In the following video, Rory Brennan, the founder of Big Wally’s Plaster Magic, will walk you through the things you’ll need. He’ll also give you some quick tips on how to use the spray-in conditioner, the adhesive and the patching plaster.

What kind of materials do you need? Everything you need comes in the Plaster Magic kit. Beyond that, you’ll need some cool, clean water and a mixing bucket or pail for the patching plaster. It’s also wise to wear safety glasses.

Here is a complete list of tools for plaster repair.

As always, if you have any questions for Rory about tools, materials, or anything pertaining to plaster repair and plaster ceiling repair, email info(at)plastermagic.com.

That’s right, the concrete pad designed to catch the water coming out of the downspout and direct it away from the building is backwards. This is an honest mistake, someone probably hastily placed it there and had their mind on other things. We’ve all made silly mistakes.

However honest the mistake, a minor oversight like this can lead to huge problems in the future. At Big Wally’s, we always stress the importance of proper building maintenance. Plaster repair is rarely necessary if a home or commercial building is properly maintained.

Errant moisture — water that finds its way to a place where it shouldn’t be — is the cause of A LOT of plaster failure. In the photo above, this little mistake could end up causing some expensive repair in the future. That water directed back at the building will most likely soak into the porous concrete. In a cold climate, that moisture will freeze, thaw and refreeze, wreaking havoc on the concrete. You’d be surprised at how tenacious water can be — if you give it an inch it will take a mile. It is very unforgiving.

Now imagine that concrete were part of the building’s foundation. The moisture would compromise the structure and maybe cause the building to shift. The result? Cracks in the plaster.

As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Keep an eye out for tiny problems that could become a huge repair project.

In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye out, too.

We recently got an email from Mike, who had an interesting experience while on a plaster repair job in Boston. As if there aren’t enough reasons to preserve historic plaster instead of tearing it out and putting up drywall or new plaster…

A woodworker by trade, Mike was on a renovation project in the Chelsea section of Boston. The original plaster in the home was cracked and pocked, so Mike ordered some Big Wally’s Plaster Magic to reattach it to the lath, thus preserving its beauty and value. As he was working on the project, a policeman and building inspector made a surprise visit to the site. This is not an uncommon occurrence on job sites. Mike did not have a building permit. But that’s the beautiful thing! Because he was simply repairing the cracked plaster with Big Wally’s, he didn’t need building permits. Mike explained to the officer and inspector that because he was preserving the plaster and avoiding a tear out and replacement, he was keeping the disturbance under the building permit requirements’ threshold. The inspector and officer agreed once they saw how little he was disturbing and walked away satisfied.

We love to hear stories like this. It makes us happy to know that Big Wally’s is not only saving renovators time and money (not to mention saving historic plaster in a city rich with heritage), but also saving them from the time loss, added expense and sometimes frustrating application process that building permits require.

All states and cities have different permit requirements, so be sure you do your homework before beginning a project. For information on permit requirements, contact your town clerk or city offices. You may also visit http://www.permitplace.com.

A few weeks ago, Rory was called to a circa 1900 home to repair a hole in a plaster wall. The hole was formed when a careless electrician used a sawzall to cut a space for a light switch. The vibration of the saw caused damage, resulting in an approximately 12″ diameter hole that needed to be stabilized and filled in with new plaster.

After stabilizing the lath and plaster with Big Wally’s adhesive, Rory was ready to move on to part two, which involved applying patching plaster. Using Big Wally’s patching plaster, which is specially designed to be flexible and bond with existing historic plaster, Rory filled in the hole with a “rough draft” of sorts, also known as a “scratch coat”.

In the video below, Rory will show you how to properly mix the patching plaster, which comes from the factory in powder form. The powder mix is combined with water until a peanut-buttery substance is achieved. It’s best to add water in small doses — you can always add more but you can’t take away.

