How To Repair And Paint Plaster Walls

Y'all just gotta love plaster. That rock-hard substance, which was applied to the walls and ceilings of nearly every business firm in this state until the 1950s, gives u.s. surfaces that are seamless, mold resistant, fire resistant, and noise deadening. Simply what to do when plaster cracks, buckles, and pops loose? Information technology's a perplexing question for many of our readers, including Tim Thorp, whose business firm in Providence, Rhode Island, is filled with badly blemished plaster.

"How do I patch 100 years of gouges, cracks, and screw holes then the walls look flat and make clean when painted?" he asks u.s.a. in an e-mail. Here, Tom Silva shows how to repair plaster walls to make them look every bit skillful as new.

Plaster Crevice Repair: An Overview

Photograph by David Carmack

The key to whatsoever fix is to reunite the plaster with the strips of wood lath underneath. Otherwise the cracks come up back, no thing how many times y'all patch over them. That'due south why This Old House full general contractor Tom Silva usually reattaches lath with screws and metallic washers before attempting a repair.

Recently, though, he tried Big Wally's Plaster Magic, a homeowner-friendly adhesive that uses glue instead of screws. While it costs more than than the screw-and-washer method—a half-dozen-tube kit runs $120, versus $twenty for 120 metal washers—the terminal finishing is easier and looks improve considering there aren't whatever washers to cover. Plus, a glued bond lasts longer than a screwed connectedness.

How to Repair Plaster Walls

ane. Drill Into the Plaster

Photo by David Carmack

• Using a 3/16-inch masonry chip, drill a hole in the plaster about 2 inches from the cleft. When you hit lath, stop—the bit won't become through wood—pull out the chip, and drill another hole well-nigh 3 inches from the offset and about 2 inches from the fissure. Try to hit a strip of board with every hole y'all drill. If you miss, the fleck will sink in right to the chuck.
• Mark such holes with a pencil as a reminder non to inject them with primer or adhesive in the next steps; try drilling again about one-half an inch up or down.
• Continue until in that location is a series of holes about 4 inches apart on both sides of the crack. Vacuum the plaster crumbs out of all the holes.

ii. Prime number and seal

Photo by David Carmack

• Put on condom goggles and disposable gloves, so spray-pump a stream of the acrylic conditioner into each of the holes (but not into any you lot've marked). 1 or two squeezes should be enough.
• Spray the edges of the fissure, too, and make clean upward drips with a wet sponge. Wait 10 minutes for the milk-thin conditioner to soak into the plaster and wood.

iii. Inject the adhesive

Photo by David Carmack

• Place the adhesive tube's nozzle in ane of the primed holes. Gently squeeze the caulking-gun trigger until the creamy glue fills the hole and a petty backs out around the nozzle.
• Do the same for all unmarked holes. Scrape off the excess and wipe the wall clean with a wet sponge.

4. Clench the wall

Photo past David Carmack

• Slip a 2-inch plastic washer over a 1 5/8-inch drywall screw, and drive information technology into the lath through one of the adhesive-filled holes. The screw pulls the lath against the plaster's dorsum side while the washer gives the screwhead a wide clamping surface.
• Establish washers about 8 to 12 inches apart on both sides of the crack.

five. Wipe and wait

Photo by David Carmack

• Wipe away whatsoever excess adhesive with a wet sponge.
• Look a twenty-four hours or ii for it to cure, then back out the screws and scrape off the washers. (Salvage them for another plaster-repair project.) Likewise, scrape off whatever dried adhesive poking out of the holes.

six. Make full the crack

Photograph by David Carmack

• Mix up a minor batch of setting-type joint compound and utilise it to fill up the crack and all the holes. Smooth the wet chemical compound with a trowel; then, as it begins to harden, wet it and smooth it once again.
• Later on the compound sets, sand the area lightly, and so prime and pigment.

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Tools

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/walls/21016734/how-to-fix-damaged-plaster

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