This Gypsum Association archival film is for historical reference only. The information contained in it is not intended as guidance for contemporary construction.
I'm a 60 year old plaster, and it was great to see a video of the traditional ways. Besides, a few different ways of application and materials, the better plasterer in this video, was average. They didn't show him pushing any crown mouldings or doing any ceiling textures, all of which I could. The plastering trade takes on many different areas of architecture, which can take decades to master. But if you wanna learn, expect at least 2 years just to learn basics from green. Good luck finding a good teacher. They are very rare. I AM PLASTERER 1963😊
@@cliveramsbotty6077 that's impossible,and very funny that you say that. There's too much to learn in one day let alone one week or longer..There's always something that needs to be shown, over and over.... There's not that many people that want to work that hard at learning a trade,especially when it's the hardest trade to learn... OH YA!
@@chocolatecoveredgummybears kind of a weird shot to take. That was 4 generations ago. I’m not intending to knock how hard the silent generation worked, or the skills they acquired and utilized. But their parents considered them to be a pampered generation, and they considered their children to be pampered.
@@robertaylor9218 not a weird shot at all. have you ever worked with boomers or silent generation people? their work ethic is about 10x more than millennials and zoomers, combined lol
@@chocolatecoveredgummybears I have. I’m in the trades. I’ve also read what generations have said about the following and it reads exactly the same “coddled, pampered, entitled, lazy brats, who don’t know how to work”. That being said, preceding generations (at least for the past 5 or 6) did have more demanding work and seemed to have better work ethic. I’ve seen millennials and zoomers bust their ass, though they are more likely to put their extra effort into side hustles. Greatest generation: worked hard when they could to survive Silent generation: worked hard to get ahead, so their kids didn’t have to Boomers: worked hard because it was expected, and they were going to be ok because of it Gen X: worked hard to catch up on an economy that was leaving them behind Millennials: worked hard to catch up and maybe get ahead, focusing on school and internships that didn’t pay off Zoomers: not sure if hard work is going to pay off, so the generation seems divided.
I renovated a 6000 sq. ft. mansion built in 1892. You don't "flip" homes like that. You apologize to the house as you strip it of it's true craftsmanship and replace it with today's garbage materials.
agreed. drywall, sheetrock whatever you want to call it is trash ..nothing compares to the materials used and craftsmanship of yesteryear (that's one adorable pup in your picture there, is he yours? super cute! 😍💕)
Ah yes nothing like all that asbestos. It's truly a magnificent material that holds up for a lifetime and even the eventual death of those who breathed it building and disturbing the incredible craftsmanship of these walls.
Modern framing techniques and materials now have to strike a balance between cost and strength. You talk about a 6000 sqft house built over a century ago. There are two errors with your logic. The first being the fact that a house of that size built during that time period must have meant that the original owner was quite wealthy and could afford craftsman finishes. Keep in mind that mass production of building materials and finishes was in its infancy during that time. Your second error piggy backs off of the first. Survivorship bias tells us that the mansion you speak of survived this long to be analyzed. Yet a more modest house from that time period, made of the conventional materials of the time is nowhere to be found for analysis. Why? Because they fell apart, or became derelict and where torn down, etc. A 6000 sqft mansion today likely made of stone exteriors, granite countertops, marble floors, etc will stand up for a long time.... but will cost a fortune.
@@G1ennbeckismyher0 Your response amuses me as you assume to know so much. The original owner was indeed a very wealthy man. He was appointed by President Lincoln as an Indian agent and was in charge of land grants. He was a retired captain in the union army. I found countless newspaper articles when the house was built. There was a sawmill on sight, stone masons etc. It took 11 months to build at a cost of $8,500 which was substantial in 1892. It was the most famous house in Southern Minnesota. But you knew all that.
I’m a 29 y.o drywall plasterer, this was so great to watch. I’m never going to complain again about having to sheet the odd house here and there. Soooo many nails and what a beast with that hammer and nails
@@zarron221 common practice in the UK. we rarely plaster entire walls, this is otherwise known as a level 5 finish here is aus , and it costs a lot of money to do so. so most just get joints finished to level 4. i have white set entire bessa block walls, that’s as close as i have come to finishing entire internal walls.
I was in my second year plumbing apprenticeship and working in the Kentucky Governors Mansion. The tradesman doing the gypsum and the beautiful ornate ceilings were masters of their trade. I was in awe at how fast and precise they were. I can still picture it after all these years. (From the early 80’s)
This is how my 60 year old home is done. Wall are still rock hard, corners are solid, no nail pops and no chasing dings in soft drywall mud. Nowadays we spread cake icing on joints and paint the paper, then hope nobody sneezes on it or bumps it with their backpack.
Shine a light down the wall of a newly boarded and finished wall! You will see every joint no matter what...level 5 is the only way to avoid this and now you are pretty much plastering the wall but with a different material. Many architects are doing level 5 now because more designs are using more lighting and bigger window designs to achieve an openness which exposes drywall joints
how about a 114 year old turn of the century colonial built in 1910. Plaster on slats. Still looks like it did when built. Fire and mold resistent. A lost art. A few minor lumps and bumps here and there. Drywall be damed!
