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New homes settle, and all homes expand and contract
due to seasonal temperature changes. Although the structure of most houses
is somewhat flexible, these movements can still take their toll on the home.
Interior walls and ceilings can develop hairline or large cracks.
With these basic repair methods, the job of
repairing these cracks shouldn't seem so tough.
First -- Will You
Need to Patch or Fill?
Hairline cracks are filled, larger cracks need to be patched.
Hairline Cracks
Choose a wall surface filler, you can choose from powder or paste.
Expand the crack to about 1/8", remove any loose plaster, extend the
length of the crack about an inch on each end.
Fill the crack with filler, pushing in with your finger, repeat in an
hour.
Sand as necessary and seal the repair with primer before painting to prevent the repair from
showing through.
Large Cracks
Choose a patching plaster.
Cut out wide cracks so that the deepest part of the crack is wider than
the shallow part.
Mix plaster according to the directions on the label. Generally, the
larger the crack, the thicker the plaster should be.
Wet the crack before patching to bond the old plaster with the new.
Patch the crack with a wide putty knife.
Allow the patch to "cure". Let the repair set for 24 hours. Then re-wet
the area and apply a second "smoothing" patch.
Wait another 24 hours before smoothing out the repair with a fine grit
sandpaper to dry plaster.
Seal the repair with primer before painting.
Holes
Scrape the loose plaster from the edge of the hole. Then cut a piece of
metal lath or screen larger than the hole and thread a piece of wire
through the middle of the screen. Holding the ends of the wire, slide the
screen into the hole. To hold the screen against the back of the hole,
twist the wire to a pencil spanning the hole on the outside.
After wetting the screen and surrounding plaster, trowel a scratch coat
of plaster into the hole; leaving the plaster rough. When this coat has
set, undo the wire, remove the pencil, and either remove or push the wire
into the wall cavity. The screen is held firmly in place by the hardened
plaster. Trowel on the finish coat(s), sand as necessary, prime and paint.
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Association of Realtors©, and Rockford Area Association of
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Working with Lath and Plaster |
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Plaster is one of the
earliest forms of wall surface finishes.
Application isn't a skill for the layman because plaster sets quickly and
the flat surfaces are achieved largely "by eye" and by experience. Repairs
to plaster aren't difficult, though.
The old method of lath
and plaster was a sequential operation.
(1) lath is nailed to studs or joists; (2) a "scratch coat" of plaster is
troweled onto the lath with the wet plaster oozing through gaps in the
lath forming a "key" when it hardens; (3) a second, "brown coat" of
plaster is troweled onto the rough surface of the now-dry scratch coat;
and (4) a "finish" or "white coat" is applied and becomes the final,
smooth surface.
Lath can be a clue to a
house's age.
The earliest wood lath was split from one board to produce a zig-zag
effect when stretched and nailed. Later wood lath is sawn. Metal lath is
similar to wood lath, in that it allows the scratch coat to ooze through
and form keys. Rock lath, a sheet material, has no such holes in it;
plaster bonds with fibers in the rock lath surface. Plaster can also be
applied to plasterboard; a single coat over the board finishes the job.
Most scratch coats and brown coats were durable because installers
mixed animal hair with the plaster. Old plaster being demolished can be
vile to breathe, use precautions if you are renovating an old home.
Scratch coats and brown coats were left rough and were often scratched
with a plasterer's comb before they set completely, so the next coat would
have something to adhere to. Finish coats were always quite thin, to guard
against cracking.
 "Helping
you to make the right
decision when buying or selling a home"
by email:
by phone:
815-381-6850
by fax2email:
815-231-8176
by mail:
Bill Marek
Dickerson & Nieman, Realtors
6277 E. Riverside Blvd.
Rockford, IL 61114 |
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