This weekend was a big one with a few things to accomplish. First up was applying a coat of lime plaster to the walls in the cottage bedroom. I am using a premixed bucket of Master of Plaster which should take the guesswork out of making my own plaster. As expected, as I start plastering, I drop lots of globs of plaster from the hawk and trowel on to my shirt and floor. Eventually I get the motion down, but getting a nice smooth finish proves to be really difficult. Also, it seems like it’s really hard to cover up the plaster washers. I have seen some techniques where a spade bit is used to sink the plaster washers down, but I didn’t do it for this pass. Luckily the walls in the cottage are already a mix of rough and troweled plaster so I have some leeway with how fine I make my skimcoat, but next time I will try the spade bit approach.

It takes forever to lay down the first coat and I’m a little nervous that it won’t hold since there’s some spots that already seem to be detaching from the wall. There’s an area near a window where the plaster is really spongy and I imagine it has seen water damage due to being near the window. I notice a section detaching, but it does look like it’s the Durabond that is not adhering and not the plaster’s fault. I scrape away the flaking Durabond and just go with plaster in that section.

Thank god the existing plaster is already has a rough and troweled look. That allows my sloppy plaster to blend in.

After I let the plaster set, I meet with 2 flooring contractors. This weekend I need to finalize my flooring contractor to get that on the schedule for April. Right now I have 1 estimate that seems good, but a little high. Others have given estimates but seem lukewarm when I explain some repairs will be needed. That trend continues when I meet with the contractor on Friday. Once they see the old floor with glue, along with the repairs, they start making excuses about how it will cost too much to fix. They actually suggest I get an area rug and just put that down. I can immediately tell they don’t want the work. I get the sense that there’s a class of flooring people who just own a sander and want to come in and sand and throw down some polyurethane. Anything outside that cookie cutter approach they don’t want to deal with. That is confirmed a few hours later when they email me saying they won’t take the job because the old glue will jam up their sander.

The next day things go better when I meet with a contractor who actually is interested in the job. He likes the old cottage and doesn’t freak out when I show him the floor. Looks like he works on old houses all of the time and he is an old school craftsman where he not only does the sanding, but also knows how to repair things. Another thing that seals the deal is that he offers to finish the floor with penetrating oil instead of polyurethane. This is the only contractor who I’ve seen suggest this approach. Polyurethane as a finish pretty much rules the market, but it’s not historically correct. It also has some issues where it can look like plastic because it sits on top of the floor and forms a shell over the wood. You can get a matte finish, but poly still gives off VOCs and isn’t environmentally safe. Penetrating oil is an older technique where the oil sinks into the wood and strengthens the wood fibers rather than sitting on top as a shell. It gives a more subtle look and doesn’t give off VOCs. I’m trying to line up as many natural substances for the restoration with lime plaster, organic paints, shellac, and now having penetrating oil seems like a good companion finish for the floors.

The last task is prepping the shiplap I ordered for the ceiling. I ordered real pine boards and was going to try and finish them with an aqua stain over a weathered underlayment. I saw the image on a Varathane flyer where the technique involved staining the wood white and then smearing the aqua over the white. We try some tests with scrap shiplap and it’s clear that the instructions from Varathane are not entirely correct. They are using some weathering on the wood to give it the worn look. We try Varathane’s wood weatherer but that is a bit too extreme. We also experiment with sanding and not sanding the wood. Turns out the best approach is to sand the wood, apply the white stain, then rub on aqua in random spots. It ends up not looking like the images on the Home Depot website, but I guess it turns out a little less rustic farmhouse and more beachy/coastal.