DEFECTIVE PLASTERING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 182, 27 April 1908, Page 7

DEFECTIVE PLASTERING.

0- V . ; ■ ' v WII\MT;PALLS Tlig subject of defective plastering in buildihgg in •■Wellington vlflK'lwSen:-! ; topiovdiirmg. the last foTV- ,afo only too. tm. plastered buildings m Wellington, the walls of- which retain the : smooth perfection that 0110/ associates with plastered, walls,.- . Some expert plasterer's "were consulted as to 'why Cracked and, broken walls and ceilings wero so common in nowly-plas-tered buildings,inWellington.' 1 One. journeyman said that plastering was a gamble. You'raigKt make a mco'cleaii, firm job that would last for ages'without a crack, and, on the other hand, tho stuff might begin to crack a .week of so after it .was done. The main reason for so much cracking was the thin coating of plaster that was Specified in 1 these times. In tho. old days:-the plaster' Used to bo three-iJUartors of an- inch 'thick. Now, when; using pulp plaster, a;quarter or even. three-sixteenths pf Jin inch' wafe considered silflibiently thick, with the result that when it became thoroughly dry it crackcd at corners. ■ Tile laths wero another consideration. Some- tradesmen nailed them so ' clcfeo together that when they swelled with the moisture of tho piaster they were apt to bucklo. This builder was a.'thorough believer' in tho soaking of laths in' water. before being tacked up, tho sam'o as is dfehe -Avrth' bricks, and with the same object—to dra\v tho plaster, closer, and make , it firmer 'as the drying process wont on. . Inferior or "seconds" laths, too, might- bo a contributory cause in the'matter of defects. '! ■' ...... . , Another journeyman plasterer said thV). demand for plasterers had- mado good moil sCar6e, and there wore others not so efficient, who took no pride in their work.. Tho pulp that was being usdd so'largely was a very good thing, but lie did not know whether it did not differ , in character—one shipment might be'different from another—and yet it I was all treated tho samo way. -