If they did, it would embarrass all the un-skilled ineffective SJW dross out there today, so they won't do it. 'We can't be shown up by our ancestors, so we'll censor such material'
They did in the 1950's. There was limited material in broadcast ready format so many industrial films were shown, and then you had, "Industry on Parade", and the public relations wing of the Department of Defense with "The Big Picture" besides all manner of public service announcements before the next showing of "I was a Communist for the FBI". "Victory at Sea" wasn't t seen so much after 1955 or so. Miss the crackling of the dust motes upon the hot vacuum tubes and the smell of ozone. Younger brothers were great for holding the rabbit ears just so so that the reception was decent.
I am a home remodeler. At one job took us 3 days to get a 1940s era mudjob down to the studs. Bathroom was tiny like 4.5'x4.5' plus a shower. Lath on walls, floor, ceiling, 1.5" of plaster or mud at minimum thickness. Thing was beyond bullet proof. Still on the job have to start demo on a larger bathroom next week. Mad respect for the people that did that. I can only hope my work lasts half as long as that bathroom did.
Yeah the workmanship was something back then! The problem is today everyone wants to gut and remodel every decade or so when the styles change so I guess no real reason to make anything too permanent.
Narrated by Ken Carpenter of Kraft company fame. He was a familiar voice to many radio listeners, and known for shows such as The Great Gildersleeve, Command Performance, and the Kraft Music Hall.
I rehabbed two houses that had this type of gypsum plaster installed. They were built in the 40’s and 50’s. No insulation was installed in the exterior walls so I removed quite a bit and was amazed at the strength. So much manual labor went into this type of system. Much more durable than today’s drywall board.
As a water restoration tech I always hate pulling plaster off old walls or ceilings watching this older than myself video gave me more respect for the old world craftsmanship of plaster. I simply cannot find a guy that can do anything with plaster nowadays.
I am the only one I know who still offers this professionally in my area, All others wanna demo and start from scratch, I also perfer the look of SLEEK SANDED WOOD ONCE ITS PAINTED OVER MODERN FASCIA ANYDAY! SAME GOES FOR "DENTAL WORK" (WOODEN SOFFIT SUPPORT) AND WINDOWS THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS THAT WILL NOT MAKE IT TO THE NEXT GENERATIONS.
It’s a real mix. Some areas have a lot of remodeling contractors that prefer plaster, because they can be in and out in one day. Many areas have few people that know the work and understand the materials.
I've been on the trowle for 21 years. And this has to be one of the most enjoyable videos I've watched on CZcams. I smiled when the narrator spoke regards well graded clean sand in mixtures for interior and exterior work.. I've been saying this for years. Watching the real deal reminded me just how good us morden plasterers have it.. I'm subscribed to your channel & thank you 👌👍
@@G1ennbeckismyher0 in the United States its largely drywall now i believe. With some external stucco work still carried out.. Correct me if wrong tho. In UK still soild plastering with a fair amount of plasterboard and Europe its the same I can't speak for far East and aisa. I hope that helps
Great video! Wish there were more like it. I've been in the trade for over 30 years and I truly enjoyed the video. You don't see true videos like this about plastering. Thanks for posting.
I'm one of the only contractors in my area who will patch and skim coat. There are a few tricks to the trade that are not for sale. Many other contractors do not understand the fact that old plaster draws moisture whe you try to patch it because it's so DRY!!! I've seen so many walls CRUMBLE, after an amateur has tried to patch them. I can tell you this much. If you press it and it gives, TEAR AWAY THE WEAK PARTS OR YOULL BE PLASTERING AN ENTIRE WALL!
My house is 72 years old and built with this method. The walls are still square and strong. The house has no air leaks and feels and sounds solid. Very cool to find this video!
I grew up in the industry, I can remember seeing lathers mouth the 4 d penny nails. They came in wooden kegs and wax paper to be hygienic. They had to put them in their mouth for production and spit them out. They used the same nail on the outside for line wire and stucco work . This nail looks like a roofing nail , but has a thinner shaft and sharper tip for easy driving. Wall scrapers were used prior to the putty coat finish to remove klinkers. I scraped a lot of hardwall when I was junior high school for my fathers company in the summer. Great video and fun to watch the plasterer take the mud form the front of the hawk and push the mud on the ceiling. Very old school and talent based. too bad, that is all gone.
At 13 45 he uses what we call a counter stroke.Thats when you push the mud on the ceiling instead of pulling it.It took me years to master that technique.My shoulder thanks me every day,by the way my experience was with stucco cement.
The first home I bought was built in 1949. No wonder it's such a sturdy home. Old plaster walls, they've held up beautifully. This was awesome to watch.
I’m a plumber, and have worked in houses built as far back as the Civil War. Plaster walls and ceilings have always intrigued me. I always approach tearing into them for a plumbing repair with great respect. It breaks my heart having to destroy something that has been in place with no defects for so, so long. It especially hurts if I am forced to remove and destroy any plaster moulding - I do my very best to stay away from it, even if it is going to require an inordinate amount of time and effort to make a plumbing repair. I have seen so many different methods used and types of lath used for plaster work and have always wondered why there are so many different ways to do it - I have just chalked it up to the evolution of the discovery of better ways or more efficient ways to do it. I know that most plumbers will just take a hammer to it and not think twice about the time and skill it took to originally install it. I take the opposite approach and do whatever I can to preserve as much history as possible. I have a great respect for plasterers of years gone by who are most likely no longer with us. Their work has passed the test of time. I do know that this skill has faded away to almost nonexistent because it is extremely difficult for people to find somebody who can make satisfactory repairs to the damage a plumber will do to their plaster. And, if they do find somebody with the skills to do it properly, it costs them dearly - as it should. Plastering is an art that is deserving of the highest pay.
