Plasterer Finds Creative Challenges In Home Makeover
Over the past decade, the development of multimillion-dollar entertainment complexes and hotel casinos has provided many opportunities for plasterers to take their skills to the limit of their creative potential in the construction of lavish ornamental facades, naturescapes and monuments.
However, a plasterer doesn't require a big ticket project to execute inspired plastercraft, only the experience, discipline and desire to elevate his craft.
Gary Savill, owner of European Plastering in Cresskill, N.J., is one such plasterer who has developed a unique niche in the plaster trades by searching out the more creatively-demanding, albeit smaller ticket, jobs. Savill has pursued a small, but growing market for his old-world plastercraft, achieving a reputation for excellence in executing specialty plaster finishes, molding and three-dimensional stucco sculptures.
While Savill admits his specialty work has yet to put him on the fast track to financial security, it has allowed him to nurture the finer skills of plastering, a pursuit in which he takes great pleasure. The depth of Savill's talents can be seen in the renovation of a Ridgewood, N.J. residence where a number of architectural effects were executed on a limited scale to add a sense of romanticism throughout the home's interior.
Recalls Savill, the plaster work was challenging in two respects: the condition of the pre-existing interior, which, in keeping with the owner's desires, was to be disturbed as little as possible; and the degree of sophistication demanded in the plaster constructions that were executed.
Over the course of two winters, Savill completed a number of unique projects to transform key portions of the home's interior:
- He replaced a tilted dropped ceiling and cornices after structural repairs shored up an interior sagging by as much as 4".
- Two rooms -- the entryway and a music room -- were given distinct makeovers to simulate limestone block walls.
- Further, Savill crafted a number of distinctive specialty finishes that added rich color and texture to the reworked plaster finish.
"The house is more than 90 years old, and it had some structural movement where it sagged 2" in the middle of the building," recalled Savill. "A lot of the old lath and plaster had to come down and beams moved back where they should be."
The simulated block limestone walls illustrate both the creative approach and attention to detail that mark Savill's craft.
The music room was the first of the two remakes Savill executed, and was accomplished by carving limestone blocks into the brown coat of a traditional three-coat stucco application over wire mesh. California Stucco's Easy Wall was applied for the scratch coat, followed by a regular brown coat. While the stucco was wet, Savill carved the limestone block detail into the face of the brown coat. The carving was further refined in a finish coat of U.S. Gypsum Co. molding plaster, which was subsequently enriched through the application of Venetian plaster finish manufactured by Hopper Co. of Phoenix.
For the entryway, completed a year later, Savill executed the block simulation in a more exacting _ and realistic _ manner. Working over a gypsum board substrate, Savill cut appropriately-sized "blocks" of blue board and attached them to the wallboard in a loose pattern that approximated the limestone block.
Dryvitr white cement Primusr was then skimmed over the baseboard and into the gaps between the gypsum blocks so that mortar joints could be crisply molded. The faces of the individual blocks were also built up to varying degrees to simulate slight variations in block alignment.
At this stage of application, the walls, although a uniform white in color, are already a remarkably convincing simulation of a stone wall. The effect is brought to completion with the painstaking application of the Hopper Venetian finish.
"There's a few little tricks to it, and there's a lot of time involved in it, but it really does the wall proud when you finish," Savill said.
To create the desired finish effect, Savill first used a clear sealer over the wall surface then, block-by-block, applied pigmented sealer in varying shades to select blocks. The specialty plaster finish was then worked over the surface in multiple applications. As a finishing touch, paste wax was applied over the plaster finish and buffed with a car buffer.
"If you don't want it to shine much, just put the wax on and let it the plaster suck in. If you do want it to shine, put a sealer on first and buff it up after applying the wax," Savill said. "You end up with a nice protected surface and it really brings out the color of the material."
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