plasterboard ?

[oscarMadison]

ok, I've got plasterboard that looks like the picture below only the white looks about the size of the grey material and the grey looks about the size of the white.  Basically 3/8" white, thin layer of tan,  1/2" grey, thin 1/8" layer of white, with a thin layer of off-white material.

I've cut out an outlet size years ago but don't remember how much of a pain it was.  I've got a six foot section of window with a two foot or so tall section below it.  A previous owner did a half adze job on repairing it that I'd like to fix and the section next to it has a hairline crack.  I'd like to add on an outlet box to the section, old house "Who'll ever need more then one outlet per wall"  


Any ways I thought about cutting out the botched job and the section with the hairline crack, put in an outlet, and repairing it.  This is a bigger section then the outlet, if I start cutting out a bigger section is it likely going to fall apart and be a big job.  Am I going to curse the previous guy and myself?  I'm pretty sure if I beat my head against the wall it's not going to give like drywall.

[Phil Thien]

Do you have plaster over rock lath?

[oscarMadison]

i think that's what this is but am not sure.

[Phil Thien]

i think that's what this is but am not sure.

You can patch with drywall, tape, and mud (first coat use hot mud).

The key is making sure you shim the new drywall with the surrounding wall.  Taking your time to get this right will making the taping/mudding go much more smoothly.

The biggest mistake most people make w/ patching is not running the mud wide enough over the tape.  The wider you run your seams, the more they will disappear.

I've also found good drywall guys on Angie's List that I can get some nice work done for $100 to $150.  I had an upstairs bathroom botched by a contractor and the drywall guy I subsequently found charged me a whopping $300 to make everything perfect, including priming, all in about two and a half hours.  It would have taken me two days and not looked nearly as good.

[oscarMadison]

You can patch with drywall, tape, and mud (first coat use hot mud).

The key is making sure you shim the new drywall with the surrounding wall.  Taking your time to get this right will making the taping/mudding go much more smoothly.

The biggest mistake most people make w/ patching is not running the mud wide enough over the tape.  The wider you run your seams, the more they will disappear.

I've also found good drywall guys on Angie's List that I can get some nice work done for $100 to $150.  I had an upstairs bathroom botched by a contractor and the drywall guy I subsequently found charged me a whopping $300 to make everything perfect, including priming, all in about two and a half hours.  It would have taken me two days and not looked nearly as good.

thanks. I didn't think about the width of the mud over the tape. On the plus side this will be better then the 10 inch hole I had to fix in the ceiling. Sanding over head sucks.