Really happy to come across this because this is how my house was built but no local contractors seem to know how to repair it other than to replace everything in the room with modern drywall.
Here in the U.K. lath and plaster is the old technique of nailing rough, wooden strips (laths) to timber framing then applying the plaster. Best practice would be 3 coats i.e. render (course plaster with horse hair binding, float (smoother layer of plaster) and set (very smooth, hard finishing coat).
I have that, wooden laths & plaster, in my old farm house here in the U.S. built in the late 1920’s. I am curious when they started with the gypsum laths here.
@@richardlug6139 The shift was gradual from the time various plasterboards were introduced in the late 1800s, but I believe rock lath took off in the 1930s and taped drywall, after being used in prefabs and DIY work for decades, caught on after WWII. I've seen houses with rock-lath-plaster from the late 1960s, but none from the 1970s.
That was fascinating, I have never seen interior plastering done. I did see a drywall veneer system being applied to a home back in the mid 80s, otherwise it was drywall all the way. That definitely took very skilled craftsmen to do. I can see why drywall became so popular, seeing how labor intensive that plastering was.
Thanks for posting this video. It's helped me immensly in understanding the construction of the walls in my 1943 house and how to address some repairs. Also makes me appreciiate my beautiful plaster walls - and archway - even more.
Once I had to do some repairs, patches, renos in my house I no longer appreciated the plaster walls lol!!! So horrible to match drywall to the 1" give or take thickness HAHA!
I'm converting my archways BACK to the original. I can't believe they framed a square under the arch for a doorway __ without a Door-? and again, the wall between the living room and dining room - without a door, why? I don't get it
Hi Guys this is the easy life Thin wooden Lathes came before this Board The Man that taught me in England in the 80 s told me how fast they could nail and that plasterboard was the Greatest advancement to Building sites His family were all fibrous plasterers 4 generations They must have been true Masters in their field Alan Dowler my friend and Teacher infact plastered an Arch in st Paul’s cathedral It was in the Whispering gallery It was more than likely damaged in the war He told me many fantastic stories Fascinating I became his Labourer in around 1981 I worked with Alan on Waltham Forest council , lots of Great tradesmen joined the council in their 40 s They wanted to gain a good pension and have life a touch easier The money was poor and us trades got little thanks from the tenants as the Budget was very tight Happy days back then I’m 58 now , still plastering it’s hard on your legs as your on your feet all day RIP Alan and the other Tradesmen I was Lucky enough to meet X
That final mix for the top coat is so good but so bad with the asbestos. I come across that stuff constantly. Its only like 2% asbestos but enough to mess you up if you do a lot of demo work.
i prefer to repair any big damaged areas by filling with drywall, then either skim coat the room or add a layer of 1/4' drywall, then skin coat the room. this way you maintain the integrity of the membrane of plaster. yes, its heavy and you are adding weight, but back then they used dimensional lumber that was larger and not nearly as brittle from kiln drying, the homes breathed and had greater ability for flexing with seasonal changes. when modern "climate control systems" came along, old homes started cracking and literally crumbling inside due to the homes being devoid of moisture during summer and winter. Modern drywall techniques eliminate the brutal arrid interior climate shifts because there are less joints and the weight has been reduced nearly 300% or more in some instances.
This must have came out in the mid to late 40s in that transition period between wood lathe to gypsum lath to drywall. My old house was built in 1940 and they used wood lathe and plaster. As others said, this is a great video!
I've always wondered how this was done. I've tore down dozens of walls in the Chicago area and have always hated plaster. Always thought to myself, how laborious it must've been to put on because it's definetly a pain to take it off. Video makes me appreciate a lot of things lol
I'v cutted all boards in my house this way, and was doing rendering first hand than dust grain sand plaster and than final knauf gypsum powder only bcs it have more sense, now i wached this first time and cant describe how happy i am because local pros laughed at my work, this is gold, i must move to usa im its citizen by mindset
I watched this and it took me back to the days of mixing by hand and hod carriers. Dad started me under the stairs and in closets. Took me a year to get with the big boys. Today they have it easy. 70 years ago were different but on wall finishes I think better.
“”Dad started me under the stairs and in closets”. Great comment. I was wondering where an apprentice would get practice. Like most “construction videos”...or cooking, baking, golf, fly-fishing, you name it,..it always looks easy in the video. As an architect who has only occasionally been able to observe the installation of traditional 3 coat plaster, I have observed that a properly organized team can accommodate a wide age range in workmen. Contemporary drywall work...as efficient as it is ...seems to place a premium on “muscle” and “youth”. Something is lost in this quest for speed..
@@165Dash Agree 100% Quality is what's lost in "Lowest Bid" Construction. Cost cutting can be achieved without sacrificing Quality. Unfortunately developers fear cuts to profits. They use low skilled workers for most of the project, then use high skilled ones to "punch out" the defects buyers catch. It leads to low quality, and kills the trades.
