Who do I contact to remove stucco from an interior wall?

February 15, 2021 6:02 AM

What professional can remove the stucco from an interior wall and make it smooth?

I'm in STL in the US. I have an interior wall that I think is covered in stucco - it's textured bumps and has sharp protrusions. I do not want to just cover the entire wall because there are also stained glass windows that I like. This is a load-bearing wall, and on the other side is the brick of our house.

Who do I call to remove the stucco? I want a smooth wall so I don't cut myself all the time on it. I am not a DIY person.

I saw the "stucco yucko" question from 2008 - that tells me how to do this, but I want somebody else to do this.

posted by Ms Vegetable to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Semantics, but it's probably a textured plaster since it's interior. We had it in our kitchen when we moved in, and put 1/4" drywall over it when we remodeled. Look for a general contractor or drywall specialist.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 6:43 AM on February 15, 2021 [2 favorites]

Is your house from the 1920s or 1930s? If so, when it's interior walls, it's known as "wedding cake frosting" walls, and it's a selling point for old houses. My first house had it; it was a pain to paint but acted as a great selling point when that time came.
Might be best to cover it rather than remove it; you'd want a drywaller to go straight over it.
posted by notsnot at 7:21 AM on February 15, 2021

If this wall was installed before 1980 it might be a mixture of plaster and asbestos. This was known as a wedding cake wall, designed to add texture, while the asbestos was added for fire resistance. Please test this before you rip it out or sand it to make sure.
posted by citygirl at 8:44 AM on February 15, 2021 [1 favorite]

Drywall contractor can do this efficiently, and as noted above before you do anything get an asbestos test -- I used Western Analytical Labs. If it comes back positive (past a certain percentage) you'll need to decide if you want to encapsulate it (seal it in and cover it over) or strip it off. If you choose to strip it off you'll need a specialty contractor which, if there's asbestos in your local housing, should be easy enough to find. If you choose to encapsulate it you will usually be required to notify future purchasers (although there are ways around this, if you want to be a dick, which your realtor will probably ... obliquely ... suggest at the time of sale).
posted by aramaic at 10:02 AM on February 15, 2021

If all you want to do is cover up the pointy bits that you cut yourself on, how about some fabric wall hangings? Should be cheaper, easy, quick, and only requires the DIY skill of hammering nails.
posted by ShooBoo at 5:53 PM on February 15, 2021