lath and plaster walls, which all had to be torn out, from floor to ceiling, and replaced with drywall.

The stairwell, which is walled on both sides, is open up to the roof of the house and because of the height we elected to remove the plaster partially up the walls and tie in drywall. However we have been unable to even the seam between the two and are looking for a creative wall covering to mask the transition.

Any suggestions on a type of wall covering and also how much of the wall should be covered by it? The drywall is about 5 feet high on the landing and finally stops at the 6th or 7th step, so at least that much would need to be hidden.

Featured Answer

PRO

Ironwood Builders

11 years ago

This is one case where a call to an old time plasterer can pay big dividends! Make that call! And thank you for saving that home!

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Comments (7)

Danielle Handford
Original Author
11 years ago
I looked in to a someone who could do plaster, unfortunately I live in North Dakota and the closest person was several hours away. In order to keep the house we had to move it from its original location so it wasn't torn down to make room for a permanent levee. After a new front yard, a new foundation, a 3 mile move and actually fixing it, bringing in an out of state contractor was far too costly.
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zennifer
11 years ago
You can plaster yourselves, if you are relatively handy...:)

Or, would layering 1/8", 1/4" or 3/8" drywall fill the gap?
sunnie2day
11 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Textured paintable wall paper? We used it here in Scotland recently after my husband gave up trying to get the plaster smooth in the house we've just sold. We used a 'wood chip' paper typical to the UK, it's an over all 'scatter' pattern; I've never seen it in the US but I think thats because I was immediately hooked by the beaded look paper and looked no further.

You should be able to find a wide variety of textured paintable wall paper at any DIY centre-I first saw it in a south east AL Lowes. Sadly, I couldn't talk him into the beaded paper. The 'wood chip' looks fantastic though, much better than it sounds (mid-do, it's all finished now):
PRO
Ironwood Builders
11 years ago
Danielle, does anyone do stucco near you? Stucco is often called exterior plaster. One more thought...could you consult with your drywall finisher to see if they can make it look good?
Danielle Handford
Original Author
11 years ago
Ironwood, I actually did all of the drywall myself, which is probably why I'm at a loss now. I found that doing the repairs to the house myself has been tremendously helpful with all of the emotional recovery stuff that comes along with a flood.

The picture is what I'm working with. It looks like there are cracks, but its actually just paint that loosened in the move and should just scrape off. The top of the coat rack is at about 6 feet; so you can see, this is a huge space.

My though was that perhaps taking some sort of covering and going straight across from the top of the steps and cover up the entire bottom, but paint it the same color as the rest of the space (obviously not that crappy color there now!) and add picture frame accent moldings that tie into the painting on the ceiling (the 4 wall panels fell off).
PRO
Ironwood Builders
11 years ago
Danielle..call a drywall contractor and get the stairwell putty coated! Adding "coverings" to disguise the mess is not a long term solution.