DRUM ROLL, PLEASE: The Plastering Begins!!!!!!!!
When I have to do something I have never done before, I procrastinate.
I imagine the task to be massively difficult. And I know, just know, that I will screw things up.
And, even though now at 64-years-old, and having learned countless times that what I imagine, and what will prove the reality, will have nothing in common (the latter always proving absurdly easy), I still persist in this ridiculous, self-destruction behavior.
So…with plastering.
I have never plastered before. For four decades I have repaired damaged plaster with sheetrock and Rock Hard putty.
A few years ago though I realized that the plaster in the Cross House was working in tandem with the radiators to keep the house warm in the winter, as plaster absorbs heat and then releases it. A classic heat sink. This was a revelation.
Duly, I purchased dozens of 50-pound bags of plaster and watched 4,743 plastering videos on YouTube.
Then…I did nothing. Year after year after year, all the while the plaster bags sat piled up in the entry hall.
In 2018, in preparation of plastering the damaged walls of the Round Bedroom, I carefully infilled holes with lath. THREE YEARS AGO.
In March of this year, I coated the holes with Plaster-Weld, an essential bonding agent. This was SEVEN MONTHS AGO! But guess what I did today????????
I PLASTERED! I PLASTERED! I PLASTERED! Holes be gone!
And what motivated me to get off my ass, at long last? This is a newly infilled door to the Secret Bedroom in the carriage house. Soon, very soon, this will be Cody’s room. And the infill needs to be finished.
WHICH I DID TODAY! The pink marks are from the Plaster-Weld, which I applied last week.
Plaster! SQUEE!!!!!!!! This is, or course, just the first coat, the “scratch” coat. It is rough, deliberately so, so the later finish coats will bond.
14 Comments
Leave a Reply Cancel Reply
Your email address will NEVER be made public or shared, and you may use a screen name if you wish.
Is the plan to skim over the top of the original wallpaper remnants that were hidden under the door casing, or does it still need to come off?
Finally, you dove in Ross. I don’t think it’s as difficult as you think. Good luck, and keep going!
Um, you do know you can’t plaster over drywall, right? You have to use a special blueboard specifically for plaster.
I’ve never done plaster beyond repairing some cracks in my walls and some designs on a plaster base when my parents were finishing off the family room ceiling. The master plasterer came over and did the skim and finish coat and then we all took socks and dipped and poked and he followed after and smoothed for a “sand dollar” design. You don’t usually see it as it’s too labor intensive. But my parents had three slaves, I mean children, so we spent an evening on ladders and step stools all dipping and poking our assigned section of the living room ceiling. It did come out nice.
But I did learn that you can’t plaster over regular drywall.
I used both greenboard and cementboard when I redid my bathroom as the original plaster walls were 3/4 inch thick so I needed both the greenboard and 1/4 inch cementboard to equal the thickness of the rest of the walls that I had to patch. Then I laid the tile over the cementboard. For added protection I put a vapor barrier under and over the greenboard before putting the cementboard on.
You also need to tape the seams.
Perhaps the parent/s thought that since the slaves, er children, were housed, clothed and fed, and had boundless energy and super flexibility to bend their necks for long periods to plaster the ceiling… might as well get some mileage out of them? Hahaha I was my parents’ ahem, “slave” too, which I think was okay since they spent something to keep me alive. But my older siblings thought I was their “slave” too (human remote control, glass of-water fetcher, light switch operator, personal assistant, etc.) which was not okay because they did not feed me. Hahaha
We were unpaid labor throughout our teenage years. Basically from as long as we were old enough until we moved out. I think my sister was 9 or 10 when we did the ceiling. But I did learn how to mud and tape and lay tile. Also some basic electrical and plumbing. I can sweat a copper pipe and solder electrical wires. That alone saved me $85 when the pedal on my sewing machine went. I opened it up and it only needed a part. Took it to the local parts place and bought the one transistor or capacitor that burned out for about $2.50, soldered it in and it’s worked ever since. A new pedal was $85. I’ve used those skills on my own home when I eventually bought it.
I am the oldest sibling but none of us treated the others like their personal assistant. While there was no remote to fight over we did fight over shows. In fact, we learned not to go to the bathroom or get snacks during our shows because if you left the living room, someone would change the channel and then you “lost your place.” “I was watching that.” “Too bad, you left.”
Ah, the skills learned from renovating your childhood home served you well. You are still applying these expertise decades later, as required.
As for me, I grew taller than most siblings. They now enslave their kids. Hahaha
I totally do the same thing! This is the last reason I need to re-plaster walls that are bare in our house. I never rip it down, but now I can justify not putting up sheet rock in it’s place. Thanks!!
I guess I have a lot of plastering videos to watch…..
Hooray Ross! The Cross House and Carriage House are getting fixed more and more. Bravo for being courageous inspite of your doubts. You got this. *Hugs.
Watching with interest 🙂 I also have never plastered, and probably never will since my house has none. I have no doubt that you will ace this challenge, the same way you’ve aced every other new obstacle that has come up. I envy your dexterity and enthusiasm…mine has diminished a lot this year and I need inspiration, LOL…
Oh my, I do that too. And it’s NEVER as bad as I imagine. Never have done plaster tho. If anyone can do it, it’s YOU! 🙂
I procrastinate too, and the job never turns out to be as bad as I imagine (most of the time). If you can tuckpoint a chimney 3 stories up and repair gutters, you are certainly qualified to plaster. I know it will turn out great.
Yay Ross! Ta da! You did it! Awesome!
👏👏👏👏👏👏 baby steps!!!
Even with a few do-overs during the process … it still never seems as impossible as one imagines.
Personally, procrastination is anxiously daunting so, I do feel what you’ve been going through. For me, just getting started is the key so, once I’m into it, I’m in all the way.
Here’s to momentum!
🎉 Cheers, Ross! 🎊