Sheetrock and Plaster Walls

Plaster or Sheetrock  Walls

Most of the interior walls of homes are finished with sheetrock today because it is much easier to work with than plaster and is easier to install for a lot less labor cost and time.  If you are debating between having sheetrock or plaster finish walls there are few things to consider. Plaster was commonly used for finishing walls in the 19th Century but it quickly fell by the wayside when sheetrock (drywall) became available.  In many homes plaster is still used by a few homeowners looking to recreate the look of plaster walls.  

Fake Venetian plaster has become somewhat popular to create finish stucco walls. To create the appearance of a real Venetian plaster texture stucco finished walls a mixture of gypsum, sand and lime is usually used to make the stucco plaster although a mix of cement and lime will give a smoother finish. The outside stucco finish often used in the southwestern United States is usually a textured plaster mixture of cement and lime and sprayed on with a high pressure sprayer and hand finished.  For a smooth interior wall finish gypsum is the primary material in the plaster mix along with a drying agent to accelerate the drying process.

It is difficult to find a trained professional to finish walls with a real looking Venetian plaster finish. Plastering interior walls today consists of installing “blue board” and toweling approximately a quarter inch plaster on top of the blue board. The blue board paper actually dissolves when the plaster in applied making the finished wall a half inch plaster wall. Blue board comes in 4 x 8 sheets similar to drywall and is blue in color hence the name blue board. It takes a highly skilled and experienced professional to apply the plaster and have the wall come out flat and smooth.

A drawback of plaster walls is that the finished wall has a very hard surface which makes it more durable and resistant to nicks however, performing a plaster repair is more difficult than performing a regular sheetrock repair.  

Applying plaster to the blue board is time consuming as it can take several days to dry. The plaster is mixed to a consistency that is somewhat thicker than a heavy paint and much thinner than joint compound used on drywall. The light mixture is toweled on the surface of the blue board. Because the plaster is mixed to a light texture there is a lot of water mess to deal with, in fact after a day’s work of applying plaster the subfloor of the house will be saturated with water.

A plastered finished wall has a great finished appearance that is very smooth without any showing of joint tape and screw heads that is common with regular drywall. Plaster finished walls last for decades without needing repairs. Like drywall, when painting plastered walls a primer paint is required before applying a finish paint. If you are considering plastered walls on you next home improvement project be sure that you start looking for a plasterer early and get your job scheduled because such craftsmen are hard to find.

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