Plaster

You don’t have to be in Rome to do as the Romans do. Get the scoop on the Venetian plaster treatment used to bring the appearance of natural stone to drab walls or ceilings.

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Largest selection of plaster craft for your decor at wholesale prices. Your source for ready to paint PLASTERCRAFT, Plaster Statues, Busts, Figurines, Decorative Plaster Pedestals and Columns, Plaster Plaques, Plaster Brackets and Corbels, Vases and Centerpieces, Christmas Plaster Crafts and Halloween Plaster Crafts. Plaque Art Creations, Inc. Noun a composition, as of lime or gypsum, sand, water, and sometimes hair or other fiber, applied in a pasty form to walls, ceilings, etc., and allowed to harden and dry.

Photo: Zillow Digs home in Rockville, MD

The age-old surface treatment of Venetian plaster is making a comeback in modern homes. Mostly used on interior walls or ceilings, it mimics the multi-toned, three-dimensional effect of natural stone—without the need for lugging and installing heavy slabs of real marble or limestone. Homeowners can recreate the old-world look in three ways: with a lookalike homemade finish, store-bought synthetic Venetian plaster paint, or authentic lime Venetian plaster. Read on to find out which of these applications is right for you, and then learn how to apply a Venetian plaster finish in your home.

The Venetian Plaster Look

Plaster definition is - a medicated or protective dressing that consists of a film (as of cloth or plastic) spread with a usually medicated substance; broadly: something applied to heal and soothe. How to use plaster in a sentence. Plaster is a template-based file and project generator written in PowerShell. Its purpose is to streamline the creation of PowerShell module projects, Pester tests, DSC configurations, and more. File generation is performed using crafted templates which allow the user to fill in details and choose from options to get their desired output.

Originating in Venice, Italy, Venetian plaster gained widespread popularity in the Roman Empire as a means to imitate natural stone surfaces inside of palazzos, villas, and cathedrals. Artisans would blend lime plaster with marble dust and pigments to create the compound Venetian plaster, then trowel it onto walls or ceilings in multiple thin layers with short, overlapping strokes. Professional painters still use this authentic method today, but most do-it-yourselfers choose to mimic the look with either a homemade plaster finish of tinted joint compound and tinted glaze or ready-to-apply cans of synthetic paint formulated to look like Venetian plaster. Whatever method you choose for the interior walls and ceilings in living rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms, you’re sure to end up with the luxurious look of natural stone without the expensive and cumbersome installation.

Photo: flickr.com via Mark Nordgren

Three Methods for Applying Venetian Plaster

Here, we’ve broken down the advantages and disadvantages of the three treatment options: homemade finish, synthetic Venetian plaster paint, and authentic Venetian plaster.

BUDGET:

You can achieve a homemade Venetian plaster finish for roughly $6 to $11 per 100 square feet, considering you’ll need $2 to $3 for pre-mixed joint compound, $0.10 to $0.50 for latex colorant, and $4 to $7 for tinted glaze. That’s a bargain compared to the material cost of ready-to-apply cans of synthetic Venetian plaster (which run $18 to $33 per 100 square feet) and authentic lime Venetian plaster (which costs $32 to $84 or more per 100 square feet for materials alone).

TECHNIQUE:

Savvy DIYers can apply homemade and synthetic Venetian plaster treatments themselves—but beware that application requires superior painting abilities. Homeowners should also have experience using a trowel and hawk before taking on DIY installation. On the other hand, an authentic lime Venetian plaster treatment should always be professionally installed. This is due to the plaster’s runny consistency, a rapid drying time that makes it difficult to patch flaws once applied, and the high materials cost for redoing a flawed application. Professionally installed authentic lime Venetian plaster could run you anywhere from $800 to $1,200 per 100 square feet when including labor and materials.

EASE OF INSTALLATION:

Of the two DIY-friendly methods, the homemade treatment is more forgiving than the synthetic paint. Its joint compound is malleable, dries slowly, and can easily be wiped away and re-applied if you make a mistake. But keep in mind that the homemade treatment requires more initial labor, since you need to tint the compound.

TIMELINE:

When opting for homemade Venetian plaster finish or synthetic Venetian plaster paint, homeowners can expect to spend a few days on the process. Meanwhile, a professional will take significantly longer to apply authentic lime Venetian plaster, which could require up to ten days of drying time between coats.

APPLICATION:

You can apply both synthetic Venetian plaster paint and homemade Venetian plaster finish to unvarnished and varnished walls or ceilings. The key is starting with a flat, clean, and smooth substrate—meaning you’ll want to sand the substrate if the wall has a raised texture.

REMOVAL:

Removing a Venetian plaster treatment can be a messy and time-consuming process, no matter which technique you used to apply it. All three surface treatments—joint compound, synthetic Venetian plaster paint, and authentic lime Venetian plaster—are designed to be permanent. If you do change your mind about the treatment, you would need to run an electric sander over the finished surface until smooth. This process can result in a hefty amount of debris and clean-up work.

