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We just had a new tankless water heater put in, and due to the venting and our begging for extra space, he said he would put it in the wall and we said fine, we'll patch it after he does it. Ok, so WOW, it's a mess. Maybe we should've just mounted it ON the wall but too late now. Plus, we need to cut/remove/patch other places in the house anyway, so we have to learn how to do this anyway. Suggestions? All the places I see the previous owners patched look completely terrible and awful, which makes me thing it's not as easy as we want it to be. ideas on how to make it match the surrounding wall instead of sticking out like a sore thumb? How do you get the texture to match, do you just put the texture-in-the-paint stuff, or spray some on, to make it blend together?
As much as I hate to say it, knowing that ya'll like to diy most stuff, you'll need to hire someone experienced if you want the patches to match. It's not really something that you can learn without having someone actually show you, and even then you'll need lots of practice to get it right. I've been doing it occasionally for the last 20 years, and I'm still not as good at it as I'd like to be. I can usually get close enough to be acceptable, but I always inform my customers ahead of time that I may not get it perfect.
The other option would be to do a new texture on all the walls, but again you would be talking about hiring someone more than likely. It's possible to diy, but it's far from easy.
I can build a house from the ground up(Grandfather was a master builder and I worked with him for a time), wire it (my profession), plumb it (brother is a Master plumber and I helped him for a time), roof it, insulate it, drywall it, etc... one thing I just don't do is mud and plaster. I hire it out. I've tried and tried to "get" it. Even had some of the best plaster guys I've seen in 28 years of construction work try to teach me the basics of how to get it looking decent. Finally gave it up out of frustration. Just as JimRom has said; it is practice, practice, practice in order to do a good job.
is it at all acceptable to put a piece of drywall in there and try to blend that in?
We tried disguising bad plaster in the bathroom with texture and it didn't work easily, we'll probably be tiling in there before too long.
Most of this spot involving the water heater wil be blocked by a clothes dryer, but you'll still be able to see it above. The people who tried to replaster a spot behind the old water heater (and now will be behind the dryer) obviously couldn't do it and we'll have to tear that out. My husband suggested just covering it with a board or soemthing and putting some tile up back there, like a backsplash between the tops of the washer/dryer and the bottom of a row of cabinets that we'll be hanging up there. That should look nice, like a true "laundry area". But we still have the adjacent wall with a tankless water heater sticking out. The water heater unit looks nice enough, but with a VERY messed up wall that we somehow need to patch and then frame around the water heater and pipes, etc.
Then the other spot is where an old wall heater needs removed, so we'll probably for sure have to hire that out and/or replace it with a gas fireplace and frame it out to cover the spot. It would be a much more noticible spot for us to have looking terrible.
Guess I just wished I'd realized this beforehand. Probably would've approached things differently or even bought a different house (yes, definately) if we'd known we'd have to sink this much extra $$ into stuff like this. Tankless water heater installs are pricey already, then paying extra for somebody to clean up the mess?! We were hoping we could do it.
Lastly, how do you cut plaster walls without making them shatter? We have a new medicine cabinet for the bathroom that we need to put in but my husband doesn't know how to slice a rectangle in the plaster like he would in drywall. what tool to use?
Patching in with drywall is acceptable, just not the preferred method. But hey, if you can patch it in with a piece of gypsum and make the texture on top of it match, go for it.
As for cutting plaster walls, my favorite tool of all time is the rotozip (http://www.rotozip.com/Learn/RotozipSystem - broken link) spiral saw. It will cut through just about anything, even tile, with the right accessories. Don't bother with a jab or keyhole saw, as you'll destroy the blade faster than you'll cut the hole, usually. Especially if the builder used mesh.
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Cant remember your house style but how about doing some high on the wall white beadboard wainscoat. In some older houses wainscoat doesnt stop at chair rail height. That would cover up all your boo boos.
Ive seen this look in some older cottages. The molding at the top is kinda wide and can be used for a shelf. Im a pack rat so I could see some cute laundry collectables up there. Maybe one of those cute wallpaper borders.
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