How To Repair Stress Cracks In Plaster Walls

Y'all simply gotta honey plaster. That rock-hard substance, which was applied to the walls and ceilings of nearly every house in this land until the 1950s, gives u.s.a. surfaces that are seamless, mold resistant, fire resistant, and noise deadening. But what to do when plaster cracks, buckles, and pops loose? It'due south a perplexing question for many of our readers, including Tim Thorp, whose business firm 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 apartment and clean when painted?" he asks usa in an east-mail service. Here, Tom Silva shows how to repair plaster walls to make them wait as skillful as new.

Plaster Crevice Repair: An Overview

Photograph by David Carmack

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

Recently, though, he tried Big Wally's Plaster Magic, a homeowner-friendly adhesive that uses glue instead of screws. While it costs more than the screw-and-washer method—a six-tube kit runs $120, versus $20 for 120 metal washers—the final finishing is easier and looks improve considering in that location aren't any washers to embrace. Plus, a glued bond lasts longer than a screwed connection.

How to Repair Plaster Walls

1. Drill Into the Plaster

Photo by David Carmack

• Using a 3/sixteen-inch masonry bit, drill a hole in the plaster about ii inches from the crack. When you striking lath, cease—the bit won't go through wood—pull out the fleck, and drill another hole about 3 inches from the get-go and well-nigh two inches from the crack. Endeavour to hit a strip of board with every hole you drill. If you miss, the scrap will sink in right to the chuck.
• Mark such holes with a pencil every bit a reminder not to inject them with primer or adhesive in the next steps; endeavor drilling once again nigh one-half an inch up or downward.
• Go on until in that location is a serial of holes about 4 inches autonomously on both sides of the crevice. Vacuum the plaster crumbs out of all the holes.

two. Prime and seal

Photo by David Carmack

• Put on safe goggles and disposable gloves, then spray-pump a stream of the acrylic conditioner into each of the holes (but not into any y'all've marked). One or two squeezes should be enough.
• Spray the edges of the crack, likewise, and clean upwardly drips with a wet sponge. Look 10 minutes for the milk-thin conditioner to soak into the plaster and woods.

3. Inject the adhesive

Photo by David Carmack

• Place the agglutinative tube's nozzle in one of the primed holes. Gently clasp 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 backlog and wipe the wall clean with a wet sponge.

4. Clamp the wall

Photo by David Carmack

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

5. Wipe and expect

Photo by David Carmack

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

6. Fill the crack

Photo past David Carmack

• Mix upwardly a small batch of setting-type articulation compound and use it to fill up the crack and all the holes. Polish the wet compound with a trowel; then, equally information technology begins to harden, wet it and polish it again.
• After the chemical compound sets, sand the expanse lightly, then prime and pigment.

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Tools

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

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