Photo: Zillow Digs home in Bend, OR

How to Apply Venetian Plaster

Want to achieve a natural stone texture at a bottom-budget price? Check out this tutorial for a how to mix and apply homemade Venetian plaster treatment to produce an old-age effect.

TOOLS AND MATERIALS Available on Amazon
– Drop cloth
– Spackling paste
– 100grit sandpaper
– Liquid dish soap
– Bucket
– Rags
– Painter’s tape
– Latex colorant (or drywall mud tint)
– Premixed joint compound
– Power drill
– Drill mixing attachment
– Dust mask
– Rubber gloves
– Safety glasses
– Eightinch drywall trowel
– Hawk
– 60 to 80grit sandpaper
– Pretinted waterbased translucent glaze
– 4inch syntheticbristle paint brush
– Waterbased sealant
– Roller
– ¾”nap roller cover designed for rough surfaces

Plastered

STEP 1

First, prep the space to be treated. Whether you intend to apply homemade Venetian plaster to the walls or ceiling (or both), lay drop cloths beneath the surface you intend to finish to protect it from paint splatter. Remove all hangings and fixtures from the surface and fill any holes with spackling paste. Let the paste cure according to the manufacturer’s instructions, then lightly sand the spackled areas with a 100-grit sandpaper.

STEP 2

To remove the sanding dust—along with dirt, debris, and grease—whip up a simple cleaner by mixing one teaspoon of liquid dish soap and four cups of warm water in a large bucket. Wipe down the entire surface with a clean rag saturated in the soap solution, then make a second pass with a water-dampened rag to remove the suds. Once it dries completely, cover the baseboards and the edges of the surface and ceiling with painter’s tape.

STEP 3

Next, tint the joint compound that will act as the “plaster” in this Venetian plaster treatment. Combine one teaspoon of latex colorant per one gallon of pre-mixed joint compound in a large bucket. Mix using the mixing attachment of a power drill until the color has been fully incorporated and the compound is the consistency of pancake batter. If you’re seeking a regal Italian-inspired look, consider a latex colorant in a Mediterranean hue like terra cotta, lavender, or gold.

Photo: flickr.com via Mark Nordgren

STEP 4

Don your dust mask, rubber gloves, and protective eyewear. Then scoop a generous heap of tinted joint compound onto a hawk with an eight-inch drywall trowel. Load the trowel with a hot-dog-width bead of compound from the hawk, and apply an eighth-of-an-inch-thick coat of joint compound over the surface using short, gently-curved, x-shaped strokes at different angles. You’ll want to start at the top left corner and work your way down the surface until it’s entirely covered, periodically cleaning the edge of the trowel with a water-dampened rag to remove dried-up joint compound. Let the joint compound dry according to the manufacturer’s instructions (usually 24 hours), then lightly sand the surface with 60- to 80-grit sandpaper. Use circular motions to soften the appearance of ridges in the texture. After sanding, wipe down the wall with a water-dampened rag to remove sanding dust, then let the wall dry completely.

STEP 5

To deepen the color variations in the joint compound, brush pre-tinted glaze over highlights (lighter areas) of the surface with a paintbrush. Use a pattern of x-shaped strokes as in the joint compound coat. Real marble has a high contrast between light and dark tones, so choose a glaze color significantly darker than the joint compound coat if you’re trying to recreate the look of marble. Alternately, if you’re after the low-contrast appearance of limestone, choose a glaze closer in hue (but still slightly darker than) the joint compound coat. When the glaze dries completely, you should see the dazzling effect of highlights and lowlights in color.

STEP 6

Preserve the texture of your Venetian plaster finish by covering it with one coat of a clear water-based sealant using a roller. If you’re after the look of polished marble, choose a sealant with a semi-gloss or satin finish. To get the look of limestone, choose a matte sealant. Remove the painter’s tape once the sealant is dry to reveal your revamped wall or ceiling.

Maintaining Venetian Plaster

To keep your sealed Venetian plaster clean, dust the surface on a weekly basis with an electrostatic duster. If you prefer to vacuum the surface, be sure to use a soft brush attachment. Similarly, if you opt to sweep, cover the broom head with a cloth to prevent scratches. When the surface becomes stained or grimy, clean it with a soft cloth or clean sock dampened with a mixture of one teaspoon liquid dish soap and four cups of warm water. Make a second pass with a water-dampened cloth to remove the soap solution. Follow these techniques, and your Venetian plaster finish should last for years or even decades to come.

