If you're repainting older plaster, take the extra prep time to make the effort worthwhile. Use patching plaster to smooth cracks and imperfections in the plaster before you paint. If there's an angle that's in bad shape, use corner bead to form a crisp new profile under your new paint.

The lost art of Victorian plaster details is making a comeback - in a new form. Modern manufacturers are finding ways to reproduce cornice moldings, friezes, corbels, brackets, rosettes, and ceiling medallions, using lightweight polymers. Less prone to damage than plaster, polymer details are flexible, paintable, easy to ship, and they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

Chris Borovka from US Gypsum joins Bob explain about patching with plaster. The first job entails patching over an existing door opening. They've put some Imperial Gypsum base up to the existing door frame and patched the existing hole with diamond veneer base coat. Next they put pressure sensitive fiber tape, P-Tape, over it and bonded the entire existing surface. The use USG Plaster Bonder Pink as a bonding agent - it rewettens and re-emulsifies - and put the base coat of plaster over that. Where the wall meets the ceiling, they apply pressure-sensitive tape to the existing surface and butt it in while applying the first coat of base coat. The first coat provides a nice even scratch coat. The second coat should be applied while the first coat is still fully wet and serves to take out some the bad dips and dives and the trowel marks from the first coat leaving a nice smooth finish. The next day you they'll put the finish coat over it. Where the insulators drilled holes into the original walls, the plasters put the Plaster Bonder Pink around the inside of the hole and fill it in with the base coat. They've meshed over the top of that for extra security and then bonded over the whole surface. On the blue board, it's a different type of installation. Shreve applies one-coat over the joints to reinforce them and fill in the undulation that's left from the two end tapes from the butt joints. That sets up for about an hour and then it's ready for finish coat.

Bob checks out the plaster cornice in the project home. Water damage has ruined a large section of the cornice, and much of the remaining plaster is in need of repair. Bob discusses the various elements and construction process for this style of cornice.

Chadsworth offers a complete line of columns, pillars, pilasters, and posts for both interior and exterior use, with plain or fluted shafts in Wood-all species of lumber (stain- and paint-grade), their award-winning PolyStone', Composite, Fiberglass (molded and spun-cast), and PVC. All sizes and

A traditional three-coat plaster job was used in the Manhattan Brownstone…
…finish or white coat that blends the new plaster wall into the profile of the cornice…
…where new support is needed for the plaster application. It has many "keys…

…characteristic hue comes from a special plaster-friendly paper applied over its gypsum…
…commonly known as drywall pushed traditional plaster out of the new-home market. Everyone…
…to a skim coat of specially formulated plaster. When finishing blue board, instead…

…expensive, so do-it-yourselfers now have lots of options to choose from. Traditional Plaster On existing plaster walls, a fresh coat of plaster has always been the way to smooth out a bumpy or damaged finish. Traditional three-coat…

…debris. Use a putty or utility knife to chip away any loose plaster or wall material. Vacuum away any plaster dust and wipe the area clean with a damp sponge. Chip away loose plaster and wipe down the area with a damp sponge. Step 2: Apply…