Plastering class and door repair
I don’t make it down to the house this weekend, but in the meantime I attended 2 classes on preservation techniques. The first was a class on lime plastering put on by Limeworks.us. I found this place in my Instagram feed and it is a company in Pennsylvania that sells lime plaster products. I have been using Master of Plaster’s products, but this seemed like another option because they sell a basecoat plaster where Master of Plaster is just top coats. For the basecoat, Master of Plaster recommends using Structolite which is a gypsum plaster. I like the idea of going with 100% lime plaster so maybe I can use Limeworks.us as the basecoat and Master of Plaster for the top coat.
My scratch coat.
The class is interesting with 1/2 lecture and 1/2 practical application. The lecture goes over the process to make lime plaster. I knew about some of this process from previous research, but it is fascinating to learn that we are basically taking a rock, breaking it down by burning off carbon and mixing in water. Then applying that to the walls which it then cures for 100s of years by re-absorbing the burned off carbon from the atmosphere and giving off oxygen. That makes lime plaster greener than portland cement which doesn’t have that carbon exchange. The technique portion of the class was tricky in that most of the attendees were tradespeople and I don’t have great experience with handling tools. Everyone there was familiar with dry-walling which while not the same technique is somewhat similar. It’s also hard to cover the nuances of a trade in 4 hours but I think I get enough information to give me confidence in applying a basecoat on the bare lath.
The people running the seminar are really into craftsmanship and they pretty much advise me against mixing in newer techniques like using adhesives like Wally’s Plaster Magic to reattach loose plaster. They also were against metal lath and said to stick with wood lath. Before I leave, I pick up some bags of their plaster to try out in the cottage.
The next day is a class in Philadelphia on basic wood restoration. This is a 4 hour seminar that breezes through many wood repair issues an old home owner would encounter. Stuff like floors, windows, stairs and molding. It’s a great lecture and I’m encouraged that I am at least in the ballpark with my knowledge of how to repair things.
Finally, I found a place that would repair the smashed in door from the cottage. I took the door to a woodshop in Orange, NJ. The good news is that they were unphased about the work and said they could totally repair it. The bad news is that the cost was way way more than I expected. Once I commit to something I’m bad at saying “No” so I went ahead and approved the work. I guess this is my Christmas present to myself.
