Brown Coat

Building up the 2nd coat under the window.

I return this weekend to put down a 2nd coat of plaster. During the week, I had to order more plaster because when I attended the plastering seminar I just bought 1 bag to try out. Luckily Karen volunteered to drive to Pennsylvania to pick up the plaster so I didn’t have to wait another weekend to make progress. She also picked up the door from the cottage which was fully repaired, but more on that later.

I may have reached the limits of plaster washers here.

Before I start the 2nd coat, also known as the brown coat, I go back through the room and check for any other moving plaster. I throw some more plaster washers in to shore things up and I think at this point I have every piece pretty well secured. I mix up the batch for the 2nd coat and apply that over the original scratch coat. No major issues here, although under the window it takes a bit to build up the thickness to match the original plasterwork.

This area is the one I’m the most nervous about because of gravity.

After I get the plaster on, there’s nothing more to do there except mist it for the next 2 days and then it will cure for the rest of the week. Moving on other tasks, I apply limewash-proof primer on the chimney and 1 of the ceiling eaves. These are both covered in drywall and when I limewash the entire room, they will need the primer to protect against the limewash.

Primed chimney

The last batch of work is continuing to strip the old paint from the cottage door. The place I took the door to for repairs only did the woodworking, but I decided to take on the wood finishing work. The finishing will involve removing the rest of the white paint on the door, then figuring out a combination of dyes to put on the new wood to blend it in with the rest of the door. After that I’ll apply shellac, maybe a coat with some dye added to the shellac for extra color.

Stripping the door is mostly using CitriStrip again. At this point all of the big pieces are gone so it’s a lot of work with a dental pick. After finishing that, I wash everything down with mineral spirits. I get most of the paint off, but it will still probably need another touch-up next weekend along with some sanding. Some of the specks will never come out so I’ll have to do a touch-up with a dye marker or dab some paint onto the white spots.

The repaired door with most of the white paint removed.