Lath and plaster is a building process used to finish mainly interior dividing walls and ceilings. It consists of narrow strips of wood (laths) which are nailed horizontally across the wall studs or ceiling joists and then coated in plaster. Download office for mac 2011 microsoft. The technique derives from an earlier, more primitive, process called wattle and daub.^[1]

In Canada and the United States the laths were generally sawn, but in the United Kingdom and its colonies riven or split hardwood laths, of random lengths and sizes, were often used. Early American examples featured split beam construction, as did examples put up in rural areas of the U.S. and Canada well into the second half of the 19th century. Splitting the timber along its grain greatly improved strength and durability. As Americans and Canadians expanded west, saw mills were not always available to create neatly planed boards and the first crop of buildings in any new western or northern settlement would be put up with split beam lath. In some areas of the U.K. reed mat was also used as a lath. Lath and plaster largely fell out of favour in the U.K. after the introduction of plasterboard in the 1930s.^[2] In Canada and the United States it remained in use until drywall began to replace the process in the 1950s.

Description[edit]

The wall or ceiling finishing process begins with wood or metal laths. These are narrow strips of wood, extruded metal, or split boards, nailed horizontally across the wall studs or ceiling joists. Each wall frame is covered in lath, tacked at the studs. Wood lath is typically about one inch (2.5 cm) wide by four feet (1.22 meters) long by ¹⁄₄ inch (6.4 mm) thick. Each horizontal course of lath is spaced about ³⁄₈ inch (9.5 mm) away from its neighboring courses. Metal lath is available in 27 inch by 8 foot sheets.

Temporary lath guides are then placed vertically to the wall, usually at the studs. Plaster is then applied, typically using a wooden board as the application tool. The applier drags the board upward over the wall, forcing the plaster into the gaps between the lath and leaving a layer on the front the depth of the temporary guides, typically about ¹⁄₄ inch (6.4 mm). A helper feeds new plaster onto the board, as the plaster is applied in quantity. When the wall is fully covered, the vertical lath 'guides' are removed, and their 'slots' are filled in, leaving a fairly uniform undercoat.

In three coat plastering it is standard to apply a second layer in the same fashion, leaving about a half inch of rough, sandy plaster (called a brown coat or browning (UK)). A smooth, white finish coat goes on last. After the plaster is completely dry, the walls are ready to be painted. In this article's photo ('lath seen from the back..') the curls of plaster are called keys and are necessary to keep the plaster on the lath. Traditional lime based mortar/plaster often incorporates horsehair which reinforces the plasterwork, thereby helping to prevent the keys from breaking away.

Eventually the wood laths became less common, and were replaced with rock lath (also known as 'button board'), which is a type of gypsum wall board with holes spaced regularly across it, usually in sheets sized 2 feet (24 in) by 4 feet (48 in) (60 cm by 120 cm). The purpose of the four-foot length is so that the sheet of lath exactly spans three interstud voids (overlapping half a stud at each end of a four-stud sequence in standard construction), the studs themselves being spaced 16 inches (410 mm) apart on center (United States building code standard measurements). The holes serve the same purpose as the spaces between the wood lath strips, allowing plaster to ooze through the board when the plaster is applied, making the keys to hold the plaster to the wall board.

In addition to rock lath, there were various types of metal lath which is categorized according to weight, type of ribbing, and whether the lath is galvanized or not. Metal lathing was spaced across a 13.5 inch center, attached by tie wires using lathers' nippers. Sometimes, the mesh was dimpled to be self-furring.

Lath and plaster has been mostly replaced with solid drywall or plasterboard (also a type of gypsum wall board, although a bit thicker), since it is faster and less expensive to install.

Advantages[edit]

An advantage of using lath is for ornamental or unusual shapes. For instance, building a rounded wall would be difficult if drywall were used exclusively, as drywall is not flexible enough to allow tight radii. Wire mesh, often used for exterior stucco, is also found in combination or replacement of lath and plaster which serves similar purpose.

Traditional lath and plaster has superior sound-proofing qualities when used with lime plaster (which is denser than modern gypsum board).^[2]

In many historic buildings lath and plaster ceilings have a major role for the prevention of fire spread. They are critical to the protection of horizontal elements such as timber joisted floors, including the flooring on top, which in terms of fire performance is often in a poor condition due to the presence of gaps.^[3]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Oliver, Paul (2006). Built to meet needs : cultural issues in vernacular architecture (First ed). Architectural, Amsterdam ; London
2. ^ ^abJeff Howell, On the level: is the old plaster best?, The Telegraph (London), May 10, 2006. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
3. ^'Fire Resistance of Historic Fabric' by Peter Jackman - http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/fireresist/fire_resistance.htm

External links[edit]

Lowes Plaster Of Paris

Plaster

• Plaster Base Installation, Building Construction & Finishing
• Preservation Brief No. 21 by the National Park Service. Contains detailed descriptions of Lath & Plaster construction and advisories on repairing and restoring these walls (especially in historic buildings).

Plaster Repair