# Wall paper over drywall?



## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

I sure cannot tell what it is from that pic.


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## Sir MixAlot (Apr 4, 2008)

It looks like the brown drywall paper that's underneath the outer grey drywall paper. Prime it with Gardz (they sell it at Home Depot) >skim coat that area twice > add a little texture > prime again > paint. :thumbsup:


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

Conn:

That's "Gyproc Lath".

Buildings built prior to the 1940's had wood lath, which were strips of wood nailed to the studs. Then base coat plaster would be applied to the wood lath. Then, a top coat of lime putty based plaster would be applied over the base coat plaster, and that was your wall.

Drywall you know about.

In the 1950's and early 1960's, they used something called Gyproc Lath, which was basically 16 inch (I think) by 4 foot sheets of drywall with brown paper on both sides. The sheets would be nailed to the wall with only about 1/8 inch of space between them. Then a base coat plaster would be applied to the Gyproc Lath, and finally a gauging coat of lime putty based plaster would be applied over top of that.

I would paint that exposed brown paper with some white wood glue diluted with water so that it's absorbed into the brown paper. Also paint the surrounding surfaces you want your base coat plaster to stick to with that diluted glue. Now, you COULD go out and buy a bag of base coat plaster for $10 to $15 that will last you a lifetime, or you could just mix some perlite (from any garden store) into your joint compound as a filler, and use that as your base coat plaster. Spread that as smoothly over the missing plaster as you can, but don't fill it completely because you need room for your top coat. Allow time to dry.

Then, just use ordinary joint compound over top of that perlite/jointcompound mixture, sand smooth, prime and paint.

You COULD simply paint the diluted white wood glue on, and then fill the whole thing with joint compound. That would work too, but if you have a home with gyproc lath walls, you might be better off learning how to fix them correctly. Maybe, it would be a good idea to drop into any place that sells plastering supplies and buy a bag of base coat plaster. I really like Georgia Pacific's Perlite Admix Hardwall as a base coat plaster. My second choice would be USG's "Structolite". Mix some up with water and use it to fill that cavity about 1/8 inch shy of being flush with the surrounding wall. Allow time to dry, and then apply joint compound to make the repair flush with the surrounding wall. Sand smooth, prime and paint.

Gyproc lath is kinda like the missing link between wood lath and drywall. It was basically drywall, but smaller in size, with brown paper on both sides and without tapered edges. Lots (probably most) of buildings built in the 50's and 60's have it. Drywall evolved from gyproc lath.


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

PS:

There's no such thing as "gyproc". Gyproc (pronounced "jip rok") was the trade name given to the stuff by the company that made it because of it's gypsum core, and the name stuck and applied to the stuff regardless of who made it, just like "Q-tip", "Skidoo" or "Kleenex". Where I live, it's common for old timers to refer to drywall as "gyproc" because drywall was just the logical evolution of gyproc and because of the striking similarities between them.

From your photo, it looks like whomever did that ceiling simply nailed up the gyproc lath, and then put the top "gauging" coat on (the white top coat) with little to no base coat plaster being put on first. If that cavity isn't very deep, you could probably get away with painting with dilute white wood glue and then just filling it with drywall joint compound. It doesn't look like there was hardly any base coat plaster used from what I can see in your photo.

Finally, there's no problem letting your white wood glue solution dry before applying your base coat plaster or joint compound. The moisture from whatever you use will re-activate the dried glue and stick well to it.


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## Conn.DIY (Aug 6, 2015)

I appreciate the helpful replies, thank you!



Sir MixAlot said:


> It looks like the brown drywall paper that's underneath the outer grey drywall paper. Prime it with Gardz (they sell it at Home Depot) >skim coat that area twice > add a little texture > prime again > paint.





Nestor_Kelebay said:


> Conn:
> 
> That's "Gyproc Lath".
> 
> ...





Nestor_Kelebay said:


> PS:
> 
> There's no such thing as "gyproc". Gyproc (pronounced "jip rok") was the trade name given to the stuff by the company that made it because of it's gypsum core, and the name stuck and applied to the stuff regardless of who made it, just like "Q-tip", "Skidoo" or "Kleenex". Where I live, it's common for old timers to refer to drywall as "gyproc" because drywall was just the logical evolution of gyproc and because of the striking similarities between them.
> 
> ...


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## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

I admire those who can look at this photo and immediately zero in on the answer.
To me it looked like a somewhat angled state of Kansas.
Sort of a Timothy Leary Rorschach test.


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## chrisn (Dec 23, 2007)

Nestor_Kelebay said:


> Conn:
> 
> That's "Gyproc Lath".
> 
> ...


 Why would you go about this long invonved process when a coat of Gardz and some mud would fix it ? Just wondering


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## Sir MixAlot (Apr 4, 2008)

Ron6519 said:


> I admire those who can look at this photo and immediately zero in on the answer.
> To me it looked like a somewhat angled state of Kansas.
> Sort of a Timothy Leary Rorschach test.


You do know that you can click on the photo and it gets bigger > Then click on it again and it gets even bigger > then you can zoom in on the photo even closer...:yes:


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Seems like some overkill in this thread. Put some compound over it, dry, sand, repeat with second coat, and go. If you want to be anal, dab some Gardz in there, but it's probably not necessary with such a deep gouge and such a small area. If you want to continue to be anal, "brush" up the last coat of compound so it looks a bit rough like the surround area. But this looks like it's going under the corner of an exhaust fan cover, right? So no big worry.

How we got gyproc lath out of that picture I can't say - maybe the slightly sandy looking texture of the finish? But anyway that's just what torn drywall looks like. And even if it is by chance wallpaper, I'd still do the same thing. (My guess is that the OP isn't familiar with the look of torn drywall and so assumed there was some wallpaper in there.)


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## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

Sir MixAlot said:


> You do know that you can click on the photo and it gets bigger > Then click on it again and it gets even bigger > then you can zoom in on the photo even closer...:yes:


Unfortunately it doesn't load, it just does this pending loop and never loads.


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## Sir MixAlot (Apr 4, 2008)

Ron6519 said:


> Unfortunately it doesn't load, it just does this pending loop and never loads.


That's odd. The photo opens up everytime for me. What browser are are you using. I'm using Chrome. I had lots of issues with IE so I switched. :thumbsup:


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## Nestor_Kelebay (Jun 17, 2008)

chrisn said:


> Why would you go about this long invonved process when a coat of Gardz and some mud would fix it ? Just wondering


Well, if the guy has Gyproc lath in his bathroom ceiling, then he has it throughout his whole house. I thought I should explain to him how the repair really should be done with base coat plaster and a top coat of joint compound.


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## Ron6519 (Mar 28, 2007)

Sir MixAlot said:


> That's odd. The photo opens up everytime for me. What browser are are you using. I'm using Chrome. I had lots of issues with IE so I switched. :thumbsup:


I'm on IE, I'll try it on Chrome.
Thanks


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