Rory used a simple trowel to apply the scratch coat. He scooped small amounts and applied them gently, filing in any holes left behind by the drill when stabilizing the lath. Being a first coat, he did spend much time making it perfect — that comes later. He then let it dry overnight before moving on to the third and final step: applying the final coat. You can watch that video in our next blog post.

Have more questions about repairs? Please feel free to leave them in the comments below or get in touch with us at info(at)plastermagic.com.

Whenever you approach a plaster repair project, there are three crucial issues to keep in mind:

1. The Building.
2. Beauty and Durability.
3. Stability.

Last week we addressed issue #1: The Building, and treating that building like you would a valued client. This week we’ll discuss issue #2, Beauty and Durability.

Historic plaster is worth maintaining for many reasons (home value, sound dampening, period preservation, etc.), but perhaps the most important reason is its beauty.

For thousands of years, builders have turned to plaster for its intrinsic aesthetics. Archaeologists have found evidence that this tried-and-true method of finishing walls and ceilings was used as early as 12,000 B.C. in Syria. We can assume that it was utilized for its readily available materials and long-lasting qualities, but we also have to imagine that the ancient Syrian wives everywhere stood back to admire their pretty new walls (matching curtains probably came much later).

The Finished Surface

When a visitor enters your home your walls are on center stage. Plaster is becoming more and more scarce as time marches on, and a well-maintained plaster wall can be just as much of conversation piece as an Italian leather couch or original Monet Water Lillies painting (okay, maybe not the Monet. But a solid plaster wall is a work of art in itself).

Imagine the conversation as your guest enters your home:

Hi, Candice! It’s so good to see you again! Jeez, we haven’t seen each other since Cousin Jake’s wedding in Albuquerque – what was that… six years ago?

I know! It’s been too long.

Oh my, and this must be little Susie. How old is… [Aunt Candice pauses suddenly, then pushes little Susie aside]. Is that… is this a real plaster wall?

Sure is. It’s original. Been here since this house was built in 1910. We used Big Wally’s Plaster Magic to repair some of the cracks and bubbling. It was a lot cheaper than replacing it with drywall, not to mention easier and less messy.

Well it’s gorgeous. You don’t see enough restored plaster walls these days. I’d buy this house in a second.

As this made-up dialogue demonstrates, a beautiful wall can stop an excited aunt in her tracks. Think what it can do for the rest of your visitors.

The Price of Beauty

Flip through the handful of home improvement television networks on cable these days and you’re bound to come across a show devoted to increasing a home’s value. You only need to watch 30 seconds to realize that looks matter… big time. A durable, handsome-looking plaster wall is sure to increase the value of a home.

It Keeps Going and Going and Going…

Who says beauty is fleeting? With plaster, you get the whole package: great looks AND durability. If you think about it, plaster is basically rock — pulverized rock that is reconstituted and spread onto your walls or ceiling. What’s going to last longer: delicate drywall or rock hard plaster?

Think beauty. Think plaster.

Whenever you approach a plaster repair project, there are three crucial issues to keep in mind:

1. The Building.
2. Beauty and Durability.
3. Stability.

Today we’ll address issue #1: The Building.

It’s easy to get caught up in all the details that surround home improvement projects. Budget woes, scheduling conflicts, interruption of your in-home routine… these are all valid concerns when tackling a plaster wall or plaster ceiling repair project. But, it’s important to remember that the building is your client. Just like any client, you want to make sure it is happy and satisfied with a job well done.

When most people look at plaster all they can see is the finished surface. Knowing the age of the building, where it is located geographically, and the changes it went through will allow you to determine the composition of the existing plaster system. If you know your building’s history and plaster makeup, you’ll make wise decisions about materials and methods (read more about plaster makeup and history).

Most damage occurs as a result of the building moving or shifting on its foundation. When the movement is more than the plaster can physically accommodate, cracks result. The wood lath that is attached to the building’s structural system bears the brunt of any movement, which in turn weakens the plaster and separates it from the lath.

Renewing the bond between the backside of the plaster and the wood lath is the best way to restore the plaster’s original structural integrity. This is why we developed Big Wally’s adhesive – to restore that bond.

