INTERIOR PLASTER PHASE II

With the ceilings complete it was time to start the prep work for the next phase, the interior plastering.  The first step in the process was installing the J-metal flashing where the walls meet the ceiling.  The lime plaster will "dive" into the hook of the upsidedown "J" providing a clean look for where the walls and ceilings meet.

J-metal flashing installed

At the corners the J-metal has to be cut and then bent to get the clean look we're after

Once the J-metal is in place the tar paper is stapled on to cover any areas of bare wood.  The tar paper acts as a barrier between the wood and the lime plaster.  Next comes the blood lath, which is installed in areas where the plaster needs more surface area to which to attach, such as corners, door frame edges and overhangs.  The majority of the walls only required basic chicken wire like lath since the earthen plaster already had some grooves raked into it, thus providing the additional surface area for the plaster to adhere and bond.

Tar paper covering the upper portions of the casita wall that is wood

You can see the tar paper covering the box beam which caps the strawbale wall, the blood lath covering the tar paper since there is an overhang, and then the chicken wire lath over the earthen plaster

The kitchen has a lot of intricate overhangs and corners, areas where drywall abuts earthen plaser, and will probably be the most used room in the house, so it took more tar paper and blood lath than some of the other rooms.

The kitchen took some extra prep time

Close-up of the door jamb for the front door looking down the north wall of the kitchen.  Notice the blood lath on the door jamb which is curved?

This is not an easy plaster job by any stretch of the imagination.  It may look like a very basic house design, but there are some elements that will really test the plasterers skill and patience.  We have a lot of areas where the plaster dives into exposed wood, walls that run right into the window frame (see picture above of the kitchen's north wall for an example) and the wall spaces themselves are quite large which when it comes time for the final coat of plaster will be a challenge to get a uniform color and texture over the entirety of the surface.

First coat of plaster over the exposed beam in the casita

First coat of plaster over the wall of windows in the house

The small alcove in the living room is quite the challenge for our plasterers as the wall goes straight into the window frame and the space is very narrow.  But the morning light in the summer just lights up the wall!

One of the looks we are going for is a traditional southwest farm house where the rounded walls dive into the jamb of the front door.

First coat of plaster providing the classic rounded look around the jamb of the front door

The north wall of the kitchen

Adam taping down the tar paper in order to protect the floors prior to the second coat of plaster

Juan masking off the exposed beam above the wall of windows to protect it during the application of the second coat of plaster

Juan masking off the ceiling

Plastic is hung to protect the wall of windows

Overview of the kitchen and living room

Adam applying the second coat of plaster on the living room wall

Before applying the next coat of plaster the previous layer must be wetted.  This helps the new coat bond and stick to the prior coat.  It is a very messy and wet process.

Tito wetting the first coat of plaster in preparation for the second coat

Adam applying the second coat of plaster above the wall of windows

Adam showing off his master plaster techniques

The plaster for the rough coats are mixed in a motor driven mixer.  The plaster is then shoveled into a wheelbarrow, wheeled to the area of application and then shoveled onto large "trays" from which the plasterers scoop the plaster onto their hawk.  Every plasterer needs an assistant or two to keep the process from slowing down.

 

The mixer

The plaster mixer in action

While the interior was being plastered the exterior was taking the brunt of the late season monsoon thunderstorms.  For the most part the north and south walls of the house and casita were protected from the main force of the wind and rain due to the bigger overhang of the eaves.  The east end of the buildings were another story.  With the third wettest monsoon season on record the earthen plaster just couldn't withstand the assualt and started to erode.  Thus we had to jerry rig some tarps to protect the walls.  The hard part was we had to let the walls breath so the tarps couldn't be tight against the walls like they were last summer.  So we came up with the idea to lean some 2 x 4's against the wall at an angle, screw them into the box beams above the strawbales and then drape the tarps over the 2 x 4's.  This did the trick and kept the walls from eroding any more until we could repair the walls after the monsoon season ended.

Tarps were hung to protect the earthen plaster from the monsoon thunderstorms