Very true John, on one job we had a scaffold lift and the scaffolders used it a few times before they broke it. Were you labouring or plastering and was it lime or gypsum work? When we got new people they were given a cupboard or hard to access place, if you take care of the corners and edges the rest will take care of itself. I started out in cements and gypsum's before working in the conservation business and the OTT materials the super rich liked to use. I now work alone and only use lime putty products and natural materials like elephant grass and lath's for builds. There is less waste using putty because it only starts to set when exposed to the air and a lime wall absorbs co2. Our housing needs could be helped with cob & straw-bale structures and ground sourced heat-pumps. If the subsoil has clay then all the diggings can be mixed into cob. These structures can then be rendered in lime mortar, sprayed or spread on, it all makes great, cheap, comfortable and sustainable housing with a very low carbon footprint that would easily last 100 years. It's interesting to find old books and old-timers who'd done those jobs, talking about the preparations and different mixes before each job.
My house was built in ‘56 and the walls are built with this “gypsum lath” and plaster. I really like how the the ceilings in my house all have a different texture and pattern in each room,
Wow takes me back, I remember when I first started the trade, in the early 90's. We used those plaster boards. But normal gypsum skim plaster. Grey then pink.
I was unfamiliar with the flag at 18:00 -- from Wikipedia: it's The Canadian Red Ensign (French: Red Ensign canadien) served as the civil ensign for Canada from 1892 to 1965, and as an informal flag of Canada from the late-19th century to 1965.[1] The flag is a British red ensign, with the Union Flag in the canton, adorned with the shield of the coat of arms of Canada.
That was the Canadian flag until the leaf was adopted in 1965. Similar flags are still used as provincial flags for two provinces of Canada. Ontario and Manitoba.
What fantastic plaster-boarding skills that man with the sharpened axe-hammer had and great to see the ease with which he put up the curved boards. I use lime putty for nearly all my work and slake my own product from finely 'kibbled' quicklime which I buy from a supplier, it's a chalk lime called 'Singleton Birch'. I have done lots of different mixes over the years and added rice flour (strength), molasses (against frost/cold) wood shavings (binder) to mortars for a multitude of reasons, primarilly because I'd read about it in old books and incorporated it into my work. I have put some lime plaster onto a gypsum board but have never done a whole wall this way. Lime uses less energy to make than cement, will keep forever (less waste) and absorbs carbon dioxide. It's also better for acoustics too.
Geoff Bradley Hi triple A plasterer from down under Aussie .we use clay bricks inside and outside . Now that’s where the real art of plastering starts We use general purpose cement, lime and yellow sand for the rendering .The white coat is lime putty and hardball plaster mixed 50to50 and gives you a hard finish .I could go on all day but I’ll leave it at Geoff from down under seeya
As a DIYer I first thought the small pieces would be handy today. Then came all the hard work. We have it pretty easy today. During the 1960's I worked with my father who was an electrician. We worked on a lot of old houses that had wood lath and plaster, knob and tube wiring. Who said they were the good old days?
@@captainamerica9353 well, i know what you mean, but im currently finishing the drywall in a 340 units tower... i sure am glad not to be mixing sand and lime and hand troweling a thousand tons of it on the walls.
These tradesman are so amazing look at the way he tackled the light switch cut out and the arch as well Hand skills almost forgotten Without these videos 👌👌👌
I love this video. I do a lot of remodeling in the Baltimore MD area, and we see this all the time. That type wall is very well durable, and very difficult to demo!
I am an aspiring home wood worker. Reading the comments from the seasoned craftsmen and the newer apprentices together, talking about quality and the evolution of the craft, gives me hope that the trades will never be without people to do the job.
the sad truth is most manufacturers want to make products that low skilled people can install. I cannot blame them. But a shame none the less. the craft will not die, but productive efficiency like they did, is pretty much gone for lath and plaster .
My fathers firm had many of these guys. They would spit 4 d blue nails all day long. even developed a slight blue ring around the mouth, or maybe I imagined it? LOL
This is fascinating! They sure don't make houses like they used to (and that's a shame). Interesting at the lack of PPE (I wonder how all these guys' end of lives were, whether they had lung or skin issues, etc). Also interesting that the architect kept showing up in a full suit and not construction clothing ;) ... Interesting at 14:28. Those two adds are regularly used these days in garden soil! What an informative video!
Not so fun fact about PPE and the additives - Vermiculite of this era was almost all tainted with Asbestos, coming from the W.R. Grace mine in Libby, MT. Soooo yeah...might not have had a great end of life.
@@allysonand Naaa, that's mostly because codes have been updated. I grew up in a home with gypsum walls. It was SOLID, and that was in California, earthquake country! Throwing out the old just because it's old isn't always the best idea. Just look at what that idea is doing to society!
Very interesting,thanks for sharing! My modest cape-cod house was built in 1951 and has rock lath and plaster walls,very solid. I wish this was the standard of construction today.Those men must have had bodies of iron!
@7:50, that is the Parkchester section of the Bronx, I can tell bc the movie theatre is the Eagle Movie theatre (which sadly doesn't exist anymore, it lasted until the early 2010s). I used to live nearby, that awesome!
