Installing drywall is pretty easy, but it is a 2-person job. The sheets themselves are pretty unwieldy and heavy. If you step into a home made after 1945 or so, you’re probably going to run into drywall.
If you smooth out the plaster cleanly enough, it will be just as smooth as painted drywall. Instead of wood beams for the lath, some crews prefer using metal screens (aka metal lath) or “rock lath,” which is drywall with a textured surface and holes in it. As an important note, very few people actually perform the lathe-over-stud and 3-layer plaster work anymore. Today, unless you’re restoring an old home, you’ll typically see plaster over blueboard, which is a moisture-resistant drywall. It’s basically the same thing, but it’s important to point out.
Just to put this in perspective, for a 1,500 sq ft (140 m2) home, drywall might run you around $3,000, while plaster could be up to $15,000. It’s not a minor difference.
Plaster also takes a lot more time to install, although to be fair, installing blueboard instead of lathe speeds the process up considerably. Plastering is a skilled trade, but it’s not a big industry. If you don’t live in a big city, you may not have a choice here since you won’t be able to find a plaster pro.
If you want your interior space to match perfectly for a uniform aesthetic, drywall is going to be way better than plaster.
Frankly, you may often find it easier to pay a professional to patch extensively-damaged plaster walls, which could add additional costs.
If you’re building a home from scratch and you’re installing a fire sprinkler system (which is recommended in new builds these days), it’s probably safer than plaster.
Remember, plaster was the universal option before 1940, so plaster has a very historical and Victorian vibe. If you like old homes or you’re rehabbing an old home, plaster is probably going to look better.
Never try to nail anything into plaster. It’ll crack from the heft of the impact. Always use a drill and screw.
If the cracking is especially bad, you may end up with big chunks falling off of your walls. If you’re building a new home on uneven ground, this is a big consideration.
This may actually be an upside if you don’t like seeing little nicks, dents, or damage build up over the years of normal wear and tear.
Your exterior plays a role, too. If you’ve got brick, stucco, or wood paneling, it’ll be a lot easier to insulate. If you’ve got vinyl siding, insulating plaster can be a little more difficult. If you go with plaster over blueboard and then you have vinyl siding or stucco, the drywall is going to be better from an insulation perspective most of the time.
The cool factor on plaster is just so much higher than drywall, too. It’s a subtle thing that people may not notice right away, but drywall is so commonplace compared to plaster!
