Dennis Pierce

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Finishing up calcimine removal

Nothing too exciting this weekend except more calcimine removal. I’m able to rope my brother and his fiance in to help with the scrubbing so that allows me to complete the room with 2 extra pairs of hands to help. I go back to the method of using soap and vinegar to scrub off the calcimine and also use the Speedheater Cobra to start scraping off any remaining batches of latex paint.

The plaster on one of the ceiling eaves is in pretty bad shape with everything bowing out. Near the intersection of the wall and the eave, there is a bit falling off, so I remove that bit. I’m concerned because the exposed laths are bowing out from the weight of the plaster and it doesn’t seem like there’s an easy way to secure them back. There’s no stud under the bowed section so I’m assuming that I’ll somehow need to get a stud sistered into the eave to shore up the bowed lath. Also, as I remove the plaster, there’s a ton of dirt that falls out of the exposed lath which I’m not sure where that is all coming from.

Scraping and scrubbing

Besides the poor condition plaster, the rest of the room cleans up pretty nicely after applying a bunch of elbow grease. Next week I’ll finish up any of the calcimine removal and start stripping the woodwork.