DescriptionLath and plaster is a building process used to finish mainly interior dividing walls and ceilings. It consists of narrow strips of wood which are nailed horizontally across the wall studs or ceiling joists and then coated in plaster.
Wooden lathes were made redundant by the use of plasterboard lathes and now there redundant due to 8x4 plasterboard sheets, not sure if there’s any more giant leaps forward in this field
I’ve seen many a lathe hammer in sheds and always thought it was for splitting wooden lathes, and also sand & plaster on plasterboard your trowel wrist and hawk elbow are gonna long for Friday.
Yup. My home --- started in 1961, finished in '62 --- has walls exactly like those shown. My plasterer, it seems, skipped the screeding step as there are sweeping trowel marks that show when light shines from the sides. But, I'd still rather have plaster than drywall, hands down.
That’s the kind of board my 1950 house is made with. Full one inch thick. 1/4” board with another 3/4” over that. I’ve had contractors in and they’ve told me they’ve never seen it done that way before but it’s solid as a rock.
I’ve been a plaster for 40 years good to see traditional plaster we used a lot sand cement back in day new houses it’s all dot dab today not lot young lads do it which’s is a shame bloke in the film looks good trade man’s 🇬🇧🇬🇧
Plasterer by trade 20 years(not a finisher) and I can say the same basic rules apply other than the building products have changed or have gotten better. Plaster is still in my opinion the best interior finish by far it adds beauty and integrity to any project. I’ve seen some great drywall finishers but nothing adds more strength and beauty to a home than plaster and not the bag crap....real lime & gauging!
My father was the old school plasterer. I had him help me on my own home in the 90's. He was shocked at the price of gypsum plaster. According to him, it used to be cheaper than Portland cement, now it is 3 times more? he could not believe it. Supply and demand I guess.
Imagine this. These guys the latherer and the plasterer are of course very good at their profession to be involved with this film. Could they ever imagine that their beautiful work will be watched nearly 100 years from that time? And that people will continue to watch them maybe forever? I think they would be smiling in their graves if they knew this, knowing that their work was so appreciated. I know I appreciate it. If I could shake their hands I would. Also look how professionally they dress while they’re doing their work, and you can tell the latherer’s hands have pounded many a nail.
Just remember as cool as this is to us in the trades today, it was viewed as a low-skilled, low quality hack by many of those who grew up with wood lathe plaster. I can only imagine when drywall is phased out how people will look at old (modern) drywall training videos and be shocked at the amount of work and skill that went into it. Lol. No joke though, that lather is badass. And it’s really cool what hung someone plaster with the precision you’d expect from a float for tile setting.
The architect doing an inspection? For modest housing that went the way of the dodo and the doctor's house call decades ago. 3 coats of plaster? Ouch. It's not hard to understand why spray-on texture replaced plaster over sheetrock. When did the 4x8 sheets become the standard for residential home construction?
They sold 4X8s at least since the "Sheetrock" trademark was registered in 1917. I've read that the system for taping and mudding wasn't standardized until the 1920s, so the early installations usually involved wallpaper or battens in a mock-Tudor pattern. But, the smaller panels were the most popular for rock-lath (with the grey and white coats on top) into the 1960s. Maybe the larger panels expanded and contracted too much to be used that way.
Before screws we used to hammer and nail everything timber frame flats were hell on earth ,ceilings used to be 1 plank board and 2 fireline boards fixed with 75mm nails all knocked in by hand ,elbows suffered big time
This is great. Enjoyed the whole thing. Everything from the skilled work, material descriptions and mixing through stilted script, basic film technique and bad acting.
Wow! I just realized this is what I have been seeing when cutting (for repairs) the drywall in our old house. I was always wondering what type of drywall this was. Why so thick notably irregular thick and why so many layers.
Just in time for the post-War baby boom suburban expansion. Those houses probably had/have asbestos tiles on the outside. Levitt houses did/do. The basement pipes are also wrapped in asbestos.
my little house from 1957 has this type wall plaster, hard as rock. no cracks. the trade has been simplified to save labor , drywall of today is not as durable but is much faster to complete
the only detriment to this very excellent and durable process, is the gross weight it adds to the home. as the years come the walls eventually start failing. i prefer this type of wall personally the work is worth it. Modern drywall techniques leave every room feeling hollow and acoustically extremely noisy. anyone can slam a 4x8 sheet up onto a wall and tape a joint, but the details are missing. I know drywall contractors who perform several skim coats over an entire wall to in a way, create a shell, or membrane that moves with the house. using a flexible type of skim coat enables this.
I remember packing hod when I was young. Swear it made me two inches shorter. that hod, the V shaped tool on the workers shoulder, was heavy when loaded. Not allowed to use them anymore due to OSHA regulations.
That smaller size is easier to work with I really don't know why we switched to the larger boards. More work related injuries. The older houses look better than modern crap boxes too.
Good points. Drywall is treating joints, so less joints, faster finished. with lath and plaster, you coat the entire wall, those joints mean little to plasterers.
