You might not even know you have a “weird wall” until you try to hang a picture and the screw pops right out. Or huge cracks start to crawl all the way across the wall. God forbid you try to mount a TV! If you’ve run into some unexpected barriers behind your walls, you probably have lathe and plaster.
Lathes are thin wood strips fixed to the framing of your house. Plaster is hard mortar-like material that is spread on top of it. The biggest problem with this material is it tends to crack a lot. It spreads large hairline cracks across the wall. Sometimes the plaster can even come straight off.
A customer asked me to do a lathe and plaster repair. I was lucky enough to get a lot of great examples of repair because there was a lot of damage!
Many people don’t repair lathe and plaster properly because it’s time consuming. But unfortunately, if you don’t do it right, it doesn’t work. Quick-fix plaster sold at your Orange Store just doesn’t stick to the lathe for long. And it dries much too hard – and the wrong texture. You can see an example in the top right picture of the mis-matched plaster fix.
To fix lathe and plaster properly, you need to do a multi-step process. First, I removed all the broken plaster. Then I prepped the wall to be re-glued to the lathe. Using special plaster-specific repair material, I re-bonded the plaster to the lathe. I had to come back after it cured. Once it was set, I could re-apply the covering. It took many, many layers of compound because plaster is applied very thick. However, done properly, the compound binds together and is much more durable to cracks and settling.
These repairs were done over a two-day period. The discoloration is natural, as the thinner compound dries (white) more quickly than the thicker layers (gray). But rest assured, once painted, all the cracks and holes will be gone!
D’oh, I forgot to take a “before” picture on this one, but this was a huge “doorknob punch.” If you have kids slamming the door open, eventually the plaster will lose that battle. This hole was about 4″ wide. Can’t see it now!
I’m super happy to be able to do lathe and plaster repair because a lot of houses in Oakland, Berkeley and the East Bay Area have these types of walls. Call me if you need help with one!
Handy Manage 