RipTheJacker

I took off a tiny piece of drywall in my room and behind it there seems to be tiny boards one on top of the other running horizontally. I was hoping there would be regular 2x4s holding the wall. This house is kind of old so maybe it was built differently but does this affect how I will attach drywall? I need help pleas. Thanks

and this is my first post. What's up!

RipTheJacker

and i only took off a piece so maybe there are 2x4s there but i have no idea

mikemeier

Can you send a picture?

RipTheJacker

Sure will. Hold up

RipTheJacker

thats a tv cable coming out of the wall and to the right you can barely see the wooden paneling that was over the drywall.

glennjanie

Welcome RipTheJacker:
The wall is typical old fashoned lath and plaster. Yes, the little small boards are probably attached to studs maybe on 2' centers. New drywall can be applied over the old provided you shim the places where the plaster is missing to level it up. You will need to locate the studs so you can attach the new drywall to them, especially at the joints.
Thanks for the pictures and We wish you the best with the project.
Glenn

RipTheJacker

wow didn't expect this much help! THANKS! and if anybody has anymore input please provide it.

RipTheJacker

so can I just remove these boards and then attach drywall to the studs like newer houses?

hondadrv24

yeah you can if you want to go to all that work. I probably would but Glenn had an idea to just overlay. if your doing exterior walls I would definitely suggest ripping it all down and re-insulating as the insulation in those old houses tends to not be the best. If you are only going to do 1 or 2 walls i would get a small hand grinder with a cutting wheel to cut the corners before you rip the plaster and lathe off so that you don't rip the plaster off of the wall that you want to save. Be sure to wear a respirator and if you are going to cut with the hand grinder using a shop vac right with it cuts down on the dust immensely.
Welcome to the forum
Justin

RipTheJacker

oh no i do just wanna lay dry wall over I thought if i took off these horizontal boards it would look like the structure of newer houses. So how would i go about(in detail) replacing these walls the easiest way?