[stlrman]

How much should it cost to hand a piece of dry wall about 4 by 5 foot by professional?
There was plaster slab from long ago . House is 1910 .
I was not planning on redoing the plaster slab , just dry wall. Would I need to redo the plaster? It’s a double curling .
It’s in kitchen.
Then I have a small 2ft by 4ft where the panel was taken out to get at plumbing. Cost on this dry wall section ?

[syzygy]

You’ll need to install some wood blocking to support the gypsum backer board, then apply plaster to blend to the existing. Drywall in that situation is definitely not the best solution. Find a plasterer that will do a small job - that’s a piece of cake for a pro and you’ll never see the patch, which you probably will with drywall.

[aldcoll]

I think a better question is:  IS that plumbing I see in the wall?  The most common repair there would be a access panel, or at least that is my thought. If it is plumbing what are the chances of future work? 

And yes plaster walls need plaster.  Or plan B.  Sheet rock for fire and cover with Bead board or something the wife likes. 

Alan

[thunderbrick]

ALL great suggestions!   

[deadhead]

Either way you'll need the bracing.  Another solution would be grey board and a skim coat of plaster to blend.  They did that in my house to avoid replacing the lath.  There's no way to tell what's old and what's been repaired once it was painted.

[Bizarroterl]

How much it will cost for a pro depends a lot on where you live.  If you're in Kansas City you'll pay a lot less than downtown Manhattan.

[maplegrovemusic]

The dry time in between coats of mud is the biggest deal . For an experienced handy man , drywall guy , just cutting and screwing the drywall and doing a coat of mud should take an hour or so . Return trips for a second or third coat will be needed . Find someone close by as it should lower the costs . I would charge drive time for a tiny project as this . I am a professional painter .

[maplegrovemusic]

If you hire a handyman and you need anything else done I tend to bundle prices . If I'm already at your house and I have to wait for something to dry I always ask my customer if there is anything else I could do while waiting . Always at a reduced price since I'm there already . I would guess $160 would be a ballpark price

[Brettio]

Only suggestion I can give is to make sure you’re happy with the way it looks before approving the work and paying.  I had a very similar situation (drywall used to patch a lath/plaster wall) and while the patch looked good at first, naive, glance, once painted the joints between the two areas stood out like a sore thumb.