Plaster Wall Repair
The exterior sides of the top floor of my townhome are exposed to weather. Several portions of the interior walls are damaged (subsurface bubbled up) due to efflorescence build-up due to moisture. To repair the damage I will remove the damaged portions to the brick layer. I do not want to use gypsum (i.e joint…
The exterior sides of the top floor of my townhome are exposed to weather.
Several portions of the interior walls are damaged (subsurface bubbled up) due to efflorescence build-up due to moisture.
To repair the damage I will remove the damaged portions to the brick layer.
I do not want to use gypsum (i.e joint compound) to make the repairs.
Can someone recommend a suitable material to make the repair?
CALL MR LUIS HE ARE EXPERT IN PLASTER luisenrique0571_62@hotmail.com 646 2968466
Johnife – thanks for the follow-up.
guest – thanks for the link.
bes regards
Go to the message board http://www.masterof plaster.com you can get answers to any and all plastering questions.I have and you dont have to buy their products they are just a bunch of old time plasterers who give free and great advice
Cement mortar = same stuff as used for bricklaying. Just go to store and ask for a bag of mortar mix. It’s just cement and sand. If you’re applying directly on brick, wet the brick first. I find that the easiest way to get the first layer on is actually to schmeer (sp?) it on with your hands. Thereafter the remainder clings better with the proper tool, a plasterer’s trowel.
I left the scratch coat about a week before applying the actual plaster. I’m actually not sure how long it’s supposed to be but I can’t imagine it’s more than two or three days.
I didn’t regard the skim coat as a “third” coat. It was really more a means of filling in the imperfections resultant from my neophyte plastering skills. If I were really good there wouldn’t be a need for it. When I re-decorated another room, where there wasn’t such a big area to do, just deteriorated/cracked parts about two or three inches wide by four or five feet long that needed cutting out at patching (on lath) it was easy enough not to require the spackle. You get the spackle from virtually any hardware store.
The area I did in my son’s room was about 3′ 0″ x 7′ 0″. Did it in two applications, largely by eye but checking also with a straight edge spanning across the area I was doing. I have to say that I would be much less confident of doing a decent job if there weren’t the depth guide of having still intact plaster around the perimeter of the area I was doing.
Just a note if you are prompted by success in this venture to patch plaster where it’s on lath, I’ve discovered that cutting out just a portion of the decayed plaster and patching just the cut-out portion achieves a sufficient “pin” to hold up the surrounding plaster. Doing it that way makes it a lot easier (for the novice) to achieve a surface that’s smooth overall.
Thanks Johnife for the courage boosting advise.
I had previously worked with a very capable plaster guy (lots of cornice repairs and general restoration), but he considers himself an artist (mundane details such as price and schedule do not apply) and the work I need done is just making the flat wall repairs.
Q: Cement Mortar – is that the same as ‘thinset’?
Q: How much time between the Cement Mortar and the gypsum plaster/lime coat?
Q: “…need to finish it off with a skim coat of the more workable vinyl spackling compound.”
So this is a third coat? Time between 2nd coat? And how long to wait after vinyl gypsum for painting? And source for vinyl spackling compound is the same the other materials?
Q: How large an area do you work? And achieving flatness is just eyeballed?
thanks again
Scratch coat of cement mortar and then a coat of a mix of gypsum plaster and lime (both available in 40# bags (I think that’s the size – whatever, it’s more that your likely to need for a few patches)at Sids Hardware and Pinchick (sp?). The finished properties of the various ratios of the gypsum plaster and lime are on the instructions on the bag of plaster. You’ll need a gauging box or something equivalent for mixing.
Don’t be put off by all the references you’ll find on the web to the need for a skilled craftsman for this work. I did it recently on quite a large section of wall with zero experience and the result was pretty damned good, albeit with the need to finish it off with a skim coat of the more workable vinyl spackling compound.