Of course, in any home repair project, the budget (or lack thereof) often takes precedence. Quality materials and workmanship are sacrificed to save money. It makes sense in the short term, but we urge you to think about the long-term.

Short-cut methods of repairing plaster will almost always cost you more in the long run. And think about your client, the building — would it be happy with you if your plaster repair cracked again in a few years? Would it be happy if the inferior adhesive you purchased to save money failed, resulting in another round of repairs?

Plaster is meant to last. That’s why it’s been around for thousands of years, all over the world. Treat it right and it will return the favor.

Check back next week when we’ll address issue #2: Beauty and Durability.

In honor of the well-prepared, here it is, a full list of everything you’ll need to tackle that cracked plaster wall or ceiling with the help of Big Wally’s Plaster Magic:

Drill – It can be cordless or corded, new or old, fancy or plain. As long as it’s in good working order and your battery is charged up, you’re good to go.

Masonry Bits have a special tip designed to drill through rocky material like plaster.

3/16 inch masonry bit – This is the tool that trips up the most people. It MUST be a masonry bit. If you try to use the wood or metal bit you have laying around, you will quickly get frustrated. Those bits will dull in mere seconds, leaving the bit useless for any future project. You can purchase masonry bits at any hardware store or home improvement center.

Philips driver – You’ll need a Philips driver for your drill to screw in the clamps that come with your Big Wally’s kit (don’t worry, screws are provided with the kit).

Caulking gun – You’ll need a way to get Big Wally’s adhesive out of the tube. This is the standard caulking gun that you’d use for painter’s latex or silicone bathroom sealant.

Vacuum – Once the holes are drilled in the plaster, you’ll need to suck out the debris and dust behind the wall. A shop vac works beautifully, but a standard vacuum with a hose attachment will work.

Sponge and bucket of water – An old kitchen sponge will do in a pinch, but we recommend picking up a large tiler’s sponge from the hardware store or home improvement center.

Protective glasses – As always, safety first.

Putty knives – We recommend a few different sizes, just in case. A 2″ and 6″ knife should be all you need.

Joint compound – Once the plaster is reattached to the lath, you’ll need “mud”, as they call it in the business, to fill in the holes and cracks. All-purpose, ready-mix compound works well.

Big Wally’s Plaster Magic kit – The most important ingredient! In addition to the adhesive and conditioner, each kit contains clamps and screws to the secure the plaster to the lath. Disposable gloves are also included.

That’s it – you are now fully prepared. Let us know if you have further questions in the comments below, or drop us a line at info(at)plastermagic.com. Happy plaster repairing.

Disturbing lead-based paint by sanding, scraping or demolishing its surface is considered the most dangerous way of dealing with it. If you have an old plaster wall that is covered in lead paint, tearing it down and throwing it in a dumpster creates a huge amount of dust that may be toxic. This is one more reason we recommend using Big Wally’s Plaster Magic to reattach plaster to lath. With reattachment, little dust is produced, and paint disturbance is kept to an absolute minimum (below the six square feet EPA threshold per room). Think about the dust produced by a complete tear-out versus a few dozen small holes drilled in the wall with plaster reattachment (watch our instructional video to see how reattachment works).

Lead is most dangerous to young children and pregnant women. Developing bodies are more apt to absorb dangerous amounts of lead. Because babies routinely put their hands in their mouths, they are at high-risk of lead poisoning after touching contaminated dust in or around a home. Adults face dangers as well. Reproductive problems, high blood pressure, nerve disorders and concentration problems have all been linked to lead poisoning.

Most American homes containing traditional plaster were built before World War II, meaning they are candidates for lead-based paint. Big Wally’s Plaster Magic is proud to offer a safer, easier alternative to plaster wall and ceiling tear-outs while preserving the beauty of historic plaster at the same time. We strongly recommend that you contact a certified and/or licensed contractor before you begin any renovation project where lead paint may exist. The EPA’s official website is a great source for educating yourself about the hazards of lead paint, testing methods, precautions and solutions.

