Drywall Installation and Repair in Murray, Utah

Murray's smelter years and the age of its houses

Murray's first smelter was built in 1870, and the city's general plan says it was home to as many as ten smelters over the years. The town was officially recognized as a city on January 3, 1903. The last landmark of that era, the ASARCO smokestacks near 5300 South, came down in August 2000.

The latest five-year Census numbers, for 2020 to 2024, count 21,557 homes in Murray, with a median build year of 1978. About 15 percent, roughly 3,300 homes, were built before 1960, and about 950 before 1950. The 1970s were the busiest decade, with about 26 percent of today's homes, so a drywall repair here can involve anything from century-old plaster to a 1970s textured ceiling.

Plaster and lath in Murray's older neighborhoods

Murray's Downtown Residential Historic District, a National Register listing, takes in 185 historic structures from Center Street to Atwood and Glen Street and from 4800 South to Vine Street, with architecture spanning 1870 to 1950. According to Preservation Brief 21 from the National Park Service, plaster finished the walls of almost every building up to the 1930s or 1940s, and by the late 1930s house plasterers worked almost entirely over gypsum rock lath.

Plaster on wood lath is held by its keys, the plaster that squeezed through the gaps between the strips and hardened behind them. When the keys break, the NPS explains, the plaster loosens and bows, and a ceiling can start dropping pieces. Stress cracks usually run diagonally from a door or window frame. The NPS describes reattaching loose plaster to the lath with flat-head wood screws and plaster washers before the cracks are taped.

Where a section is past saving, or a room is being changed, the failed plaster can be cut back to firm edges and filled with drywall packed out to the same thickness, then taped and finished so the patch doesn't show. A whole room can also be stripped to the studs and hung with new drywall.

Testing old paint before plaster is cut or sanded

The EPA estimates that 87 percent of homes built before 1940, and 69 percent of homes built from 1940 to 1959, are likely to have lead-based paint. Cutting, sanding or tearing out painted plaster turns that paint into dust, so the paint in an older Murray house is tested before demolition starts, and the work area is sealed off when it is positive.

Murray's historic registry and original building materials

Murray keeps its own Historic Registry, created in 1997, for homes, businesses and districts at least fifty years old that have kept their historic character. Each site is ranked A, well preserved, or B, with some changes. The registry ordinance is non-regulatory, but it does require owners to talk with the city's Cultural Arts Division before changing a building's footprint or its original building materials.

If your house is on the registry, call the Cultural Arts Division before original plaster comes out. A repair that patches only the failed areas and keeps the rest of the wall changes the least.

What Murray's basement finish checklist asks for

Murray takes building permit applications online through eProcess 360, and its basement finish checklist, updated September 16, 2024, says an application can't be accepted for plan review until the submittal is complete. If the basement will have a kitchen, the application has to include a Second Kitchen Covenant. Several items on the list shape the drywall directly:

• Ceiling heights of 7 feet or more in bedrooms and living areas, 6 feet 8 inches in halls, bathrooms and laundry rooms, and 6 feet 4 inches under beams and ducts, so soffits are planned around those heights.
• Bedrooms of at least 70 square feet, each with an egress window and an interconnected smoke and carbon monoxide alarm.
• A wall detail showing fireblocking at the top of the wall, at dropped ceilings and every 10 feet along it, made of 3/4-inch wood, 1/2-inch gypsum board or unfaced batts filling the cavity, with no insulation facing left exposed.
• Treated or redwood sill plates where walls sit on the concrete, and structural changes that meet the code's span tables or carry an engineer's approval.

Creeks, groundwater and Murray basements

Big Cottonwood and Little Cottonwood Creeks both join the Jordan River inside Murray, and the city's general plan rates flood potential as high in many areas because the creeks run directly through parts of town. The plan counts a water table of 30 inches or less among the soil constraints it maps, and says most of Murray sits in high or moderate liquefaction zones on Utah Geological Survey maps, with the Wasatch fault about three miles to the east.

For basement drywall, water comes first. A wall with past seepage needs the source fixed before board goes up, and the bottom edge of the board is kept off the concrete so it can't wick moisture. Bathrooms and laundry rooms get moisture-resistant board, and board that has been wet is cut out well past the stain.

Getting a drywall estimate in Murray

For an estimate, phone (801) 735-8491 or send the form with a message about the job. Helpful details for a Murray house: its rough age, plaster or drywall walls, any listing on the city's historic registry, and what you have in mind.

The price depends on the job's size, the ceiling heights, whether plaster has to be cut back or removed, texture matching, and whether paint or ceiling texture needs testing first. There's no charge for the estimate, and no obligation.

Drywall questions from Murray homeowners

Does Murray require a permit for a basement finish?

Yes. Murray takes basement finish permits through eProcess 360 and publishes a checklist of what the plans must show, from egress windows and alarm locations to ceiling heights and a wall detail for fireblocking.

Can drywall be used to fix a plaster wall?

Yes, for sections that can't be saved. The damaged plaster is cut back to firm edges, drywall is packed out to the plaster's thickness, and the seams are taped and finished to blend in. Restoring the plaster itself is plasterer's work, which the NPS guide covers in detail.

My house is on Murray's historic registry. Can I replace the plaster?

Talk to Murray's Cultural Arts Division first. The registry is non-regulatory, but it asks owners to check in before changing original building materials.

How low can a soffit around ductwork be in a Murray basement?

Six feet four inches, the minimum Murray's checklist sets under beams, ducts and similar obstructions. Elsewhere, habitable rooms need 7 feet, and halls, bathrooms and laundry rooms 6 feet 8 inches.

What does a drywall estimate in Murray cost?

Nothing: it's free, with no obligation. Phone (801) 735-8491 or describe the job in the estimate form.