How to Care for Plaster in an Old House

Save the plaster! This might have been the rallying cry of Julia Child, were she a preservationist rather than a chef.

Plaster walls and decorative details are high-quality, handmade finishes that give an old house character. They should not be replaced with inferior materials without a compelling reason. Plaster is worth preserving and, fortunately, easy to maintain — all you need is a little knowledge.

What is plaster

Plaster is an ancient material that goes back at least to the Egyptians. Its exact composition has varied considerably through the ages, but in modern times it typically consists largely of plaster of Paris, otherwise known as gypsum.

It is applied by hand and dries to a very hard finish that can last pretty much forever — as long as it isn’t damaged by water or cracked or separated from its underlying material by movement.

Decorative, ornamental, and architectural plasterwork goes on top of flat plaster walls and ceilings. Examples include wall moldings, crown moldings, moldings on the ceiling, plaster medallions, and fanciful floral decorations or scrollwork just below crown moldings or on vestibule walls. The most elaborate plasterwork is usually found in the parlor.

How Big a Drywall Patch Before Taping is Needed?

I’d like to cut out several 3″ to 4″ circles in my drywall ceiling, then “plug” the holes with the same size circles of new drywall, and then mud over them. Will there be a circular crack if I do not tape a patch of that size? Any better ideas? Thanks in advance.

In my experience drywall_diy_guy is correct. His link is exactly how I do it as well. Often when you tape, you have to feather out way further. Taping adds work and not necessary when there is no chance of shifting.

In my experience, you will get cracking unless you tape them. You’re probably not going to be able to put in a patch so perfectly that you could only apply mud to the crack; you’ll have to mud over the whole thing, so why wouldn’t you want to use tape?

A 2″ wide piece of wood that is at least 1/2″ thick and 6″+ long is put up on the back side of the sheet rock and secured with a couple sheet rock screws on either end to the sheet rock ceiling. Then the patch is screwed to that wood to secure it in place.

I’m with handymac. If you’re cutting the holes with a hole saw, you can even use the same pieces. Clean the drywall edges with a sharp utility knife before you mud. Gently pull a sharp blade on a 45 degree angle and they’ll clean up nicely.

Important Types of Drywall Services to Repair Damage

You don’t have to put up with damage to your home, so you can get that drywall repaired and looking as good as new again.

Furniture Scuffs And Marks

When you move into a new home, you could well find scuffs and marks on the walls of the building. These most likely come from furniture, that’s been placed too close to the wall when the previous owners were living there. This happens to you too, when you move furniture around. These marks are annoying, but luckily they’re often not too hard to deal with.

Door Holes

What are door holes? These are holes that appear in the drywall from door handles, as the door is opened too hard into it. The handles leaves a dent or hole in the wall, damaging it. These are annoying and difficult to avoid in some homes.

The drywall services needed to fix the holes include:

Using joint compound to patch over it

Sanding it the following day

Painting it to blend the repair in with the rest of the wall

Water Damage

Water damage comes from several different places, such as leaking roofs or damaged plumbing. If you start to see discolored drywall, you’ve got to move fast to find the leak and stop it. The longer it goes on for, the worse the damage will be.

Drywall Repair

Drywall repairs come in all sizes and shapes so here are few things to keep in mind. Nail holes can simply be filled with spackle and paint touched up, if needed. As holes get a bit larger we can use various size aluminum patches that then get ”mudded” with drywall compound. Most houses in our area have textured walls (and the vast majority of those are “knockdown”), so we’ll use a can of texture spray to apply it. Note that with knockdown especially, it can be pretty difficult to get an exact match with your existing texture due to a variety of factors, but after painting, it’s rarely noticeable. In fact, paint match can be more of an issue, but that is another story.

Bigger than about 6 inches and we are looking at cutting out and replacing pieces of drywall itself. We usually have to cut it to the stud width so there is something to screw into or add some pieces of lumber to provide a backing. After the repair and mudding, depending on the size of the area that needs to be retextured, we may need to use a texture spray gun instead of the spray cans. This provides a good quality texture at less cost but does require more significant tarping for the overspray compared to using a can spray. If your wall paint is a flat sheen, even the same paint can be visible as a touch-up. So especially with larger drywall repairs it often makes more sense to paint the entire wall.

Now for those ceiling repairs. There’s often damage or staining from leaks and the first thing you want to be aware of is the potential for mold. For minor leaks, you can immediately drill some holes in the drywall (whatever size bits you have handy) and even place a fan on it, if possible, to get some air circulation through there. There’s a good chance that you can dry it out before mold has a chance to grow. Then we can just do minor repairs for the holes and paint with stain blocker and your ceiling paint.