Good luck, be safe, and happy plaster repairing!

Thus, we present to you a plaster repair glossary. Read them, study them, memorize them and wow all your friends at cocktail parties when you explain that a “hawk” is not only a bird of prey of the Falconiformes order, but also a flat sheet of metal with a handle, made to hold globs of wet plaster during the application process.

Plaster Repair Glossary

Aggregate: Mineral based, originally sand, serves as a shrinkage compensator, stabilizer, and bulking agent for plaster.

Building Efficiencies: Historically structures were built with materials that could be obtained locally usually for economies sake. People used what they had close by.

Carrying Capacity is the amount of lime (or gypsum) that any sand has the ability to carry for the perfect plaster (mortar) formulation for particular sand. This is determined by a volumetric test.

Crazing: Tiny cracks or fissures usually caused by rapid dry out while curing.

Delamination: The separation of plaster layers, where one layer separates from another or plaster from its lath.

Efflorescence is a surface deposit of salts (it looks like mold on the surface of the plaster) carried by moisture. The salts either come from the sand or gypsum in interior plasters.

Emley rating is a measurement of plasticity; a rating of 400 is considered good

First Coat, Scratch Coat: The first layer of plaster applied, its function is to hang onto the lath and when scratched provide a mechanical bond for the brown coat to hang on.

Fiber binder used in lime plaster, must not be alkaline resistant

• Hair: in this country cattle hair was used mostly, followed by goat hair in frequency. Lime plaster was “haired up” just prior to application as the lime would dissolve the hair when wet

• Hemp was the strongest fiber used in lime plaster; it gets stronger in an aqueous lime environment

Gypsum CaSO4•2H2O sedimentary rock processed by crushing and heated (calcined) to boil off the water within the crystal structure

In-Kind s the ideal composition for replacement plaster, this ideal trumps ASTM and Master Specs for matching historic plaster. It is more important to be similar than textbook “correct” or “ideal” as historic buildings were not built according to ASTM.

Lath is the material that the plaster is applied to.

• Wood laths are sawn roughly 1 1/2″ wide by 1/4” thick and 3-4 feet long made form whatever wood was available locally. In early New England accordion lath was used — 3/8” boards were applied to the framing, split with a hand axe and stretched, opening up keyways in the board to hang the plaster on. This is also known as “building efficiencies” (There was limited man power and abundant mechanical water power. Down south riven lath was used into the mid 19th century, where there was abundant manpower and limited water (mechanical) power)

• Metal lath, pierced metal lath was used from the turn of the 19th century to the 1940s, depending on where in the country the building was located. Welded wire lath was patented in England in the 1790’s; today it is known as hardware cloth. Diamond lath is another name for expanded metal lath and is the most widely used modern lath.

Lime either CaOH, CaCO3, or CaO

• High calcium is when the lime is up to72%- 98% calcium carbonate

• Dolomitic is a lime that can have about 35-40% magnesium carbonates

• Lime stone CaCO3 native sedimentary form of lime found in quarries; metamorphic form marble.

• Quicklime CaO, the initial product from the burning of limestone; a process which drives off the water, carbon dioxide, and carbolic acid.

• Lime putty CaOH is calcium oxide that has had its need for water satisfied and is turned into a paste which is the basic building block for traditional plastering.

• Lime cycle: The limestone is burned into calcium oxide, slaked to lime putty or calcium hydroxide, mixed into plaster and carbonates into a limestone-like material.

Map Cracking: Wide cracking that looks like a road map; often seen in turn of the
century lime plaster over terra cotta as well as developing over time in historic plaster ceilings

Plaster is a paste-like mixture of lime and/or gypsum, sand, and water, sometimes with fiber (hair or plant) added, that hardens to a smooth solid
wall/ceiling coating.