It's a shame we don't have these standards now a days. Some of the jobs of plasterboarding i've seen are awful, screws in too far, foam around the edges, ripped paper... To some it's art and a lifestyle, to others it's just a job
In uk i worked on 400 yearold houses with lath(oak strips) and plaster(lime,sand,horsehair)..2scratch coats (two weeks to dry)then finish coat(trowling every 2days for 2weeks,) till set...😅good fun , but dont fall in the lime pit👍🏼😂😂
I'm 54 and when I served my time we still did it. We used horse hair for binding and if we used up the horse hair we used grass. We used essian scrim on ceilings which had to be 3 coats to cover,don't know your born nowadays
@@northernpatriotmanchester675 As a painter and restorer of Victorian houses in NY, I repaired plenty of horse hair plaster. Never do I recall seeing horse hair available for sale. I used quick setting, non shrinking durabond as a first coat on the wooden lath.
In the UK in the early 80s it wasn't hard to get hold of. I was taught to wet plaster which used a lot of the old systems but the trade started to really modernise around 1988 onwards with the advent of mechanical mixing etc. Self adhesive scrim was the key.it put artex ceiling installers out of work because flat plaster ceilings became easy to do and cost affective. It went from 6mm skimming on ceilings down to 2mm so we made mega bucks
This video is slightly misleading. The term used in the video is "lath and plaster", which was extremely common until the late 1940's when gypsum became popular to use. Lath and plaster is when wood strips AKA laths are nailed to the studs in a wall and plaster is smeared overtop of them and smoothed out and eventually painted over. Gypsum made this process very easy by far but still a sought after skill. Gypsum lead the way to sheetrock which lead the way to the drywall we use today.
I'm a 60 year old plaster, and it was great to see a video of the traditional ways. Besides, a few different ways of application and materials, the better plasterer in this video, was average.
They didn't show him pushing any crown mouldings or doing any ceiling textures, all of which I could.
The plastering trade takes on many different areas of architecture, which can take decades to master.
But if you wanna learn, expect at least 2 years just to learn basics from green. Good luck finding a good teacher. They are very rare.
I AM PLASTERER 1963😊
I'm a plaster of 1898 and I'm the best
@patrickcullen2714 Well,sir, please send a picture of your fancy ceilings and hand pushed crown moldings, and we'll see how rare you are...😊
i bet you could teach someone all they ever need to know about plastering in a single day. the rest is just practice.
@@cliveramsbotty6077 that's impossible,and very funny that you say that. There's too much to learn in one day let alone one week or longer..There's always something that needs to be shown, over and over....
There's not that many people that want to work that hard at learning a trade,especially when it's the hardest trade to learn... OH YA!
@@cliveramsbotty6077 How old are you?
I bet you could tell me all you know in less than 5 minutes and time left to spare.
The amount of labor put into the old school plaster guys work is really something to appreciate.
more than any zoomer nowadays, that's for sure
@@chocolatecoveredgummybears kind of a weird shot to take. That was 4 generations ago. I’m not intending to knock how hard the silent generation worked, or the skills they acquired and utilized. But their parents considered them to be a pampered generation, and they considered their children to be pampered.
@@robertaylor9218 not a weird shot at all. have you ever worked with boomers or silent generation people? their work ethic is about 10x more than millennials and zoomers, combined lol
@@chocolatecoveredgummybears I have. I’m in the trades. I’ve also read what generations have said about the following and it reads exactly the same “coddled, pampered, entitled, lazy brats, who don’t know how to work”. That being said, preceding generations (at least for the past 5 or 6) did have more demanding work and seemed to have better work ethic. I’ve seen millennials and zoomers bust their ass, though they are more likely to put their extra effort into side hustles.
Greatest generation: worked hard when they could to survive
Silent generation: worked hard to get ahead, so their kids didn’t have to
Boomers: worked hard because it was expected, and they were going to be ok because of it
Gen X: worked hard to catch up on an economy that was leaving them behind
Millennials: worked hard to catch up and maybe get ahead, focusing on school and internships that didn’t pay off
Zoomers: not sure if hard work is going to pay off, so the generation seems divided.
Imagine doing it with the wooden lathe an plaster🤣 this it the easy way.
I renovated a 6000 sq. ft. mansion built in 1892. You don't "flip" homes like that. You apologize to the house as you strip it of it's true craftsmanship and replace it with today's garbage materials.
agreed. drywall, sheetrock whatever you want to call it is trash ..nothing compares to the materials used and craftsmanship of yesteryear
(that's one adorable pup in your picture there, is he yours? super cute! 😍💕)
Ah yes nothing like all that asbestos. It's truly a magnificent material that holds up for a lifetime and even the eventual death of those who breathed it building and disturbing the incredible craftsmanship of these walls.
@@loveislife77 you'll never be accused of being a professional
Modern framing techniques and materials now have to strike a balance between cost and strength. You talk about a 6000 sqft house built over a century ago. There are two errors with your logic.
The first being the fact that a house of that size built during that time period must have meant that the original owner was quite wealthy and could afford craftsman finishes. Keep in mind that mass production of building materials and finishes was in its infancy during that time.
Your second error piggy backs off of the first. Survivorship bias tells us that the mansion you speak of survived this long to be analyzed. Yet a more modest house from that time period, made of the conventional materials of the time is nowhere to be found for analysis. Why? Because they fell apart, or became derelict and where torn down, etc.
