Forum: Plaster
June 11, 2008
Plasterer /Painter recommendation
Since I've pulled so many great recommendations off this forum, I figured it's only fair to share the info when a contractor works out well for me.
I'm slowly renovating a Bed-Stuy brownstone, and I recently hired William "Junior" Prates to do a variety of plastering work throughout my place. So far, he's built a privacy wall in the parlor hallway, and it's so well-finished and totally solid (thanks to being built with blue board and plaster-coated, rather than sheetroock)that it not only matches the original surrounding walls, but--major bonus!-- I can no longer hear my upstairs tenants AT ALL. A minor miracle. He's also done myriad decorative plaster repairs and even brought in plumbers on a day's notice when we needed to move some pipes to finish one extensive repair (long story) and he made certain they only took one day to re-route a bundle of gas, waste, and hot/cold water lines so as not to inconvenience us or our tenants more than absolutely necessary. Junior made what could've been a tough, messy job very easy, and his prices are more than reasonable (I just about choked after getting quotes from some other local plastering companies).
Junior recently relocated to the NY area from Boston (by way of Brazil), and I'm convinced the only reason I can still afford him is because he's new to the area.
I haven't hired him to do any painting yet, but prior clients I spoke with for recommendations said that he does a bang-up job with that, too.
Contact Junior through his wife Aida (she handles the business):
Aida Prates
aida_barbosa88@hotmail.com
or 508-558-5380
May 1, 2008
Sheetrock over Plaster??
Yesterday my contractor pt up sheetrock over one of my plaster walls in my front parlor and in my entrance hall. I was very upset when I saw this as I had not imagined he would repair the walls this way. parlor wall was opened to install a split system A/C unit. He said the sheet rock was the best option because of the condensation risk. The hallway wall was partially rotted from water damage over many years from original radiator. He did not demo these walls just put the drywall over the existing damaged plaster. Was this the best solution? What would others recommend? He got very defensive when I asked him to walk me through the reasons why he chose that solution. I had anticipated a classic plaster repair job.
March 28, 2008
Waxing plaster
I skim coated my concrete walls with lime plaster and am just wondering if I should wax them to protect them or not. I am not painting them, as I tinted the plaster. Thanks, Justine
March 19, 2008
Recommendation for a FAB Plasterer/Skimcoater
After searching high and low for a reputable, reasonably priced and skilled plasterer, I am over the moon happy with the results I received from William Prates Plastering. My husband and I recently purchased a 750sf pre-war 1 bedroom apt, and though there were no real cracks in the walls, there were many layers of gloppy, old paint that really made the place look shabby. William (who goes by Junior) came in and completely transformed our space, making the walls look like they were brand new.
Though we were not planning to replace our baseboard moldings, he realized almost immediately that it was going to be necessary, and quickly switched gears, headed out to Home Depot and took care of that as well.
He hired a painting crew for us as that painted our entire place from top to bottom (including the floors!). He was professional, flexible, and truly gave us a great price.
I am totally and completely head over heels in love with our space now. I remember feeling a bit of sticker price shock upon hearing how much it costs to skimcoat, but having gone through the process now, I can say that it was completely worth it for us.
Contact Junior via email :willianprates68@hotmail.com
(not a typo). His wife Aida often does his scheduling, coordination and translation (Junior speaks Portugese, though his English is very good--he always has Aida follow-up, however, to make sure that he is fully understood) and she is beyond fantastic too.
Feel free to email me at ericabethg at gmail dot com should you wish to hear more about my experience or get a reference.
February 4, 2008
Soundproofing
I live in an apartment that is the middle floor of a 3 story brownstone. I recently switched the living room and the bedroom.
I like the layout much better now, but I can't get any sleep in the new bedroom– upstairs neighbor, (landlord) is a night owl. Plays TV at normal volume or just walks across the floor makes too much noise.
Right now there is a drop ceiling covering a badly damaged plaster ceiling– many big areas of plaster missing, others peeling away. I think that the recent shedding of some large chunks of plaster has let more noise through.
I'm considering removing the drop ceiling, then framing the ceiling and sheetrocking it with Quietrock. Has anyone done this? Was it effective? What should it cost for one room?
Also, the apartment has double pane replacement windows which need replacement. Any ideas on replacements that are more soundproof?
