The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

First Aid For The Ailing Houses

It is time wasted to repair settlement cracks when diey appear, for cracking will continue until settlement has ended, which in a new house may not be for several months.

On the first sign of cracking, pencil marks should be made at the ends of the cracks and new marks should be the cracking continues; repairing should be put off until a mo has passed after cracking is seen to have stopped.

Cracks are patched with patching plaster, which can had at a hardware or paint store. This hardens so slowly t there is ample time to work it into cracks and breaks. It quires only to be mixed with water to a paste.

To patch a crack, it is widened sufficiently to admit plaster to its bottom. A knife can be used, and the opening should be made wider at the lath than at the surface (undercut) so that the patch will lock itself in. The old plaster along the crack is then dampened to prevent moisture from being drawn from the new. With a putty knife or a small trowel, the new plaster is forced into the crack, smoothed to within 1/8 inch of the top, and allowed to dry; in doing so it will shrink a little. More plaster is then applied with a putty knife or trowel, leveled with the old wall, and smoothed. With no great effort this can be done so neatly that the patch, while it may be seen from the difference in color, cannot be felt when the fingers are run over the edges. The glaze that will be produced on the surface will keep the patch from absorbing more oil or size than the rest of the wall and prevent the appearance of dull spots should the wall later be painted.

The alternate method is to fill the patch and then sandpaper it smooth. This is not so advisable with patching plaster, which roughens easily, but if spackling compound has been used as the patching material, the final result will be smooth and even. Patches should be preprimed with flat paint before the priming coat. If the wall has been previously painted, the prepriming should consist of two coats, applied only to the patch.

Horizontal and vertical cracks in a plaster wall and small bulged places are due to the swelling or improper application of wood lath. Plaster that has bulged through separation from the lath should be cut out and replaced.