Before I start my work, I hit a demolition sale up in Stone Harbor. Here we have a house that was renovated in 2021 and is now slated for demolition in 2022. We’re talking tearing down a 4 million dollar house for a 7 million dollar house. That alone is crazy enough, but on top of this is the fact that the house was completely renovated this year. The house has all new windows, new decking, new kitchen, all going into the dumpster. I know that these are private property and the owners can do whatever they want with them, but take a step back and just think if it feels OK to live in a society that renovates 4 million dollar homes to then destroy them to build something newer.

Back to my humble house in Wildwood, I continue the prep towards plastering by applying Durabond 90 to the cracks and plaster washers on the ceiling and walls. I mix up the Durabond 90 in small batches because as the name says, I have 90 minutes after mixing before the compound dries. I find that if I mix up too much I’ll start having the compound hardening in the bucket as I’m applying it. I use the Durabond to get things patched up and then I smooth things out with a wet sponge to get rid of any ridges and bumps. Because the Durabond cures to a really hard finish, it’s not recommended to sand after drying, although I do find that you can still buff it down with a wet sponge after curing.

In the mix is also some paint stripper. It’s more chemical stripper and using the dental picks to get the paint off the nooks and crannies of the molding.

Between the Durabond and paint stripper, I get things set up enough to take a crack at plastering the ceiling next weekend as I get all the ceiling patched up and smoothed out.