A 6000 sqft mansion today likely made of stone exteriors, granite countertops, marble floors, etc will stand up for a long time.... but will cost a fortune.
@@G1ennbeckismyher0 Your response amuses me as you assume to know so much. The original owner was indeed a very wealthy man. He was appointed by President Lincoln as an Indian agent and was in charge of land grants. He was a retired captain in the union army. I found countless newspaper articles when the house was built. There was a sawmill on sight, stone masons etc. It took 11 months to build at a cost of $8,500 which was substantial in 1892. It was the most famous house in Southern Minnesota. But you knew all that.
I’m a 29 y.o drywall plasterer, this was so great to watch. I’m never going to complain again about having to sheet the odd house here and there. Soooo many nails and what a beast with that hammer and nails
Chronic Thunder we use stud adhesive and about 4 screws in the biggest of sheets. This is a nail nightmare!
@Toxic13Pain Yeah, but the old drywall nails pop out like crazy over the years. Screws will never move.
@Toxic13Pain I guess it’s all relative. Screws seem to stay put much better than nails.
The old days we used to plaster everything in and out of the houses
@@zarron221 common practice in the UK. we rarely plaster entire walls, this is otherwise known as a level 5 finish here is aus , and it costs a lot of money to do so. so most just get joints finished to level 4. i have white set entire bessa block walls, that’s as close as i have come to finishing entire internal walls.
I've been plastering for 36 years and I have done this and so much more. I love my trade and it is great to see another professional at work.
keep at it Mark, there are others of out here too.
@@markfowler7171 Other guys named Mark?
Nailing ,specially near the edges, without splitting the Gypsum board is an art in itself!
the fact that this dude puts like 10 nails perfectly aligned in his mouth in half a second is impressive
I was in my second year plumbing apprenticeship and working in the Kentucky Governors Mansion. The tradesman doing the gypsum and the beautiful ornate ceilings were masters of their trade. I was in awe at how fast and precise they were. I can still picture it after all these years. (From the early 80’s)
What Union local?
This is how my 60 year old home is done. Wall are still rock hard, corners are solid, no nail pops and no chasing dings in soft drywall mud. Nowadays we spread cake icing on joints and paint the paper, then hope nobody sneezes on it or bumps it with their backpack.
Shine a light down the wall of a newly boarded and finished wall! You will see every joint no matter what...level 5 is the only way to avoid this and now you are pretty much plastering the wall but with a different material. Many architects are doing level 5 now because more designs are using more lighting and bigger window designs to achieve an openness which exposes drywall joints
Damn right! Homes built like yours 60 years ago and more , that’s when they were built with pride.
how about a 114 year old turn of the century colonial built in 1910. Plaster on slats. Still looks like it did when built. Fire and mold resistent. A lost art. A few minor lumps and bumps here and there. Drywall be damed!
Why don’t they put this sort of stuff on television, far better than programmes today?
Nothing is built in the USA anymore, or maybe nobody is proud of the work they do.
If they did, it would embarrass all the un-skilled ineffective SJW dross out there today, so they won't do it. 'We can't be shown up by our ancestors, so we'll censor such material'
They did in the 1950's. There was limited material in broadcast ready format so many industrial films were shown, and then you had, "Industry on Parade", and the public relations wing of the Department of Defense with "The Big Picture" besides all manner of public service announcements before the next showing of "I was a Communist for the FBI".
"Victory at Sea" wasn't t seen so much after 1955 or so.
Miss the crackling of the dust motes upon the hot vacuum tubes and the smell of ozone.
Younger brothers were great for holding the rabbit ears just so so that the reception was decent.
Truth
Because it's far worse actually
I am a home remodeler. At one job took us 3 days to get a 1940s era mudjob down to the studs. Bathroom was tiny like 4.5'x4.5' plus a shower. Lath on walls, floor, ceiling, 1.5" of plaster or mud at minimum thickness. Thing was beyond bullet proof. Still on the job have to start demo on a larger bathroom next week. Mad respect for the people that did that. I can only hope my work lasts half as long as that bathroom did.
Yeah the workmanship was something back then! The problem is today everyone wants to gut and remodel every decade or so when the styles change so I guess no real reason to make anything too permanent.
Narrated by Ken Carpenter of Kraft company fame. He was a familiar voice to many radio listeners, and known for shows such as The Great Gildersleeve, Command Performance, and the Kraft Music Hall.
@@randydinglehopper62 Ken Carpenter and Harlow Wilcox were two of the most recognizable voices of this era.
Very much so! Harlow found fame with Fibber McGee and Molly, Suspense, Autolite, and many others.
He has no accent. He sounds like a AI robot.
I rehabbed two houses that had this type of gypsum plaster installed. They were built in the 40’s and 50’s. No insulation was installed in the exterior walls so I removed quite a bit and was amazed at the strength. So much manual labor went into this type of system. Much more durable than today’s drywall board.
As a water restoration tech I always hate pulling plaster off old walls or ceilings watching this older than myself video gave me more respect for the old world craftsmanship of plaster. I simply cannot find a guy that can do anything with plaster nowadays.
I am the only one I know who still offers this professionally in my area,
All others wanna demo and start from scratch,
I also perfer the look of
SLEEK SANDED WOOD ONCE ITS PAINTED OVER MODERN FASCIA ANYDAY!
