Main goal of this weekend is getting the large HVAC hole with a coat of lime plaster. I had cut out a section of wood to fill in the gap cut out from the old ductwork. I attach that to the remaining stud using construction screws and mending plates. I have a piece of sheetrock attached to the back of the repair near the new HVAC ducts. I seal that up with some spray foam and then throw some insulation into the cavity. Probably won’t do anything but since I have it open, might as well. I then start cutting pieces of lath. I get them roughly sized and then use a rasp to trim them down so I can jam them into the openings. The repaired stud isn’t completely plumb with the old lath so I need to use some shims to get things sitting right. I then attach the lath with two lath screws so the lath doesn’t move.

Once I get all the lath attached, I start moistening the wood with a water sprayer to get ready for the plaster. I also go around the edge with Plaster Weld to give a little more adhesion between the old and new plaster. I then mix up a base coat of lime plaster using the limeworks.us product. Add in some goat hair and apply the first coat over the lath. After that is done, I scratch the coat with a piece of wood to provide some teeth for the next brown coat. I also mist the plaster over a few hours as it starts to dry.

There’s a little more scrubbing of the walls, to keep removing the calcimine and latex paint, but rest of the time is spent working on some tasks in the cottage. I go through all the windows and measure them so I can start putting together an order for replacement wood windows. I’m starting to think about moving the cottage from vinyl back to wood and getting rid of the vinyl windows is priority number 1.

The other task in the cottage is repairing a broken latch on the downstairs closet door. The latch is coated in paint so I put some stripper on it so I can get access to the screws to remove it. It takes a few applications to get down to the metal.

Once I get the paint off around the screws, I’m lucky that they come out relatively easily without having to strip the screws or resort to the impact driver to remove them. I throw the parts into the crockpot to strip the rest of the paint and take a look at why the latch no longer works.

The spring used to control the catch is bent and unattached from the latch. I’m not sure how it gets reattached or if I can even buy a replacement spring. The latch is not very ornate so I’m considering buying a reproduction since it may be too hard to fix a broken spring or find a replacement.