Drywall and Plaster Water Damage Repair in Chicopee, MA

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Drywall or plaster: which do you have?

Knock on the wall. Drywall sounds hollow and feels soft. Plaster sounds solid and is hard. Many Chicopee homes built before 1950 have plaster and lath, sometimes with drywall added in kitchens, baths and later additions. The two react to water differently.

• Drywall soaks up water fast, sags, and loses strength. Wet drywall that has gone soft or crumbly is replaced.
• Plaster holds water longer and looks dry before it is. Firm plaster can often be dried in place, but plaster that has turned soft or let go of the lath has to come down.

Read should wet drywall be replaced and why plaster takes longer to dry.

Signs the wall needs work

• Stains that keep spreading after the leak is fixed
• Paint bubbles or peeling paper
• Soft spots that dent when pressed
• Cracks or sagging in a ceiling
• A musty smell near the wall

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Our approach

1. Fix the leak. Same visit, by us.
2. Measure. Readings show how far the water went inside the wall.
3. Save what we can. Firm plaster and drywall are dried in place through small openings.
4. Remove what is ruined. Soft drywall, failed plaster and wet insulation, cut back to dry material.
5. Dry the cavity and check it before closing.
6. Repair. New drywall patched in, or plaster repaired to match the surrounding wall, then primed and painted.

Repairing old plaster walls

Patching an old plaster wall with drywall works, but it has to be shimmed to match the thicker plaster and finished so the patch does not show. In rooms where the plaster is original detail, it can be repaired in plaster. We tell you the options and the prices before work starts.

Walls in multi-family homes

In Chicopee two- and three-deckers, a burst on one floor often damages the walls and ceilings of the units below. We check every floor and dry them together. See apartment and multi-family water damage.

Ceilings first

A wet ceiling is more urgent than a wet wall. Drywall ceilings soften and sag under the weight of water, and plaster ceilings can let go of the lath in large pieces with little warning. If a ceiling is bulging, do not stand under it. Move furniture out of the way, turn off any light fixture in that area at the breaker, and put down buckets and plastic. A controlled opening at the low point drains the water before the ceiling comes down on its own. See ceiling water damage repair.

How much will be cut out

We remove only what has to come out, based on readings. A common approach for drywall is a flood cut: a straight cut a short distance above the wet line, so the wet bottom of the wall and the insulation behind it come out and the cavity can dry. A straight cut is also easier to patch neatly. For plaster, we often drill small holes along the bottom of the wall to move dry air into the cavity, and remove sections only where the plaster is soft or has come loose. Before any cut, we check for wiring and plumbing in the wall.

Stains that come back

A water stain painted over with ordinary paint usually bleeds back through within days. Once the wall is dry, the stained area needs a stain-blocking primer before the finish coat. If the stain keeps coming back after priming, the wall may still be wet, or the leak may not be fixed. That is worth checking before repainting again.

Insulation inside the wall

Fiberglass batts that get soaked sag and lose most of their value, and they hold water against the studs. In most cases wet insulation comes out and is replaced once the cavity is dry. In exterior walls, that is also a chance to seal air gaps that let cold reach the pipes in the first place.

Which rooms first

Wall repairs are planned with the room's use in mind, so a kitchen or bathroom can be put back first.

Wall repair questions

Wet walls? Call now

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