Elastomeric caulk for plaster walls?

[Mary Lou]

I'm interviewing contractors to paint the interior of a 52 year old home in
Oakland, CA. The exterior is brick, and the interior walls are lathe and
plaster. There are numerous settlement cracks of various lengths and widths
on walls and ceiling. My understanding is that cracks in plaster wall
surfaces require a different repair technique than would be used for
sheetrock.

Painter #1 seems to understand that the cracks have to be widened then
filled
with a base preparation, allowed to dry (or cure?), and then a second
application of plaster applied. Followed by sanding and texturing to match
the
rest of the wall.

Painter #2 states that he uses elastomeric caulking on most of the cracks.

I'm no expert, but I'm inclined to go with Painter #1. Seems to me that
Painter #2 is looking for a quick fix, and that elastomeric caulk may not be
suitable for repairing plaster walls.

What do the experts on this board think?

Mary Lou

------------------------------------------------------------
Get your FREE web-based e-mail and newsgroup access at:
http://MailAndNews.com

Create a new mailbox, or access your existing IMAP4 or
POP3 mailbox from anywhere with just a web browser.
------------------------------------------------------------

[Robert Allison]

Mary Lou wrote:
>
> I'm interviewing contractors to paint the interior of a 52 year old home in
> Oakland, CA. The exterior is brick, and the interior walls are lathe and
> plaster. There are numerous settlement cracks of various lengths and widths
> on walls and ceiling. My understanding is that cracks in plaster wall
> surfaces require a different repair technique than would be used for
> sheetrock.
>
> Painter #1 seems to understand that the cracks have to be widened then
> filled
> with a base preparation, allowed to dry (or cure?), and then a second
> application of plaster applied. Followed by sanding and texturing to match
> the
> rest of the wall.
>
> Painter #2 states that he uses elastomeric caulking on most of the cracks.
>
> I'm no expert, but I'm inclined to go with Painter #1. Seems to me that
> Painter #2 is looking for a quick fix, and that elastomeric caulk may not be
> suitable for repairing plaster walls.
>
> What do the experts on this board think?
>
> Mary Lou

Hmm. Interesting question. I would guess that this would depend on
the size and type of cracks. I do a lot of repairs on stucco and
plaster walls, and we always use caulk (after grinding out the crack
to a suitable width. This is because we are protecting against
moisture penetration as well as asthetics of the repair. We have
found that plaster that is patched often just cracks again, even
with elastomeric paint. Since your work is interior, I think that
you could go either way, but the plaster repair (sans caulk) will
match better than the caulk.

Check out this site:
http://www.soundhome.com/topics/topic_plaster.shtml

--
Robert Allison
Georgetown, TX

[Roger Shoaf]

My vote is for painter #1. A latex caulk is good for hairline cracks
perhaps but usually when plaster cracks, it is not just a hairline that is
common in stucco. Caulk is also good for any cracks around mortar if these
are going to be painted.

If the cracking on the plaster is bad, you might want to have a competent
carpenter or home inspector to give it the once over before you patch the
plaster. If you have a week spot in your foundation or on some floor joists
it might be better to stabilize this first, then do the plaster work.

--
Roger Shoaf
If you are not part of the solution, you are not dissolved in the solvent.

Mary Lou <bay...@MailAndNews.com> wrote in message
news:3ABA...@MailAndNews.com...