Q. We're buying a house that is probably close to 100 years old. It has been vacant for the past several years and needs a good amount of cleaning up and fixing up. One thing we're concerned about is ...

Dear James: My parents' older house had plaster walls, but most builders now use drywall. I'm making a room addition. Which ...

Dear James: We are planning a substantial room addition to our dream home. We are not on a tight budget, and we want everything done right. Should we use plaster walls or standard drywall walls? — ...

Q: The walls of our 1938 San Francisco home are lath and plaster, with a canvas-like fabric over the plaster. There are cracks in the plaster, which can be seen through the paint as raised creases in ...

Plaster walls were the universal standard in American homes before the 1950s, requiring skilled tradesmen and weeks of curing time to produce a surface far denser than modern drywall. The postwar ...

Q. We just bought our first house, an American Foursquare, dated 1917. It has been vacant for several years and the interior is not in the best condition. We'd like to gut it to get rid of the sagging ...

In nearly all American homes built in recent memory, you’re probably familiar with drywall, which is by far the most popular wall material in the nation. Quickly installed, solid, and with a ...

Q. My wife and I removed beadboard wainscoting in a house we just bought. In the process we destroyed the wall. The beadboard was glued on, and when it came down, so did a thin coat of something. I ...