New Hope, Bucks County
Plaster repair in New Hope, PA.
About a quarter of New Hope's homes predate 1940, built of stone, brick and frame on land that climbs steeply from the Delaware. Plaster in the lowest houses has the river to reckon with; everywhere else, it has age.
Plaster repair for New Hope homes
Stone, brick and frame stand side by side here: the 1984 survey of the borough's buildings found roughly 30 percent stone, 20 percent brick and half frame, with more than twenty survivors from the 1700s, many of them stone. About a quarter of today's homes predate 1940. Each kind of wall carries its plaster differently, and the river adds one more variable.
In the stone houses, plaster is often laid straight onto the masonry, which suits lime plaster as long as the wall can dry out. In the frame houses, built with braced or, from about the 1870s, balloon framing, it hangs on wood lath. Floodwater, a leaking roof or a wall that never dries affects each one differently, so a repair here starts with the wall behind the plaster.
New Hope
Plaster by the river and above it
The land rises steeply from the Delaware, so flood questions belong to the houses near the river and along Ingham Creek, not to the whole town. For those, the record is plain: the river crested above 24 feet in 1955 and passed major flood stage in 2004, 2005 and 2006. As a soaked stone wall dries, salts carried by the water can surface on the plaster as powder and blisters, so repairs wait until the masonry has finished drying.
Half the borough's buildings are frame, and an 1859 visitor found the houses mostly wooden and very small. A house that has been added to over the years often shows it in the plaster, with cracks opening where old work on wood lath meets new. None of this involves the review board, whose reach ends at what can be seen from a public street; painting the outside in the historic district is another matter, and needs a certificate.
Worth knowing
Hard and attached can stay
After high water, plaster that dried out hard and still tight to its base can usually be kept; plaster that softened, crumbled or came loose is cut out.
Solebury's fieldstone houses
Solebury Township has more than 400 houses from the 1700s and 1800s, many of them fieldstone, and their plaster raises the same questions as the borough's stone houses.
Later houses are drywall
About a third of the borough's homes date from the 1970s and much of the rest from the 1990s on. Their walls are drywall, and so are their repairs.
The work
How the work goes
The same care on every job, in every town. The full guide to plaster repair.
Find the cause
Every repair starts with why the plaster failed: a leak, a settling corner, a ceiling carrying too much. Randy walks the rooms with you, and the walkthrough and written estimate are complimentary.
Reattach what’s loose
Plaster that has lost its keys but is otherwise sound can be drawn back to the lath with screws and broad plaster washers. It doesn’t have to come down.
Bridge the cracks
Cracks are opened slightly, bridged with fiberglass mesh tape and filled with setting-type compound, which hardens by chemical reaction and shrinks less than ordinary joint compound. A finer compound goes on last, because setting compound is hard to sand.
Rebuild what’s missing
Where plaster is gone down to the lath, the old edges get a bonding agent and the hole is built back up in layers, each stepped over the last. Larger openings can take a piece of board shimmed to the plaster’s thickness instead.
Finish to the wall around it
The repair is feathered into the old surface, or the whole wall is skimmed so old and new read as one. On a wavy old wall, the patch follows the wall’s contour; a dead-flat patch would stand out.
Questions
Plaster repair, New Hope.
White powder keeps appearing on the plaster of our stone house near the canal. What is it?
Most likely salts, carried out of the stone by moisture and left behind as the water evaporates. It means the wall is still taking on water, from the ground, the river or a leak, and the plaster will keep blooming until that changes. Brush it off dry rather than washing it, find the source, and hold off on repairs until the wall has dried.
Does New Hope's review board need to approve plaster work inside a historic district house?
No. HARB's jurisdiction is limited to exterior features that can be seen from a public street or way. Painting or otherwise changing the outside of a district house does need a Certificate of Appropriateness, so if a plaster repair goes with exterior work, plan time for that part.
Can plaster be repaired in a house that could flood again?
Yes. Old lime plaster on stone that came through high water still hard and attached can be repaired once the wall dries, and it tolerates occasional wetting better than gypsum plaster or drywall, both of which soften when they stay wet. In a lower room, keeping sound old plaster is often the more durable choice.
More in New Hope
Other services here.
- Level 5 drywall finishA skim coat over the entire surface, for walls that hold up under raking light and dark paint.
- Skim coatingRough, patched or uneven walls resurfaced smooth, often after wallpaper comes down.
- Interior paintingWalls, ceilings, trim, doors and millwork, prepared properly and finished clean.
- Exterior paintingSiding, trim, porches, stucco and brick, prepared to stand up to Pennsylvania weather.
- Drywall installation & repairNew drywall hung, taped and finished; cracks, holes and water damage repaired invisibly.
- Drywall texture matching & removalTexture matched so repairs disappear, applied where you want it, or taken off for a smooth wall.
- Popcorn ceiling removalOld acoustic texture taken down and the ceiling finished smooth.
- Wallpaper removalOld wallpaper and wall linings stripped without tearing up the wall beneath.
- Wood stainingDecks, porch floors, doors and trim, inside and out, stained by hand.
Consultation
Request a private consultation.
Private walkthrough & written estimate, complimentary. Tell us a little about the house and the rooms, and Randy will be in touch to arrange a time.
- Hours
- Monday – Friday8:30 AM – 5:30 PMSaturday10 AM – 3 PMSundayClosed
- Service area
- Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown and the greater Lehigh Valley; Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Fully insured — proof on request. Residential and commercial.