Stucco Italiano » Venetian plaster tips

Cracking up – notes on prepping for Venetian Plaster and Lime Finishes in general.

Aaron Cohen — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:16:23 +0000

Here are the 5 biggest issues I see out there concerning prep work:

1 - Stop the cracks – Can you do an exterior? Sure! Can you do a shower? Sure! But you gotta stop the cracks. So you have to know what you are doing. Or hire someone that does. And a very important point to bear in mind – lime does not crack by itself. But it cannot bridge cracks. It adheres to whatever substrate it attaches to. So when the substrate cracks the lime plaster cracks with it. And never promise a crack free finish because if you do not actually do the substrate construction and preparation how can you guarantee the thin veneer of decorative plaster we apply will hold? This often falls outside of our area of expertise and responsibility.

That being said, EIFS mesh and primer systems usually work pretty darn well, in my experience.

MESH AND BASECOAT

2 – Penny wise pound foolish (AKA prep with the good stuff, you’re worth it!) – So you gotta fill a wall that has orange peel texture because you want to run a nice shiny plaster over it. So you get out the joint compound because it’s cheap. You skim. Then you sand. Then you prime. Twice. Then you can apply your lime plaster. Hey but wait a minute, why didn’t you just skim with our Marmorino Classic and then do your finish right over it? Because it’s so damn expensive you say? But think about it - if you skim with the good stuff you’ll already have your first coat of lime plaster on. You’ll have the proper suction and you can do your final coats the next day. The money you spend on materials (joint compound vs lime plaster) should be more than offset by the money you save on labor, no?

3 – Scrape don’t sand – Got some excess gunk on the walls before you start? Or did you get some trowel lines from your first coat? Before you throw up the giant cloud of dust with that sandpaper try breaking out a putty knife and scraping. Less work, less dust, more better.

4 – Taping – it’s not paint – Yes it’s not paint so don’t tape right up to inside edge of where your wall meets your baseboard or crown molding or whatever you are protecting. Otherwise you’ll bury your tape underneath your plaster and it will chip or crumble off when you remove your tape. Allow for the thickness of the plaster material you will be using and tape away from the wall by 1/16″ or more depending on what material you are using.

NOT LIKE THIS

LIKE THIS

5 – Do not assume the people doing your prep are going to do it properly. Unless they work for you. And then only if you know what you’re doing. Which is debatable.

Venetian Plaster Installation – Intonachino X-Fine Interior

Aaron Cohen — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:40:47 +0000

This project involves the interior installation of about 6000 square feet of our Intonachino Extra Fine lime plaster. We are doing the finish in a distressed style, leaving some random openings between the first and second coat and lacing in some lighter highlights.

We went through a number of samples to find just the right color and texture. Below is a sample wall I did just to make sure the owners were completely comfortable with the finish before we got started.

The clients asked me to come up with something that would work well in their elegant Mediterranean home. It was easy to see how using a richer color for the interior walls would help accent the substantial crown moldings, baseboards, and casings and give the home more richness and depth. The owners commented that once the walls started getting plastered the paint job on the walls began to look like primer – as if the house had not been completely finished until we showed up.

My good friend Bill Kaiser, owner of Elite Plaster in Bend, Oregon, and his brother David came up to help out with the project. Both guys, although relatively young, have a great deal of expertise in Venetian plaster application, as well as extensive exterior stucco knowledge. Bill’s done numerous exterior applications with Intonachino in central Oregon over the past few years.

We ran our material as a modified wet-on-wet application. First coat was applied and allowed to go to set – as soon as we were sure there were no soft spots on the first coat we went right back in with the finish coat, waited for that to firm up, and then came back with a clean trowel to press and smooth the finish.

This technique saves some time and materials as compared to a traditional application in which one allows the first coat to go completely dry and come back next day. Another advantage of going wet-on-wet is that the residual moisture in the first coat gives the second coat more open time, eliminating concerns about cold joints and lap marks even over large walls. I wouldn’t recommend the same application on an exterior – you’re much better off doing a full first coat and letting it dry completely for exteriors.

We still have a week’s worth of work doing sealer and finishing columns and a couple of accent areas next week, but most of the wall surfaces are complete. Those exterior stucco guys move fast! Here’s a before of the hallway:

And after:

I’ll post more finished shots when we get ‘er all done.

Venetian Plastering Tip: How to Tint Your Wax to Soften Contrast

Aaron Cohen — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:17:16 +0000

This is a really helpful little trick for calming down your Venetian Plaster finishes, especially the more saturated colors. Pay careful attention, though, about not overtinting your wax. Be conservative and always test a small area first to be sure. You have to wait until it dries back to really know what you’re going to get.

We’ll post more short subject tips in the future so stay tuned.

Venetian Plastering Taping Tips

Aaron Cohen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 23:19:50 +0000

Having trouble with tape bleed on your Venetian plastering projects?

Don’t forget the following:

First, make sure after taping and before applying your Venetian plaster that you burnish your tape edges with a plastic putty knife or some other plastic tool. We actually like to cut up old credit cards and keep them in our tool kits.

After taping and burnishing if you are still concerned about your material bleeding through, use a water-based clear sealer and run it lightly over the edge of the tape using the beveled edge of a foam brush. This should seal that edge and stop any material from ruining that nice clean edge on your decorative painting project.

If you are having difficulty removing your tape, try using a hair dryer to lightly heat up the glue and make removal easier.

When applying Venetian plaster or other stucco or Italian plaster products, bleed should not be an issue. However, you may find when trying to remove your tape after applying Marmorino Carrara or similar Venetian plaster finishes that it can’t be removed cleanly due to the thickness of the plaster material. Try running the edge of your plastic putty knife into the seam where the tape edge is. This should help break the bond between the plaster material and the tape so that removal will be easier.

REMEMBER! 3-M blue tape and other similar painter’s tapes are not low-tack tapes. They are a long mask, medium tack tape. Use a lower tack tape to protect delicate surfaces.…

How to apply Venetian plaster to inside corners

Aaron Cohen — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:38:26 +0000

So what’s the easiest way to finish your inside corners? Usually we go around the whole room and just turn the corner on our first coats, but those finish coats can get real fussy in the corners.

Best way we’ve done and seen done is to put material on your finger – latex glove or finger condom nice to have here – and run it into your corner just like caulk. Easy. Then clean up the wall face you are not working on before proceeding to finish the wall face you are working on. Make sense? I’ll do a short video on that soon.