Removing drywall that's glued to concrete

calcnerd

Hi.

I'm currently tearing apart my basement for a complete refinish. I have one section where some water was coming in and the drywall is saturated. Unfortunately when the basement was finished by the previous owners they simply glued drywall to the concrete walls. This is proving to be a HUGE project to remove the crumbling drywall inch by inch using a wonder bar. Is there any easy solution?

This was done around 3/4 of the basement. I was planning on using that waterproof paint stuff & then framing over the existing drywall on the areas that aren't ruined by water. Is there any issue with doing this?

Thanks in advance.

carpitect

Wonderbar is probably the best bet on removing the glued drywall.

Leaving some drywall glued to the concrete would be a recipe for mold. There is no way to determine if there is a water barrier between the existing drywall and the concrete wall, which I would suspect there isn't.

Remove all the drywall, waterproof the concrete and then add framing and insulation. If you're spending the time to do a complete refinish, that's the best way to prevent future issues.

Bud Cline

If you don't repair the water invasion from the outside you are wasting your time and money.

sdsester

Obviously you need to get the sections of drywall out of the way. I have a Fein multi tool I paid a fortune for years ago that turns tasks like getting rid of glue on concrete into fun amusement park rides. I should think if you don't want to spend $500 or whatever the Harbor Freight, Craftsman, Rockwell, Dremel et al versions would work for getting the glue out of the way as well.

By the way, of all my tools, justifying the cost of the Fein thing has been among the easiest. I used it almost every day for something when working. And it was a major time saver which pleased my clients.

I think the production brands mentioned are all under or just over $100? Find one that is nicely balanced, is not too heavy, and does not overheat or vibrate and you too will find you reach for it as a fave go to tool. You can get generic blades now too which will be just fine for getting rid of construction adhesive once between drywall and concrete.

Ron6519

If you have a compressor and a pneumatic hammer, you can can use that. They have some wide chisels that will make the job go faster then a pry bar.

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calcnerd

I fixed the outside water issue already. What's going to be an issue is it's about 60 feet of wall 8 feet high that I need to remove drywall from...

I picked up a heavy duty floor scraper today. I guess I'll give that a shot.

itsreallyconc

edco makes a pneumatic chipper called an ' ugly stick '- much easier to use,,, among its tools is a thin scraper about 6" wide,,, if you can't locate OR make 1 using an air/chisel, try an elec chipping gun - good luck !

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