Preservation Plastering

Day three:

Before I go any further I would like to introduce my hosts, co-workers, and restoration general contractors from St. Augustine.

Coenraad and Elizabeth Van Rensburg’s company is Latitudes NE Florida, Ltd. Co. in St. Augustine, Florida. They can be reached at 904-819-0801. They along with their crews do great work and I recommend them to anyone in the St. Augustine area that needs a dependable contractor, and a company that understands restoration.

While we were waiting for the first layer of lime plaster to cure (it is wrapped loosely in two layers of wet burlap and plastic), we have to deal with the monument step. The step is a ring of gray/white granite around the base of the original monument. These granite blocks are very similar to if not identical to the granite blocks that I was told were used in the 1856+/- bridge over to the island. These blocks add a protective surround to the monument.

The granite blocks before we started

Because this step was not original to the monument we had to design a plaster (render) step to make the transition from the monument to the step.

Our test step

This would take days to fabricate because we were making it from the lime/sand render, building it up at 5/16” at a layer.

The first layer goes on...

Now we wait for the render to carbonate in preparation for the second layer.

In: Plaster Restoration | | #