Master Bedroom: part 3

The master bedroom skim coating is progressing pretty slow. Without the Christmas deadline we're slacking a bit. That combined with one of us catching a cold.. and it makes for not much to blog about :oP.

Master Bedroom: part 2

Finally, the durabond is done in the master bedroom. If you can believe it, this room was in better shape than the guest room.














For a description of what we're doing, see the entries about our guest bedroom.

Busted Plaster: Round 5 & Conclusions

The last stages of plastering were less exciting than the first parts (*yay*). After sanding we primed using a tinted primer. After the tinted primer we went over the walls and patched any left over ridges/pock marks that we missed during the sanding phase (once you have enough plaster dust in your eyes it all looks smooth :P). After sanding the patches we painted the walls and finished our adventures with fixing plaster. Below are some pictures from various phases of the plaster job. Most of the pictures are of the same wall (with the window) for reference.

A small note: Any references to products are for informational purposes only, we did not get any money from the makers of these products.

Busted Plaster: Round 4

Not quite the white Christmas we were hoping for...

Today we did the least pleasant part of plastering... sanding. When we did our drywall taping we were pretty shocked with how unpleasant sanding can be (nevermind that our complete lack of skillz meant there was a lot to sand). Being a type A personality it's very easy to get very neurotic when you start to sand, obsessing over every dimple, every crater. Our contractor friend came over during that first project and informed us that we were being a bit nuts and that primer would help a lot (and it does!).

Since our last plaster project (drywall seams in our living/dining rooms) our plastering has improved a bit so we had a lot less to sand and we were a bit more realistic with our expectations. Even with these advantages, I have to say sanding is something I would not wish on my worst enemy. Combine a respirator with a stuffy little room (because it's sealed off so dust won't go in other parts of the house), add ample amounts of dust and you have a great evening of work :P.

At least it is done now and we are on to bigger and better things... like primer and Ikea furniture. *woo*

Busted Plaster: Round 3

This weekend we continued skim coating. On top of our original thin layer of Durabond 90 we put 2 layers of Sheetrock 90. This is another setting type compound, but unlike Durabond it is sandable. Given our limited plastering experience the Sheetrock was more forgiving for the bulk of the skim coating.

Busted Plaster: Round 2

Since our last entry we've continued patching and plastering the guest room. Here's a step by step of what we did.

1. holes where there is no lathe and no studs visible:
For these holes we had to modify our original strategy slightly. We ended up putting some drywall screws through the wood that we had attached to the backside of the remaining plaster and lathe. This helped keep them in place when we screwed drywall patches into them.


2. holes with just lathe:
For holes in the plaster where the lathe remained we cut patches out of 1/4 inch drywall. Similar to what we did for holes where only studs remained, but the thinner drywall was needed so that it would not be thicker than the plaster.

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the main event: plaster
After patching all the holes as best we could we got started on skim coating. We started out by doing a very thin coat of Durabond 90 (a non-sandable compound that will set up in about 90 minutes) over the walls/ceiling. We used extra Durabond to fill in around our drywall patches and a little extra on the cracks with the fibreglass tape. In some spots the corners of the plaster were a bit cracked too. We treated these like a regular corner drywall seam with paper tape.

Busted Plaster: Round 1

We're on our way to getting the guest bedroom ready for plaster. Today's task was putting various things into the holes so that we could put plaster over top. Here's a breakdown of the different types of holes we tackled.

1. holes where there is no lathe and no studs visible:
For these holes we put PL (construction adhesive) on a thin piece of wood. Then we tied a string around the wood and put it in the wall, using the string to pull the wood so it could stick to the back side of the lathe. We then used the string to tie the wood to another piece of wood that sits on the outside of the plaster. This other piece of wood + the string will hold the wood in place until the PL dries.

2. holes with no lathe, where studs are available
These holes were more straightforward to fill. We used some left over drywall strips (3/8") and screwed them to the studs. A small before and larger after is below.



3. cracks
These aren't really holes. They're just cracks. We put fibre glass tape over them. They will be treated like mini drywall seams.

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Well these were today's plaster demons. Stay tuned for holes where only lathe is exposed, finishing up the holes that had no lathe and no studs and the main event, plaster!

Small disclaimer: This is our solution to the plaster problems we faced. Mileage may vary.

Plaster vs drywall...

Deciding between plaster and drywall is a decision owners of old homes often have to make. The Internet has proven to be a valuable source of information on the subject (1, 2, etc).

The three main contenders are to:
1. save the plaster: neater/tider than gutting, more challenging when things behind the walls need modifications (e.g., electric, plumbing, insulating)
2. remove the plaster + replace with drywall: dirty and hard to live through, makes replacing mechanicals/insulation easier
3. cover plaster with drywall: cleaner than 2, allows holes for mechanical work to be covered up, makes for thicker walls

Before moving into our house we had noble intentions spurred on by way too many nights watching HGTV. We were going to gut it all and replace it all with drywall. Upon moving in we realized that the logistics of living in a house while gutting all of the living space would not quite work with one of us working from home and the other trying to do grad school. We also realized that the plaster did have some nice side effects (noise deadening!).

Saving all the plaster wasn't really a possibility though. The living room had some pretty dodgy DIY patch jobs and we need to replace the electrical which makes saving the plaster more challenging. Our current plan is to drywall over the plaster in the living/dining rooms (we'll post pictures of the electrical holes eventually), gut the kitchen and bath (eventually) and save the plaster in the bedrooms (ie. attempt to repair the plaster holes from electric ourselves).

One thing we realized when cutting the holes for the electrical that we didn't realize when looking at the whole plaster vs. drywall debate is the sheer amount of waste generated by removing plaster and lathe. Given the costs of removing waste in Toronto we realize now, how expensive our original "gut everything" approach would have been. We also realize that in our case removing the plaster isn't required to "do it right". We can put in new electrical by cutting holes and blow in insulation using a blown in insulation product. In the rooms where moisture is an issue we will be removing the plaster and in some cased replacing it with cement board/green board, but for dryer rooms (e.g., living/dining) this just doesn't make sense for us.

Well... this is the plan for now that seems to work for us. We'll see how it unfolds as things progress.