Plaster is one of the most popular kinds of wall interior finish. Even though it originated in the mid-17th century, even today Plaster of Paris is used extensively. This compound can be used to stylize and mould any shape to decorate your homes in varied style, ranging from Victorian to French designs.
3. Wall Plaster
Plaster is one of the most popular kinds of wall interior finish. Even
though it originated in the mid-17th century, even today Plaster of
Paris is used extensively.
This compound can be used to stylize and mould any shape to
decorate your homes in varied style, ranging from Victorian to
French designs.
4. Benefits
Plaster of Paris not only lends elegance and beauty to the walls
but it also enhances durability. The walls become stronger due to
the chemical reaction that takes place when water escapes the
plaster mixture.
This is what makes plastered walls stronger in comparison to
other kind of walls.
5. Installation
One of the benefits of using Plaster of Paris is the installation
procedure. It is quite easy and convenient to install since it does
not generate any kind of dust.
Moreover, plaster doesn’t need any kind of sanding and a wall can
be plastered within a shorter timeframe.
However, ceilings should be left to the professionals.
6. Repair
If the plaster walls in your home are unattractive or too costly to
repair, you can cover them with drywall and start fresh.
Drywall needs a sturdy substrate, so fasten loose plaster back to
the wood lath strips behind it with plaster screws.
Plaster screws have a washer-type fitting that helps prevent the
plaster from cracking.
Scrape any crumbled plaster off the lath and fill the resulting
hollow with a patch of drywall.
Once old plaster is stabilized, the walls are usually sound enough
for new drywall
7. Tools
Tools and materials used in plastering include trowels, floats,
hammers, screeds, a hawk, scratching tools, utility knives, laths,
lath nails, lime, sand, hair, plaster of Paris, a variety of cements,
and various ingredients to form color washes.
While most tools have remained unchanged over the centuries,
developments in modern materials have led to some changes.
8. Trowels
Trowels, originally constructed from steel, are now available in a
polycarbonate material that allows the application of certain new,
acrylic-based materials without staining the finish.
Floats
Floats, traditionally made of timber (ideally straight-grained, knot-
free, yellow pine), are often finished with a layer of sponge or
expanded polystyrene.
9. Great plasterwork examples
Some examples of outstanding extant historical plasterwork
interiors are found in Scotland, where the three finest specimens
of interior plasterwork are elaborate decorated ceilings from the
early 17th century at Muchalls Castle, Glamis Castle and
Craigievar Castle, all of which are in the northeast region of that
country. The craft or modeled plasterwork, inspired by the style of
the early modern period, was revived by the designers of the Arts
and Crafts movement in late-19th- and early-20th-century
England.
10. Plaster Practitioners
Notable practitioners were Ernest Gimson, his pupil Norman
Jewson, and George P. Bankart, who published extensively on the
subject.
Examples are preserved today at Owlpen Manor and Rodmarton
Manor, both in the Cotswolds.