Plaster and Lath. It would make a good name for a metal band because of how much I want to bang my head into a wall while working with it.
I need to get my photos sorted out to post but I didn't wait long enugh for the first coat to harden and... it pulled enough to crack.
The other thing we found is That I did put enugh plaster & presure to have it oooze out the back to lock it in place. On the rest of the wall I'm starting to think it was a lazy replacment from back then because their didn't. But a few other walls do have the ooze or keys.
Which explaing all the poping and cracking if you look at the wall wrong.
So much work.
Also I started this blog post on 10-19-2020 and it is now 1-12-2021 as I'm finishing it. I have updates!
The normal easy to get plaster? I will work for a pretty good sized area if you are trying to get the look with a lot of work. Because normal plaster shrinks horribly and it shrinks fast. This is even with the 'protective coating' on the wooden lath.
And yes, you really do need to coat the wooden lath with something. Because my wooden lath had already been nailed back in place and I was on a deadline I painted a cement & plaster bonding agent on it. It was super helpful but because I couldn't get the back? it still dried out the plaster faster then just air alone.
Yes doing this during a very dry fall season also didn't help.
The good news is I didn't put up the lath for the first floor gap. I will be doing that section with the traditional plaster once I find the ingredients for it. It will be easier then the constant shrinkage and cracks with the normal plaster. It will also be sturdier.
The bad news is that the section I did on the second floor in the bathroom is in the best condition.
I am eventually going to pull down all the plaster in the bathroom and put drywall up onto the lath. There was a section don like that already which is why I am thinking about it. I wasn't able to properly examine the room before because of various bits of things and being under the gun to work in the plumbers window for appointments. Now that I have had plenty of time to poke around? It's the best solluton for that room.
The unfortunate catch would be that I would have to have the plumber come back and take the sink off the wall and then put it back up and move the base of the sink to it's new spot 1/2 inch out. Again. The joy of vintage pedestal sinks.
I also found in the bathroom that the original plaster is gone and there are 2 different ages of new & newer plaster. The top half is older and properly finished. The lower half is newer and just the scratch coat. In between them is this weird strip of plaster board that don't understand.
I'll probably get around to this in 2022 or when ever I can find a new & real electrician.
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