Repairing walls, should I use sheet rock or spackel?

[Stagleton]

I've recently removed an old kitchen and moved it to the living room. 1 room -> 2 room apartment. Hopefully it adds value and it will add a lot more living space which will be great.

In the living room (now kitchen) I scraped off all the old paint/wall paper and spackled everything. It was a pretty horrible job but looks okay after a lot of sanding. I took out the old kitchen and the walls are pretty crappy especially after taking off all the old tile. I was thinking about doing the same technique as the living room but when I try to scrape the paint, I remove a bunch of concrete that's covering the bricks. So, that means Ill need to put on a new layer of concrete and then spackel and then sand after all the paint scraping. Would it be easier to just cover the walls with sheet rock that's 6mm? or any other/better ideas?

[GrowingTheGreen]

Sounds like a pretty dang good idea to me!

[Goldielocks]

You may be able to avoid the wall repair, and just cover it with a panel surface and trim... like Beadboard or Wainscot...

[lthenderson]

Sheet rock is very inexpensive so it is hard to make a case of adding a lot of labor over just slapping on a new layer of sheet rock.

[Le Poisson]

Is this an exterior wall? Is the building double brick?

If so, consider putting strapping up on the wall and using foam board insulation to seal it, then a vapor barrier, and finally the drywall. Its a little more work, but you may as well insulate while you are in there.

If its an interior wall, is there opportunity to just expose the brick as a feature? exposed brick is sortof a 'thing' right now.

[Fishindude]

That "concrete" covering the bricks is probably plaster.
A good plaster man could just repair it if it's not too badly deteriorated.

You can't just put drywall over it, because there is nothing to screw to (bricks).  Would need to install wood or metal furring strips anchored to the brick wall with masonry anchors, then drywall over that.  This makes your wall 2" thicker so will affect all door and window jambs on that wall and they will have to be reworked.

[NoCreativity]

The cheapest thing would probably be to patch any holes with drywall mud and mesh. Even out any rough spots with the mud. Let it dry. Then sand smooth. That'll probably go easily over the stucco or whatever plaster is covering the bricks. After that you could throw on some thick rough texture with the same drywall mud, to cover up and imperfections. Prime then paint.

[Stagleton]

Well pretty embarrassing, but I'm paying some guys to put up plasterboard and do the finishing myself.

On a positive note, I've found that I can get people to pick up materials for me with half the cost of a renting a van by putting out a local add. This is a whole lot cheaper than owning a car in the city and having to take the subway to get to a rental company. Also, a lot less paperwork and someone else is taking on the risk of driving.