If it is more extensive or took a while to detect, we’ll want to cut out a section and examine for mold. True mold abatement procedures are involved and costly, but that is based on the area or square footage (think flooded home), so we can generally safely address mold issues associated with common size leaks.

Just a few more tidbits: your walls are usually 1/2 inch drywall and the ceiling 5/8 inch (but product is also available in 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch); green board is water resistant, not waterproof and should not be used for showers and baths (use cement backerboard there); fire-rated means it has some glass fibers that help hold it together and last a bit longer during a fire.

Drywall & Plaster

Drywall & Plaster Services:

Drywall and Plaster Installation

Drywall Repair Contractors

Metal Framing Boston MA

Plaster Repair Boston

Drywall Ceiling Repairs & installation

Blueboard & Plastering

Sheetrock Installation

Textured Drywall Installation

Popcorn Ceiling removal

Wallpaper Removal

Drywall Damage Repairs (smoke/fire/water)

Drywall & Plaster Contractors

Attention to detail, great quality of work, and competitive pricing! drywall experts in everything we do including: drywall removal, patching, prepping for the drywall, installing, taping, mudding, sanding, texturing, finishing, and ready to paint. All of our hired contractors have been trained by the best. Licensed, certified and experienced with all types of drywall projects, we work hard to be one of the best drywall companies around

Drywall and Plaster Contractors

knows that working with drywall is about both quality and time. As your top local experienced drywall contractors, and we offer a complete range of drywall services including installation and repair. nstalling drywall isn’t a simple job. There are a number of steps involved, and attention to detail is everything. With multiple products available, the best option often depends on the job at hand

Tips for Choosing the Right Stucco Contractor

Whether you wish for a facelift of your home or there are too many signs of weathering that need your attention, home improvement is imperative for homeowners. Whether they choose to do it for increasing their property value or they do it to ensure structural and functional integrity, there is almost no way around it.

Many people take up home improvement as a DIY project and do things like cleaning floors, grouting tiles, and even painting. However, some of the home improvement projects are more challenging than others such as stucco repair. Stucco is an exterior finish material made up of Portland cement, sand, lime, and water and is often used because of its durability and appeal. Stucco can be applied to other surfaces like metal and wood to enhance their appearance.

Seek Referrals

If you have a stucco exterior, there are chances that other homes in your community also have stucco façade. Begin your research by asking for referrals from neighbors, friends, and family. A contractor that has worked at your friends’ or neighbors’ house is tried and tested. You can get an honest firsthand review from people in your circle, and you can also check the quality of its work. So, seek referrals from your community and circle

License and Insurance

If you hire a contractor without a license and insurance, there is sadly nothing to cover you in unfortunate events.

Referrals and Portfolio

Stucco repair or applying fresh stucco is a tricky job that can go wrong in many ways. Therefore, it is better to inspect past projects of the contractors closely. You must ask contractors for referrals and portfolio and must cross-check them. If some of these projects are in your area, you should go and inspect their quality.

Stucco Contractors : How to Choose the Right One

Whether you need specific stucco repair or your entire house exterior needs a facelift, you’ll probably find yourself looking to hire a stucco contractor. Being that this is an issue most people only encounter once or twice in a lifetime, if at all, you most likely don’t have the phone number for one handy. You may ask a friend or coworker if they know anyone, but you shouldn’t hire someone on a whim. As with most things, you want to evaluate your options to ensure you’re hiring the right stucco contractor for your needs.

RESEARCH MORE THAN ONE STUCCO CONTRACTOR

Don’t just do a google search and pick the first name that comes up, or the one closest to you. While these may, in fact, be the ones you ultimately choose, it’s wise to compare and contrast several different contractors.

In addition, be sure that you’re looking specifically for a stucco contractor, and not a general home improvement contractor. While the latter may be able to get the job done, a contractor specializing specifically in stucco will be more qualified to handle the project. They’ll have a wider knowledge base in this specific area, especially concerning products or possible problems.

CONTACT FOR MORE INFORMATION

Once you’ve narrowed down your options to two or three contractors, it’s not a bad idea to reach out them for further information. Most contracting companies encourage potential customers to contact them if the customers are interested in hiring for a job, or have questions. You can inquire more about specific materials used, whether or not they sub-contract the work, if they get their supplies direct from the manufacturer, etc.

GET AN ESTIMATE, AND THEN SOME

You want to get an estimate from your stucco contractor, but consider going a little further than that. Ask when they can start the work, and how long they think it will take. Your stucco contractor probably won’t be able to begin work right away, but they should be organized enough to give you an idea of the start date.

