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. 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 issue, can ...

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'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 ...

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 ...

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 ...