Plastered

Sometime last week I plastered my last wall (ever? I don't know).  Applying the veneer plaster was exhausting work and it feels good to know it's done.  The first few walls weren't difficult but after several days of troweling plaster, I thought my arm might fall off. 

The task itself was a mix of fun and stress.  The skill required to spread the plaster evenly and then smooth it out was fun but the need to get through the task before the plaster set up too much was stressful.  Though I got help from my friend Matt one day and my wife mixed plaster a couple of times too, I mixed and applied most of the batches myself which took a fair amount of energy.  All the buckets and tools had to be cleaned constantly to prevent the plaster from setting up on them and taking care of that on top of troweling the walls is something that's best done by two people.  But again, I had to do the work when I was able, not necessarily when I had a helper.

I'm happy with how the job came out.  There were some mistakes along the way where I left more trowel marks in a few places than I hoped, but overall the walls look good.  They have a texture to them and each one is a little different than the other.  As the light goes from morning to afternoon, the character of each wall changes a bit giving each room more character than if I had simply used sheetrock.

handyman