Before the arrival of prefabricated wallboard or "drywall" in the 1940s and '50s, plaster was the material of choice for interior walls and ceilings in American homes. Portland cement plaster was ...

If you’re a homeowner, there is a chance you’ll need to replace some drywall at some point. Walls are simple enough, but what ...

Q Am I right that when sections of plaster break away from the lath, an accepted repair technique is to roughly fill in those gaps with drywall and then drywall over the whole wall or ceiling? — M.H., ...

Question: The plaster ceiling in my condominium in a 1920 building is sagging. I bought ceiling buttons to try to get the ceiling plaster back up, but I am not sure how to use them. Are they driven ...

In an otherwise charming older home, a sagging plaster ceiling can be an eyesore, especially when it’s a hodgepodge of cracks and crevices. Repairing the entire surface requires mastering the fine art ...

Ken Wildes crouches next to a cardboard box and plucks out a rose hand-formed from clay. He holds the rose in his fingertips and points out the flaws. See how the petals are pressed together? A ...

Q. We just bought our first house, an American Foursquare, dated 1917. It has been vacant for several years and the interior is not in the best condition. We'd like to gut it to get rid of the sagging ...

Dear Angie: How important is it to repair plaster before repainting? Our ceilings have peeling paint that we’re pretty sure was caused by past water damage. Since the water problem is no longer an ...

Q:We are getting ready to repaint our home office. The walls and ceiling were cracked during the 1989 quake and poorly patched before we moved in. We had the roof redone this summer, and the banging ...