Repairing old plaster walls

[SherryLG]

Hi, I recently purchased an old home that has the original plaster walls. One closet contains the upstairs bathroom piping. I had a leak in the plumbing and needed to fix it. I hired someone to do that, but he ripped a huge hole in the wall and now it needs to be closed up again. The wooden slats have been destroyed, and I need to put in some type of access to the pipes again if there was ever a problem.

I know I can replace with drywall, but what are the steps to taking out the wooden slats and then installing the drywall and making an access opening?

I am also on a limited budget.

Thanks a bunch,
Sherry

[pushkins]

Unless you have shut off valves or there are still some pipes that are old there should be no need to "have" to put it access to these pipes.
If you do need to then there are several access door kits you can buy at Lowes or H.Depot cheaply and installing them is as easy as cutting the new drywall and pushing them into the hole.

Before you go to the trouble of removing the lathing check to see the thickness of the plaster, you can get easily three different thicknesses in drywall from 1/4" to 1/2" to 5/8" so you might find that putting drywall directly ontop of the lath strips then some minor mudding (drywall compound) brings you to the right finish.
Removing the lath strips is not as easy and often will create a bigger mess before your done.
Hope this helps

Good Luck

[SherryLG]

That is certainly something that I can do. I so apprecitate your help. Catch you next time. Sherry