is this normal?

[sabianq]

so i am trying something in my bathroom,
I have ceilings that are made of what looks like 5/8 inch old gypsum board with a layer of 3/4 inch plaster then painted with a 1/4 inch thick layer on white paint.
the house was built in 1957
i don't want to rip to much of it out as the ceiling is holding up the roof insulation and it would be a huge mess if i removed the old wall board. i want to sandwich the old ceiling wall board with new green board attached through the wall board to the ceiling joists.

for the shower area, i want to fur the ceiling down with flat2x4s and use roofing felt then screw up hardibacker and tile the ceiling.

I have all of the walls out. and want to cover the entire bathroom with green board then use hardibacker where the shower and tub are.

is this the right approach?

~Sab

[dl]

Hmm, if it's sound why not just tile directly on the old plaster? (wet shower walls excepted of course).

What paint is 1/4" thick? I don't understand this unless you mean popcorn type stuff, which can be removed with water.

- DL

[jadnashua]

Well, basically unless you local inspectors require greenboard, forget it, it's not really any better than normal drywall and it costs more (it's not as strong, either). Unless the shower will be a steam shower, regular drywall would work - you can use cbu if you prefer just make sure to run a damp sponge over it before putting up the thinset since it can suck the moisture out of it too fast otherwise. Finishing the ceiling outside of the shower will be a pain if you lower it inside it. Do you have a vapor barrier under the insulation? If so, it might hold everything in place if you cut it out.

[sabianq]

Hmm, if it's sound why not just tile directly on the old plaster? (wet shower walls excepted of course).

What paint is 1/4" thick? I don't understand this unless you mean popcorn type stuff, which can be removed with water.

- DL

here is what im talking about


the wall seems to be made of sheetrock, the layer alway to the right, plaster, the layer in the middle and a paint layer, top white layer.
dosent come off very well with water. and the stuff was just peeling off like really thick paper on the ceiling.
regardless, i am going to just sheetrock right over it on the ceiling.

[Mike2]

Sab, I think I fell off the wagon .

I'm not following all of this. In post #1 you say "I have all the walls out". Now in post # 4 we are looking at layers of paint, plaster, wallboard and such on the walls.

I personally think the shower plan you began to outline in post #1 is fine, providing the walls really are stripped.

For the rest of the bathroom, leave the existing ceiling alone or add another layer of regular wallboard. Then paint.

[sabianq]

i was just trying to see if this type of wall construction is normal? and what the "paint" layer really is, is it paint? DL said that he didn't think that there was actually 1/4 inch of paint on the wall, it actually measures in a just a hair shy of 1/4 inch. i was just posting a picture to prove that I'm not hallucinating. but at the same time, i don't know what this layer is (the white layer) or how it was applied.
me being a curious person, I'm just curious if anybody here has run into this before.


I have all of the Sheetrock out, and i am just going to cover up the existing ceiling with a new layer of modern sheet rock. now i understand that i do not need to use green board for the ceiling and some of you are advocating that i don't need to use green-board for the rest of the bath either. normal sheet rock is fine?
I am using Hardibacker Cement board for the shower and tub area.

thank you for the reply

[jas_il]

I'm guessing that the white layer is a finish plaster layer. The walls in our ~1940s home are similar, but the dimensions are less. I think we have about 3/8" of some type of wallboard, covered by two layers of plaster (white over gray). The two layers of plaster together are about 3/8". If the plaster is not water-damaged, it should be quite hard (much harder than drywall).

[sabianq]

hey, i think your 100% correct, thanks for the insight!
you are right, it is quite hard and well bonded to the wall.
I ran into a similar thing in my basement and chipped out the peeling outer layer then tiled over the existing wall. that was 2 years ago and it is holding like a champ.
needless to say, i thought it was paint (at least some form of lime whitewash) then too.
thanks again

[sabianq]

you know, they don't build houses like they use to anymore.

[Davestone]

That's typically the thickness of hardcoat, but they weren't using it back then, so i'd agree it's a thin plaster.And don't believe that crap about Mike fallin off the wagon.