Big Wally’s Plaster Magic takes half the time to achieve equal results.

Why does Big Wally’s Plaster Magic take half the time?

1. You don’t have any screws and washers to cover up.
2. You don’t rake out any cracks. (HINT: This actually weakens the plaster by ripping the plaster fibers.)
3. You don’t apply or have any mesh tape to cover up.
4. You don’t need any trowel skills.

Can you use a drill?
Can you use a vacuum cleaner?
Can you use a spray bottle?
Can you use a caulk gun?
Can you use a screw driver?
Can you use a putty knife?
Can you use a damp sponge?

If you can use these tools then you can repair your plaster in half the time it takes anyone using conventional methods.

How does Big Wally’s Plaster Magic work?

Big Wally’s Plaster Magic glues the plaster onto the lath reestablishing its attachment. The lath bridges the crack from behind, “welding” the crack together. This prevents the crack from opening up EVER!

After the plaster is glued to the lath nothing needs to be applied to the surface of the plaster, just fill in the holes and cracks with joint compound.

It’s that simple.

The House is a 1949 Cape Cod.  The backing is NOT lath but it looks like a cement board or another sheet of plaster.

Will Big Wally’s Plaster Magic work on this?

The plaster substrata that you have is called rock lath. The long cracks that you observe run at the border of the rock lath pieces. The rock laths are boards that are 16″ X 48″. The symptom that you see is typical of rock lath aging. It is not a very sound system. As your building moves the plaster cracks along these lines. There is nothing you can do to prevent this, you can only mask it. The good news is that barring other issues it shouldn’t fall down soon.

In order for Big Wally’s Plaster Magic to work it needs two materials to glue together. In this case the plaster is not delaminating from the lath making it a condition where the adhesive will not be useful. If the plaster is coming away from the rock lath or the layers of plaster are separating then you can use Big Wally’s Plaster Magic.

The adhesive shrunk into the holes overnight. Is this normal?

Short answer…Yes it’s normal…this allows you room to apply the joint compound when you are filling up the holes.

Be sure to watch our instructional videos at Big Wally’s Plaster Magic website.

When repairing plaster there are two major issues to consider.

Stability

Cosmetics

Until the plaster is stabilized no repair will last. Once the plaster is stabilized almost any repair will last.

You test for plaster crack stability by:

1. Placing one thumb bridging the crack
2. Using the other hand press on the plaster on one side of the crack and then the other side of the crack
3. If there is movement across the crack it needs to be stabilized.

There are four ways to stabilize plaster.

1. Big Wally’s Plaster Magic is low odor, flexible, water based adhesive system designed to address the conditions found within plaster walls and ceilings.  Big Wally’s uses the wood lath or masonry lath to bridge the cracks and reinforce the plaster structurally. (In certain instances customers have used it to reattach plaster to wire lath.) Reattachment is accomplished by knowing the anatomy of the plaster walls and ceilings and using those existing elements assist in the repair. Big Wally’s Plaster Magic is flexible so it moves with your building. When using Big Wally’s Plaster Magic you do not need to apply mesh tape to the cracks, dig out the cracks (HINT: this actually weakens the plaster by ripping the internal fibers of the plaster), or apply anything to the surface of the plaster. Not doing these tasks saves half of the time of other methods.
2. Screws and washers stabilize the plaster by compressing the plaster to the lath. Often this will crush the plaster further weakening it and only holds the plaster where the washer is. Screws and washers have rigid narrow point of attachment, only holding the area covered by the washers so you need LOTS of them. After they are installed they must be covered up and the cracks reinforced with tape or screening. This means either multiple layers of joint compound or plaster leaving a hump on your otherwise flat plaster.
3. If you just use drywall tape (either mesh or paper) to bridge the cracks the plaster has not been stabilized except in a minor superficial way. All that has been accomplished is that the crack has been hidden for a short while; the plaster is still loose on the lath and moving.
4. Using fiberglass sheeting or “wallpaper” to reinforce the plaster is just a surface treatment. The application is smelly, messy, and if you don’t like the texture too bad. You still need to use screws and washers (or BWPM) to stabilize the plaster if it needs it. It’s not cheap, not effective in the long term and if there is ever a problem with it there is no way to fix it.

Big Wally’s Plaster Magic is the most cost effective method of plaster repair on the market today.

Be sure to watch our instructional videos at Big Wally’s Plaster Magic website.

After the plaster is stable the rest of your repair is cosmetic. How do you want your plaster to look?

We love to hear your stories. You, our customers have the greatest stories and give us confidence that we are on the correct path.

This contractor was so excited to find out about Big Wally’s Plaster Magic that he drove 2.5 hours here from Boston. We would like to thank Nick for his story.
It was well worth the trip from Boston to pick up your product. We used all of the tubes in the contractor pack and all the buttons (350 total) the walls were a mess.

