In my restoration and renovation
work on early American homes I'm
often faced with repairing old plaster
walls. I have found that even severely
damaged plaster walls can be
reclaimed.
The most common problem is loose
or bowed plaster that has lost its key
with the lath but is still in place. This
plaster can be reattached, making the
plaster sound again (see Figure 1).
"Injected adhesive bonding" is one
method to re-attach loose plaster. It was
developed by Morgan Phillips and
Andrew Ladygo for the Society for the
Preservation of New England Antiquities
(SPNEA). Through this method,
they inject specially formulated acrylic
adhesives in between lath and plaster
through holes drilled in the face of the
plaster (or through