January 30, 2008
Need Someone To Hang a TV and Do Some Plaster Work
Hi,
I'm trying to findsomeone who can do the following for us:
1. Hang an LCD TV onto a plaster wall. Additionally, we'll want the wall channelled so that the wires are in the wall.
2. Run speaker cable (its flat cable) up a wall and across the ceiling (basically just adhesing the cable to the plaster) and then hiding the wire with plaster.
If anyone knows of someone good for this sort of work, please let me know.
Cheers.
Alan
January 27, 2008
NEEDED SHEETROCK/PLASTER CREW
walls are up, time for sheetrock and plaster. looking for good reliable crew to come blow out 4 floors, doing good job with taping and plaster. also considering doing the hanging myself with small crew and hiring someone to tape and plaster. anyone have any advice or high recommendations ? also, any ideas as to price per floor (building 20x40) ? thank you !
January 21, 2008
Plaster question (long & complicated)
I'm currently painting my parlor ceiling (first time since we moved in over 10 years ago - yeah, we're slobs) and I've got a few questions regarding the decorative plaster.
Firstly, what's the "official" name for the kind of wreath in the corner of the ceiling shown in the picture? Is it called a medallion, like the decorative item that typically appears in the center of the ceiling, or does it have another name? For the purposes of my subsequent questions, I'll just call it a "wreath".
One of the wreaths had some cracks across it and I could push it in its center and feel that it had separated from the substrate. The same situation had occurred on one of the non-decorative areas of the ceiling and I had taken down what proved to be a skim coat over the basic plaster ceiling in that area and re-applied a new skim coat. I couldn't adopt such a cavalier attitude in the case of the wreath, however, for fear of the whole decorative emblem falling down. I cut out a square in the center of it and discovered that, while still comprising basically a skim coat over the plaster, it had some kind of fiber mixed in with it (horse hair?). I figured that one way to attach it back to the substrate was to cut a series of sections out of it, in the flat areas, work some vinyl spackle into the gap between the skim coat and the plaster substrate at the edges of the sections I cut out, and wedge up the entire wreath to the substrate until the spackle set and hardened and, hopefully adhered the wreath to the plaster again. Of course, the actual decorative portions of the wreath are still not actually stuck to the plaster, but I figure the bonding in the remaining areas, together with the fiber that seems to make the wreath more or less monolithic, will keep it up there. With just a couple more sections to cut out and adhere, it seems to be working pretty well. Am I on the right track with this method, or should I have done what I thought might be an alternative, namely cutting out the entire wreath at its edges, hoping it all stayed in one piece, and re-adhere it in-toto?
So, then I come to the back half of the parlor and find that I have a similar situation with another of the wreaths, except, this time, rather that a couple of distinct cracks in the skim coat, the entire flat portion in the center is sort of "crackled". This similar to what portions of the cove at the perimeter of the room looked like and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that, when I painted these areas of cove, it was like the paint was penetrating the surface and actually in and of itself adhering the skim coat to the plaster substrate. Essentially the "crackling" virtually disappeared. Is this feasible and, if so, would it be likely to have the same effect in the area of the second wreath, thus saving me the painstaking "cut out / pin back with spackle" routine?
Last question (I promise). One of the eight wreaths has been bodged (yeah, English word for which I know no US equivalent - look it up) beyond repair by previous owners. Has anyone used one of those artisans who reproduce and duplicate existing plaster details and, if so, could you offer recommendations and maybe some idea of what the cost was?
Sorry to be so long-winded, and thanks for any replies (except vitriolic ones!)
January 15, 2008
Help for Cracking Plaster Walls
My husband and I recently purchased our first apartment in a prewar building. There were minor cracks in the plaster walls when we purchased the apartment, but the inspector didn’t seem to think they were an indication of any structural problems. Prior to painting we fixed the existing cracks in the walls. Now, just a few months after painting, we've discovered new cracks in several of our walls. Is this normal? Is there any way to prevent future cracks or are we just destined to live in an apartment with cracked walls?
December 12, 2007
Help! Plaster medalion looks like it is about to fall and take ceiling with it!
Discovered yesterday severe cracks around plaster medalion. Cracks start along (bad) drywall patch done by the previous owner. Tried to secure plaster to lathe with plaster anchors - had a hard time hitting anything stable. Any tips on how to salvage? Contractor recs? Any advice is much appreciated.