But not any more, the customer is happy and I’m happier, your product saved me at least a week of demo and sheetrock work.

Enclosed are a few pics of the walls. And that’s my 75 year old father who founded the Company over 30 yrs ago.

Dad helping out

A don’t want to say what he said when we first opened up the walls, but his first comment the day after we applied Big Wally’s was ” Were was this stuff 30 yrs ago!”

Thank you,
Nick Hantzis, Owner
Hantzis Home Improvements.

Day Six:

Monday we started lime washing the monument. Before that happened we removed the burlap and plastic that protected the replacement plaster (render) as it cured.

The south face in the morning sun

Antwa (the man in the lift) started by lime washing the top piece of the monument from the lift. In the space of the morning Antwa applied two coats of lime wash to the upper part of the monument.

Antwa lime washing the monument

After lunch we applied the first coat of lime wash to the body of the monument over the new and old plaster.

Day Seven:

This was our last day of production. I applied the second layer of plaster to the step between the monument and the granite blocks. Before the project is over one more layer will be applied.

The final lime wash was applied to the body of the monument and the granite blocks received their first layer. Then we cleaned up.

The monument before we started the restoration

The completed monument

Coenraad and Elizabeth invited me out to lunch (being the last day). It was quick back to the B&B for a quick change then off to lunch. On our way back to the plaza we ran into the project manager. He had arranged to have pictures taken for publicity about the Monumento de la Constitucion’s restoration. To say we were not camera ready was an understatement.

As it turns out I was wearing the t-shirt I was given when I worked on This Old House, Newton 2007 . For those of you who are interested in history you might check out This Old House, Charlestown 2000. This was my first project with them.

Coenraad and I posing for the finish shots

After dinner one night I walked by the monument. Because lime wash is so luminescent I wanted to see for myself the night time glow.

What a sight!

Monument de la Constitucion

Day Four:

After two days the first layer of lime render was carbonated enough to apply the second layer of lime/sand plaster.

How was this possible without the render drying out before it cured? The secret is in the lime putty we used. This putty carbonates faster than any other lime putty I’ve used. The lime I use is 98% calcium, has a surface area of 30m2/gram, and an emley rating of 400 (a plasticity rating). The success for quick carbonation all comes down to surface area. The more surface area the lime has the greater the ability of the lime carbonating before the plaster dries out.

Hydrated Lime don't use

This is what mature lime putty looks like!

The first layer of plaster was scratched while it was green, two days before.

The first layer is applied.

The second and finish layer of plaster (render) was applied smoothed out and covered until the next day when the corners were straightened and the trowel marks removed.

The finish layer is now on.

Day Five:

This Sunday was a slow day for working. My job was to trowel the render without overworking it. This took all day. I met some great people walking through the plaza, everyone was in a great mood, wanted to take pictures of the work in progress and wanted for me to take pictures of them. Then my good friend Joe surprised me by showing up at just about lunch time. we went to a little Cuban restaurant, it was great, then toured just south of old town St. Augustine.  Love these porch columns, made from palm trunks.  Who knew.

Look at those palm tree columns

Then we went to the veterans’ cemetery where they had monuments, group and personal. It was beautifully maintained, very nice.

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.

At the end of the day on Wednesday we had all the pieces to restore the render (that’s what we call the first coat on masonry). The mixer, the lime, the sand, the tools and the logistics. I can’t thank the contractor here enough for smoothing the way for this project to go forward. (More on them in another post.)

Due to the fiable nature of the render that was on the monument we removed the it but our actions left the coquina (the stone sub strata) dusty. So we brushed and blew it clean.

Then we wet down the coquina. As it turns out the stone does not have alot of suction. It only has a rather large surface area. So we wet it down and wet it down…

Then it was time to apply the render that we spent the morning making.

Yours truly covering up the coquina!

Being a town square, in a tourist town, in a college town, during motorcycle month you would think that people would stop and ask question. Well they did, WOW. Everyone is pleased that the monument is being restored.

Her we are finishing up the last of the render. Notice that we are working out of the sun, following the shadow around the monument.

To make sure the render (we used fat lime and sand for the render) did not dry out prior to curing we wrapped the monument up in  two layers of wet burlap covered loosely by sheet plastic. This will prevent the render from drying out from the sun and breeze while providing a damp environment with lots of CO2 for the lime to cure properly.

Here’s our little beauty all dressed up and ready for the evening in the plaza.

Check tomorrow to see what fun we are having. Instead of images of grass growing or paint drying we will have exciting images of plaster curing. Hold onto your hats its going to be a wild ride!