How To Repair Plaster On Brick Walls

You just gotta love plaster. That rock-hard substance, which was applied to the walls and ceilings of nearly every firm in this land until the 1950s, gives united states surfaces that are seamless, mold resistant, fire resistant, and noise tedious. But what to do when plaster cracks, buckles, and pops loose? It'southward a perplexing question for many of our readers, including Tim Thorp, whose house in Providence, Rhode Island, is filled with badly blemished plaster.

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

Plaster Crack Repair: An Overview

Photo by David Carmack

The key to any fix is to reunite the plaster with the strips of wood lath underneath. Otherwise the cracks come back, no matter how many times you patch over them. That'south why This Old Firm general contractor Tom Silva usually reattaches lath with screws and metal washers before attempting a repair.

Recently, though, he tried Large Wally'south Plaster Magic, a homeowner-friendly adhesive that uses glue instead of screws. While it costs more than the screw-and-washer method—a vi-tube kit runs $120, versus $xx for 120 metallic washers—the terminal finishing is easier and looks ameliorate because there aren't any washers to cover. Plus, a glued bond lasts longer than a screwed connection.

How to Repair Plaster Walls

1. Drill Into the Plaster

Photograph past David Carmack

• Using a 3/xvi-inch masonry bit, drill a pigsty in the plaster well-nigh 2 inches from the cleft. When you striking lath, cease—the scrap won't get through wood—pull out the fleck, and drill another hole near 3 inches from the first and about 2 inches from the crack. Try to hit a strip of lath with every pigsty yous drill. If you miss, the bit will sink in right to the chuck.
• Mark such holes with a pencil as a reminder not to inject them with primer or adhesive in the side by side steps; effort drilling once again about 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.

2. Prime and seal

Photo by David Carmack

• Put on safety goggles and dispensable gloves, then spray-pump a stream of the acrylic conditioner into each of the holes (only not into any you've marked). One or two squeezes should exist enough.
• Spray the edges of the scissure, likewise, and clean upward drips with a moisture sponge. Wait 10 minutes for the milk-sparse conditioner to soak into the plaster and forest.

3. Inject the adhesive

Photo by David Carmack

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

4. Clamp the wall

Photograph by David Carmack

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

five. Wipe and look

Photo by David Carmack

• Wipe away whatever excess adhesive with a wet sponge.
• Wait a mean solar day or two for information technology to cure, then back out the screws and scrape off the washers. (Save them for another plaster-repair projection.) Also, scrape off whatever dried agglutinative poking out of the holes.

6. Fill the fissure

Photo by David Carmack

• Mix up a small-scale batch of setting-type articulation compound and use information technology to fill the crack and all the holes. Shine the moisture compound with a trowel; then, as it begins to harden, wet information technology and smooth it again.
• After the compound sets, sand the expanse lightly, and so prime number and paint.

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Tools

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

Posted by: rousselhigend1992.blogspot.com

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