Invest Some Time When Choosing a Stucco Contractor

When a home improvement project requires a stucco contractor, most homeowners will likely not have the names and phone numbers of any installers stored in their computer, smartphone, or address book.  Since the need for a stucco contractor may be a once-in-a-lifetime circumstance, the first reaction of a homeowner might be to ask a friend or a family member if they or someone they know could recommend a reputable company.

While this could provide a viable lead, it will in all likelihood merely scratch the surface of what will be needed to make a comfortable and informed decision on the contractor who will ultimately be awarded the project.  In other words, it would be prudent to invest some time in doing research, or homework, before settling on a stucco contractor – and while there are indeed several stucco companies to choose from in Toronto and the GTA, homeowner diligence upfront will pay dividends in the long run from the standpoint of return on investment.

Ready to Answer All of Your Questions

A reputable stucco company, such as Canadian Stucco, should basically anticipate that potential customers will want and need to know this type of information and be willing to respond openly and honestly.

How to Repair Stucco

At first glance, the seamless coat of stucco on the East Boston house looked as bulletproof as a sidewalk, the perfect foil against the harsh wet weather of this coastal city. Yet beneath its lush cloak of ivy, the cement shell was a mess of cracks and buckling, signs that water had gotten in and damaged the underlying wood lath

When properly installed, stucco (a cement- or lime-based plaster) is about as carefree and long-lived a cladding as anyone could wish—100 years is not uncommon. But when big cracks or blisters appear, the time to make repairs is right away, before the damage grows

Watch The Weather

Freezing temperatures can ruin wet stucco. Wait for nighttime temperatures that stay above 40 degrees before tackling repairs. Hot, dry, windy weather can also interfere by sucking out moisture the mix needs to cure properly. Work in the shade so the stucco doesn’t dry too fast. Between coats, keep the patch moist by covering it with a plastic sheet

Work Safely

The alkalis in wet cement can cause burns. So when working with fresh stucco, wear gloves or touch the mix only with your tools, not your fingers. Keep a bucket of water nearby to wash any splashes off your skin.

Finish It Right

No patch, no matter how expertly textured, will match the color of the old stucco around it. To do that, you need to apply a pigmented coating over the entire surface. The patch at this house was covered with a thick, sprayed-on acrylic elastomer that bridges and seals hairline cracks. Other acceptable coatings include concrete paints and stains, mineral paints, lime washes, and “fog coats” of pigmented cement. Whichever coating you use, make sure it’s alkaline tolerant and permeable to water vapor. Otherwise, it will be peeling off in no time.

GUIDELINES TO CHOOSE A SUITABLE STUCCO CONTRACTORS

Whether you are in need of a stucco repair or you just wish to have a completely fresh siding for your property, it is important for you to select an efficient stucco contractor. You must take out time to search for a stucco contractor. At first, you need to make thorough research and then filter them on the basis of their efficiency and your requirements. If you fail to choose a suitable stucco contractor for your project you might need another one in future to fix what the earlier one had done to your property. If you don’t want to face such a situation in future, here are some tips which will help you find the right contractor for you.

RESEARCH

Every search-operation begins with proper research. It is recommended to not to go for the first option that appears to you during your research. You might find it impressive but that should not be the end of your research. Thorough research is crucial to achieving success in this operation. You can also take Google’s help in this regard by simply typing “Best stucco companies near me” Once your research is done, filter them on the basis of your requirements.

REFERENCE

Ask your friends, colleagues and relatives for recommendations. You can do it directly or you can post about your search on social media platforms to get references. Social media is an amazing platform to initiate the process. Such recommendations give you an authentic report on stucco contractors as the people who recommend them, have real life experiences of working with them. Another fact is that, if you have a stucco exterior, there are possibilities that other homes in your locality to have stucco façade. So your neighbors can also be a trustable source for such referrals.

LICENSE

You have no control over the future but you can certainly be prepared to face any unfortunate events in the future. License and insurance are the weapons that will help you win the fight against such unforeseen events. That is why it is important for you to make sure that the professional stucco contractors in Milton, Mississauga, or surrounding GTA you choose holds valid license approved by the state. Insurance to protect customers against damage is also available. If anything goes wrong during the project, you will have the right to claim the damage through insurance or bond.

GET ESTIMATES AND COMPARE

Most of the stucco contractors usually provide free quotes and bids. Your duty here is to get estimates from different contractors and compare them to ensure that you are paying the right amount. It is an obvious fact that quotes will vary but if there is a prominent difference then you must ask for an explanation.