Q. We're buying a house that is probably close to 100 years old. It has been vacant for the past several years and needs a good amount of cleaning up and fixing up. One thing we're concerned about is ...

Repairing a plaster ceiling with plaster is the best way to maintain an older home’s integrity. Step 1: Plastering is a messy job. Prepare the work space by removing furniture and covering everything ...

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., ...

Q: I recently bought a small apartment house that needs a lot of work. The plaster walls and ceilings have numerous small cracks, which I have patched. I don’t think regular paint will cover them up ...

Removing the plaster from a vintage house is a nasty job. It generates yards of debris and creates clouds of dust that go everywhere. We have some advice: don’t assume the plaster has to go. In fact, ...

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 ...

I tend to stare at the ceiling a lot. I think it’s only to be expected. If you sleep on your back or lie on the couch reading Jane Austin (as we all must), you’re bound to spend a certain amount of ...