Need some guidance on Plaster Walls

[Hobart King]

Hi - coming to the brain trust with a tricky situation where I am not sure how to proceed. I have a house under contract with partner @EmileHughes and I am trying to estimate all the repairs. The house has plaster and lathe walls that has significant cracking and some places with holes where the plaster has pulled away from the lathe.

Key facts:

1). We have this house under contract for 20k

2). The ARV is conservatively 150k for a flip.

3). The house has some foundation issues which will probably cost 8-10k fix.

Things to consider:

1). We are probably going to have to rewire the house and add distributed plumbing.

2). We are considering adding a second bath and walk in closet which would probably significantly increase what we can sell it for (probably add 20-30k to the purchase price).

3). We would like to seal off some doors and potentially open up/move some walls.

With respect to the plaster would you:

1). Attempt to patch it or skim coat it?

2). Hang drywall over it

3). Demolish plaster and put up drywall? Would you check for lead paint?

One more question - there are two non-functional chimneys that take up a lot of space. Would you remove these and potentially leave the mantle?

Lastly, the house is a 1k sq ft 3/1 with a dinky bathroom. Would you convert one of the bedrooms into a bathroom/walk-in closet even if it meant that the second bedroom of a 2/2 would be fairly small?

Thanks in advance,

Hobie

I’ve read all the BP topics in the last few years i

[Sam Shueh]

3. Definitely replace it with dry wall and install wiring. The plaster walls are something of little interest. The drywall is very affordable. Spray paint and looks like a modern home while you install more outlets. Add a 2nd bath outward direction. Do not make these small BR even smaller.