• Mud plaster, mixture of earth and water, often containing some but not necessarily all of the following: spanish moss, animal hair, sand, clay, and plant fibers, peat, straw

• Lime plaster a plaster mixture containing chemically active lime, hair or plant fiber, and sand…a thin bodied plaster must be applied in layers no more than 5/16” thick to allow for crystallization by interaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide, the lime must have a large surface area that allows capillary action to develop the slow evaporation of water at the same time as the air is allowed to come in for crystallization

• Gypsum plaster, a plaster mixture containing chemically active gypsum, and aggregate, sand or perlite, a thick bodied plaster sets by the addition of water into its crystalline structure; it must have enough water and body to supply to moisture for crystallization, suction from the substrata, and evaporation

Plasticity is plaster flow characteristics or how easily the plaster flows from the trowel and stays where it is placed. On a micro level the water acts a lubricant between the particles of mineral allowing them to flow under high shear and to stay in place under low shear, taking advantage of water’s surface tension and cement interaction.

Reattachment Adhesive is specifically designed to and used to secure and stabilize historic plaster to its lath, either wood, brick, terra cotta, or masonry; one manufacturer is Big Wally’s Adhesives, Inc.

Second Coat, Float Coat, Brown Coat applied to the scratch coat this layer is flat and level, floated to a light texture for the finish layer to be applied to… its purpose is to fill in the scratch coat level, plumb and square.

Secure and Stabilize is the basis for plaster repair. Once the plaster is stable everything else is cosmetic. This is accomplished by reattaching the plaster to the lath, using the lath to bridge cracks, reinforcing the whole plaster/lath structure.

Suction is the amount of moisture the substrata pulls from the plaster; this can be the lath, the air or another layer of plaster.

Stress Cracks are caused from building movement overcoming the ability of the plaster to stay intact.

Volumetric Test: Determines the carrying capacity of the aggregate (sand) allowing for an ideal (proper) plaster composition by measuring the volume of air space in any given aggregate. This air space represents the correct amount of cementious material in ratio to a specific aggregate.

White Coat, Finish Layer, Setting Coat, Putty Coat this is a thin layer used to fill in the cosmetic defects of the brown coat resulting in a smooth white finish that is occasionally left unpainted. Its purpose is mostly cosmetic while providing an abrasion-resistant surface.

At this point, you may be expecting some tips on maintaining your plaster walls and ceilings. But it’s not the plaster that needs maintaining, it’s the structure supporting it.

Let’s look at a typical problem in New England houses: ice dams. Ice dams occur when heat escapes from an incorrectly insulated house and melts snow at the eaves of the roof. The water then runs to the edge of the roof and freezes solid. The resulting dam pools enough water behind it to seep back beneath the shingles and leak into the house.

Though you may not see it, that water can trickle down into the walls and saturate your historic plaster, resulting in costly repairs. That water can also warp or rot the studs and wood lath, compromising the plaster’s “skeleton” and ultimately causing the plaster to crack.

Now let’s look at a common problem that exists throughout most of this country (you’re off the hook in the southwest desert)… moist basements. Without proper airflow and dehumidifying, moisture beneath your ground floor can lead to rotting joists and sill plates. This leads to sagging floors, which leads to shifting walls, which leads to, you guessed it, cracked plaster.

We’re proud of you for doing research on plaster repair and considering Big Wally’s Plaster Magic to get the job done right. But before attempting any plaster repair project, ask yourself, “why did it fail in the first place? What is at the root of this problem?” It could be a shifting foundation due to poor drainage around the periphery of the house; clogged gutters and downspouts are often the culprit in this situation. It could be due to a broken seal around a toilet that’s been slowly leaking without you knowing it. It could be sagging joists or rafters due to the location of uneven weight loads throughout your house (such as rooms stacked with boxes of books). It could be that the flashing around the base of the chimney needs to be sealed again. What’s the point of spending the time, effort and money to restore your beautiful plaster if the problem crops up again in a year or two?

Good luck with your repair and as always, drop us a line at info@plastermagic.com or leave a comment below if you have any questions.