Solid Things, Like Plaster Walls, That Endure
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
By Bill Primavera
As a realtor, I must confess that I have definite biases about certain aspects of the homes that I research and show to clients. Chief among them is a preference for solid ways of building things, such as real plaster walls, found today mostly, if not totally, in older homes.
From the 1700s through the 1940s, lath and plaster was the interior wall construction method of choice. Builders would nail thin, closely spaced strips of wood (lath) to wall studs and then smooth multiple coatings of plaster over the lath to form flat wall surfaces.
Plaster and lath wall systems are rarely used now, except to repair existing walls or to refurbish historic buildings. In the mid-20th century modern era after World War II, drywall, also called plasterboard or wallboard, stormed onto the scene and has remained there ever since.
When drywall panels became popular in the 1950s, they soon replaced lath and plaster as a quicker, easier install option. Lath and plaster construction is definitely an old-school technique, but when compared to drywall, it has a few surprising benefits.
If your existing home has lath and plaster walls – or if you’d like to incorporate new plaster walls in a remodeling project – one can learn about this old construction method that certainly is more solid.
As a quick sidenote that I’m sure many can relate to, I find that there is nothing more frustrating than having to hang a heavy object or painting on drywall, and having to find a stud to drive the nail in. Sometimes that stud is located in a skewed way to the positioning you want the object to hang.
As for me, I’ve only handled plaster for repair jobs in a couple of old homes that I have owned. But I experienced a special circumstance with plaster that spanned more than 50 years. It involved my father, who professionally was a specialist in another aspect of building – flooring – but he had a special knack in many areas of home construction and repair.
One of his home projects was to enclose a screened porch, converting it to a dining room. He had a contractor do the framing, but he insisted on doing the plaster work himself in the traditional way that he had observed others doing it.
When he had completed the final smooth coat of plaster and it had dried, my father demonstrated his skilled work by taking my hand and guiding it across the wall surface.
“Smooth as silk!” he announced satisfyingly. “nd it will last forever.” I had to agree.
As testament to his having done the job right, I had the unusual experience of returning to the town of my childhood home in Virginia almost 50 years later for a work assignment. I couldn’t resist stopping by the house, which boasted my father’s handiwork. When I knocked on the door, a charming older woman opened it and immediately said, “Billy?”
Incredibly, she recognized me, having not seen me since I was 10 years old. When she invited me in to talk, I asked if we might visit her dining room to check my father’s handiwork. She gladly agreed and (I am choking up as I write this) I ran my hand across a section of the dining room wall and it didn’t have so much as a tiny fissure in its smooth surface.
Indeed, my father’s skilled, quality work had lasted forever. It has since served as a beacon for me in my own home projects to try my best to do the job right.
Bill Primavera is a realtor associated with William Raveis Real Estate and founder of Primavera Public Relations, Inc., the longest-running public relations agency in Westchester (www.PrimaveraPR.com). To engage the services of The Home Guru and his team to market your home for sale, call 914-522-2076.
