Drywall re-surface?

[cafe-con-leche]

I am about to move into an old (60+yr) house. Whoever worked on this house before had done a very sloppy job on dry wall, there are very obvious patch works here and there, knock-down texture was not done evenly, joints are uneven and visible. And seems like the house has been painted over and over with thick layers of paint on the wall and door/window frames. I want to see if there is anyway to "re-surface" a drywall? I mean without actually remove the drywalls but remove all the paint and texture on it to start over again? Or what do most people do in situation like this to make the walls/ceilings look nicer?


Thank you

 

[bud16415]

I have dealt with this same problem with drywall and plaster in every house I have ever had and in a 60 year old house like yours if you really want it to look new and flat and nice the best thing cost wise and labor wise is to pull the old down and put up new. They do sell very thin drywall sheets quarter and three eights thick and you can add a layer. The house I bought a couple years ago had old plaster ceilings and I covered them all with half inch. The advantage of taking it down is in a 60 year old place like yours the insulation if you even have any is most likely not enough or of a good quality when you have the walls open you can see what you have add wiring if needed look for damage etc. It can be done one room at a time also.

Scraping off what you have and resurfacing is very labor intensive and also hard to get smooth and new looking IMO.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Sparky617]

Before you go to that extreme try wallpaper liner. This is a heavy paper you can apply over cement block, paneling and problem drywall to smooth them out. It can be papered over or painted. It is available at the big box stores or a paint store.

If you remove the drywall, you will have the opportunity to update the electrical and insulation but it is a huge mess to live through. Been there, done that.

 

[nealtw]

The paint could or is likely to have lead in it so keep the dust down.
As suggested plumbing , wiring and insulation will likely want some up dating. I would go one step further after gutting it I would ad 2x3 to the outside wall so it will take insulation like a new house.

I have done all three tear down the crap, fix the crap or cover the crap. Now I would tear it down every time.