Replace/repair plaster walls?

[Hannes R]

I have a condominium in a 1930s building, with old plaster walls. The wall is a thin layer, about 1 cm thick, bulging out in some places in a bothersome way and would need to be attached with a whole lot of screws, and there are also large holes in the wall that the previous owner left behind. Everyone I've talked to claims that plaster walls are difficult to deal with as they are pulverized by practically nothing - plus I don't know how hard it is to fill in the holes (6-7 with holes straight through, 15 cm in diameter). I just tried to remove the baseboard, and a good bit of the wall crumbled where the board was attached...

What would you do; replace the walls with gypsum or try to repair the whole thing? Is it a costly procedure to replace with gypsum?

Thanks in advance!

 

[anaitis]

It depends on what is behind the plaster.
Is it plaster on brick or on a wooden wall?

 

[Hannes R]

There is wood on one wall and something resembling concrete in large gray blocks on the other. I'm inclined to replace it with drywall, provided it's uncomplicated enough for a total newbie like me to handle.

 

[anaitis]

There is wood on one wall and something resembling concrete in large gray blocks on the other. It leans towards replacing with plasterboard, if it's uncomplicated enough for a total newbie like me to handle it.

You should definitely cover the wooden wall with plasterboard.

For the concrete wall, it's probably easiest to repair with plaster if it's just the holes that need fixing.
If the wall is a total wreck, i.e., needs to be torn down, you can choose between plastering with mesh reinforcement (then the plaster will stick securely) or also installing plasterboard there (just consider how you plan to attach the plasterboards!).