Once again, He Who Hogs The Power Tools has graciously agreed to do a Guest Post for us. The topic of fixing a cracked plaster wall is one that comes up around here a lot… Just this morning, in fact, there was a lively coffee-shop discussion on the subject. Everyone around the table agreed — there’s no DIY method that compares to “buttoning it down” with plaster washers… ~ Jen

After a couple of years of trying to ignore the cracked walls and loose plaster in the living room of our 100-year old farmhouse the time finally came to tackle it head on.

I’m not talking about filling a couple of crevices with a bit of joint compound. I’m talking about full-on reconstructive surgery.

The Big Kahuna — an 8-foot canyon running diagonally from baseboard to ceiling where the plaster keys (the plaster that oozes between the strips of lath) were broken and the plaster at the edge of the crack was an inch away from the lath —was the major head scratcher.

So, what’s the best way to fix that old plaster?

Drywall over it?
Remove the plaster and start over?

Both of these options seemed like a lot of work (and mess).

But mostly — this old house still has it’s original 9″ baseboards and wide, profiled moulding complete with 6″ corner blocks which we wanted to keep intact. I searched the ol’ interweb and found just the ticket — plaster washers.

These cheap little doodahs work like a charm.

How to Repair a Cracked Plaster Wall with Plaster Washers

You just slip a plaster washer over an ordinary drywall screw and drive it into the lath and studs. It snugs the plaster back to the lath as the washer flattens out, leaving you with a countersunk screw that you can crackfill over.

Step by Step:

Remove any wallpaper before you start.

Press on the wall around the crack to find where the keys are still intact — the plaster will feel solid and shouldn’t move. Poke around a bit to see where the plaster moves. Press on a spot with one hand and check the area around it for movement with the other.

Zero in on the spots that have the most effect, and drive a screw/washer. Work logically from one end of a crack to the other, adding plaster washers every few inches (or closer, as required).

As you work your way along the length of the crack, also gradually place your washers closer to the crack itself. In other words, work from the stable plaster further away first and gradually move in towards the crack itself.

Don’t be shy. Use enough screws and washers to make sure the plaster isn’t going to move. (I used over a hundred of these plaster washers to tackle that crack I called The Big Kahuna.)

Fill any large holes in the plaster with pieces of drywall screwed to the lath.

After the plaster is buttoned down, clean any loose plaster from the crack. An old can opener (the kind we used to use to punch holes in cans before pull-tabs) is great for cleaning out the crack to accept joint compound. Use a heavy-duty joint filler like Durabond 90 which is made for large/deep cracks. (This stuff is hard to sand so use it in the deepest cracks to rebuild a solid base.)

Finish to the final surface with drywall tape and a couple of applications of conventional crack filler until you’re happy with the results.

The past 18 months has seen a mad lot of home renovation work at This Old Farmhouse. It culminated this week with the installation of a lovely pair of dual-flush low-flow toilets. Not so exciting to many, perhaps, but then we don’t get out much… In fact, He Who Hogs The Power Tools just sent out the following “news release” to family and friends, trumpeting our green plumbing triumph. Enjoy! ~Jen

Upgrade to “Dual Exhaust” System

No, it’s not what you might be thinking — we’ve just completed the changeover to more environmentally responsible dual flush toilets in our two bathrooms — which is the last item on our list of upgrades for the government-sponsored Home Energy Retrofit program.

No, it doesn’t increase performance in a ’68 Mustang kinda way (although as you can see in the pictures below, we’ve temporarily got “four-on-the-floor”!) but by replacing two thirsty 20-litre-per-flush toilets (driven by two coffee drinkers), we’ll significantly reduce our water consumption — and cut back on the electricity that’s used to pump that water, too.

The dual flush comes down to the basics we all learned as kids — #1 or #2. 4 Litres / 6 litres. Nuff said.

In the past 18 months we’ve made significant improvements to reduce our heating and energy costs, as well as adding a couple of quality-of-life items like a new veranda and fencing in the side yard so the dogs can be “relieved on their own recognizance.”

In return, the Feds will reimburse us about 3% of what we’ve spent (think Canadian Tire Money on the value of a slightly-used Lincoln Navigator). It’s not a lot, but along with the reduced fuel bills and the “feel good” factor — it’s well worth it.

Renovation adventures make for lively reading — it’s all the fun of a full-blown home makeover, only someone else does the work and pays the bills!

The family behind Daily Home Renovation Tips sounds a bit like they’ve ended up in the plot of a movie! Just think about it: a major home renovation, semi-DIY style…

One problem….it needed a lot of work. How much work? Let’s just say that after 6 months our renovation continues!

Cheers to the anonymous homeowners for sharing their frustrations and, er, “learning experience” with others who are walking the same road! But we can learn from looking at the success stories, too — the family room makeover, for example, is inspiring:

So, what happened here?

From a cold pale blue room dominated by a floor-to-ceiling dark brick fireplace, they created a warm and inviting, yet sophisticated, family retreat in up-to-date earth tones.

A dark espresso-brown hardwood floor anchors the room, now, in place of a dated blue carpet, and a change of wall paint colour means a complete change of mood — but the big news is the fireplace. The secret is heat-proof drywall to cover the top portion of that heavy brick surround, giving a chance to reduce its imposing bulk, scale down, and blend into the room.

Now… the home reno family is down in the basement, struggling with the challenge of home heating and humidity control. As the proud owner of a brand new Biasi furnace, myself, I’ve got a keen interest in what happens next!

Each tip comes from our own personal experiences. We are not contractors. We are not renovation professionals. We are just like the vast majority who are home owners who needed both minor and major improvements to their home but have no experience with renovations.

Follow this real-world renovation at DailyHomeRenoTips.com.

Renovation adventures make for lively reading — it’s all the fun of a full-blown home makeover, only someone else does the work and pays the bills!

Somewhere out there in rural Indiana, USA, a 1920s foursquare house is getting a major makeover.

Although is is in very good shape structurally, the previous previous owners (PPOs) had very bad taste and strange ways of making improvements. The last owners started to straighten things out, but were forced to relocate before they got very far. My husband and I are working on finishing the job and restoring our home to as much of its original appearance as is possible and practical.

The homeowners are DIYers with ambition, fair skillls, and a good sense of personal style — but even with a clear idea of what you like, aesthetically, and what you want to achieve with your home… sometimes it just comes down to trial and error.

Case in point, redecorating the living room.

Here, the planned colour scheme is just lovely — rich and home-feeling and appropriate to the vintage and character of this old house. But when the gorgeous copper-red paint paint went on the walls, something just didn’t feel quite right about it.

Instead of feeling warm and cosy, the red room felt dark and a bit oppressive. Stripping layers of white paint off the trim and stairs to reveal the beautiful old woodwork was an attractive choice to bring out the character of the house, but it also added to the sense of dark enclosure.

Solution?

To stay with the same great paint colour scheme, but to change the proportions in which the colours are used.

(And we’ve talked about this before, how playing with the proportions you use can alter the look of a room so dramatically.)

A mid-range “Hubbard Squash” gold colour replaced the red paint on the walls — or it’s in the process of doing so. Even with just the one coat of the gold paint on, so far, it’s enough to see where this room is headed… and what a lovely room it is going to be!

Follow this real-world renovation at Life in the Prairie Box.

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