Plaster Repair & Plaster-to-Drywall in Huntington, WV | For Huntington’s Pre-War Homes
Huntington grew fastest between 1900 and 1950, and the houses from those years, block after block of Southside, Highlawn, Westmoreland, and Guyandotte, have plaster walls and ceilings over wood lath. Plaster is harder, quieter, and better looking than drywall when it is sound, and it fails in ways drywall repair methods cannot fix. Drywall Repair Huntington repairs plaster properly and, when a section is past saving, replaces it with drywall blended so you cannot see where one stops and the other starts.
The first job is telling you which you have. Knock on the wall: a hard, dead sound with a slight ring is plaster; a hollow drum is drywall. Most calls from the older neighborhoods are plaster, even when a prior owner has skimmed it to look modern.
Cracks in plaster
Hairline map cracks in plaster are cosmetic and get filled, taped with fiberglass, and skimmed. Longer cracks with a slight ridge mean the plaster has separated from the lath along the crack; those get re-adhered with plaster washers or an injected adhesive before they are filled. Filling a loose crack with compound alone is why the same crack keeps opening in so many Huntington rentals.
Loose and sagging plaster ceilings
When the keys, the plaster that squeezed through the lath and hardened, break off, the ceiling hangs by friction and eventually comes down. If the plaster is sound but loose we re-attach it to the lath with washers and adhesive. If it is crumbling or a large area has let go, we remove it and hang drywall on the lath or the joists, shimmed to meet the surrounding plaster.
Plaster-to-drywall transitions
Plaster is typically three-quarters of an inch thick to drywall’s half inch, so a drywall insert has to be furred out or doubled up to land flush. The joint between the two materials moves differently, so it gets a mesh tape and a setting compound rather than paper and all-purpose. Done right, the wall is flat and the seam never telegraphs. We use the same detail when tying new drywall into old plaster for additions.
Sand-finish and textured plaster
Many older Huntington homes have a sand-float or swirl texture in the plaster. We reproduce those finishes on repairs with a sand-textured compound and the same tools the original plasterer used, so a repaired section does not read as a smooth square in a textured wall. See texture matching for the modern textures.
Questions about Plaster Repair & Plaster-to-Drywall
Should I repair plaster or replace it with drywall?
Repair it if it is sound and mostly attached; plaster is a better wall than drywall. Replace sections that are crumbling, have separated over large areas, or are already patched into a mess. We tell you which on the estimate.
How much does plaster repair cost?
Crack repairs and small patches typically start around $150 to $250, in line with the minimum job fees most plaster pros charge. Re-adhering a loose ceiling or replacing a section with drywall is quoted by the area after we see it.
Can you match old plaster texture?
Yes. Sand-float, swirl, and stipple plaster finishes are matched on the repair so it blends with the rest of the wall.
Other repairs we handle
Plaster Repair & Plaster-to-Drywall sits alongside our drywall installation & finishing, our drywall hole repair & patching service, professional drywall crack repair and ceiling drywall repair services — call and we'll tell you which one your job needs.
Where we work
We take plaster repair & plaster-to-drywall jobs across the Tri-State, including drywall repair in Barboursville, Milton drywall repair calls, serving Ona, drywall repair for Hurricane property owners, Drywall Repair Near Ceredo, drywall repair in Kenova, Ashland drywall repair calls, serving Ironton, drywall repair for Proctorville property owners, Chesapeake, OH Drywall Repair and drywall repair in South Point, and the surrounding communities.
Ask about Plaster Repair & Plaster-to-Drywall in Huntington
Free written estimates. Most Huntington repairs scheduled within the week.
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