SAME GOES FOR "DENTAL WORK"
(WOODEN SOFFIT SUPPORT)
AND WINDOWS THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS THAT WILL NOT MAKE IT TO THE NEXT GENERATIONS.
It’s a real mix. Some areas have a lot of remodeling contractors that prefer plaster, because they can be in and out in one day. Many areas have few people that know the work and understand the materials.
I've been on the trowle for 21 years. And this has to be one of the most enjoyable videos I've watched on CZcams. I smiled when the narrator spoke regards well graded clean sand in mixtures for interior and exterior work.. I've been saying this for years.
Watching the real deal reminded me just how good us morden plasterers have it..
I'm subscribed to your channel & thank you 👌👍
Just curious, where is plaster even used anymore? Hasn't drywall made it obsolete?
@@G1ennbeckismyher0 in the United States its largely drywall now i believe. With some external stucco work still carried out.. Correct me if wrong tho.
In UK still soild plastering with a fair amount of plasterboard and Europe its the same I can't speak for far East and aisa.
I hope that helps
@@G1ennbeckismyher0 plaster is used on exteriors on the west coast. nowadays they call it stucco.
@@by1310 ahhh that's right. Forgot about that. Thanks
No thin wall is still around drywall came out to replace blue board cheaper to keep her lol
Electrician 25 years I've cut into those walls for remodeling and rewiring a thousand times those men were animals and craftsmen
A thousand times?
Andy was paid upfront, the other guy was hourly.
That makes no sence u mean the other way around
@@ziggiesaquaticexotics8270 I think he means Andy was paid hourly. The expert was paid piece rate.
Andy is on meth and needs to be fired
Andy was a scab
Great video! Wish there were more like it. I've been in the trade for over 30 years and I truly enjoyed the video. You don't see true videos like this about plastering. Thanks for posting.
I'm one of the only contractors in my area who will patch and skim coat.
There are a few tricks to the trade that are not for sale.
Many other contractors do not understand the fact that old plaster draws moisture whe you try to patch it because it's so DRY!!!
I've seen so many walls CRUMBLE, after an amateur has tried to patch them.
I can tell you this much.
If you press it and it gives,
TEAR AWAY THE WEAK PARTS OR YOULL BE PLASTERING AN ENTIRE WALL!
I can't believe I watched the whole thing and I've never held plaster or a tool in my whole life.
My house is 72 years old and built with this method. The walls are still square and strong. The house has no air leaks and feels and sounds solid. Very cool to find this video!
My house is from 1953. Same here but not so much for the electrical. lol
I grew up in the industry, I can remember seeing lathers mouth the 4 d penny nails. They came in wooden kegs and wax paper to be hygienic. They had to put them in their mouth for production and spit them out. They used the same nail on the outside for line wire and stucco work . This nail looks like a roofing nail , but has a thinner shaft and sharper tip for easy driving. Wall scrapers were used prior to the putty coat finish to remove klinkers. I scraped a lot of hardwall when I was junior high school for my fathers company in the summer. Great video and fun to watch the plasterer take the mud form the front of the hawk and push the mud on the ceiling. Very old school and talent based. too bad, that is all gone.
Let me just say.... that man was an expert nailer and I’m jealous.
Been in the trade 48 years, plasterboards are massive now... served my time doing this method in the UK 1972 using jute scrim on the joints though
A true Craftsman barely gets his clothes dirty but gets the job done good
At 13 45 he uses what we call a counter stroke.Thats when you push the mud on the ceiling instead of pulling it.It took me years to master that technique.My shoulder thanks me every day,by the way my experience was with stucco cement.
Wow, that was amazing watching that drywaller do his work. I have a new found respect for the trade now.
Been doing it for 35 years.Its an art
Actually he was a plasterer, not a drywaller. That was "wet wall" as opposed to the current drywall.
@@lwilton the 2 coat method is still done it's called veneer plaster, and can be faster than tape and mud.
@@brettknoss486 i thought it was called venetian plaster.
@@jltaco85 that's a technique for colored plaster. Veneer plaster is still painted or wall papered.
The first home I bought was built in 1949. No wonder it's such a sturdy home. Old plaster walls, they've held up beautifully. This was awesome to watch.
I’m a plumber, and have worked in houses built as far back as the Civil War. Plaster walls and ceilings have always intrigued me. I always approach tearing into them for a plumbing repair with great respect. It breaks my heart having to destroy something that has been in place with no defects for so, so long. It especially hurts if I am forced to remove and destroy any plaster moulding - I do my very best to stay away from it, even if it is going to require an inordinate amount of time and effort to make a plumbing repair. I have seen so many different methods used and types of lath used for plaster work and have always wondered why there are so many different ways to do it - I have just chalked it up to the evolution of the discovery of better ways or more efficient ways to do it. I know that most plumbers will just take a hammer to it and not think twice about the time and skill it took to originally install it. I take the opposite approach and do whatever I can to preserve as much history as possible. I have a great respect for plasterers of years gone by who are most likely no longer with us. Their work has passed the test of time. I do know that this skill has faded away to almost nonexistent because it is extremely difficult for people to find somebody who can make satisfactory repairs to the damage a plumber will do to their plaster. And, if they do find somebody with the skills to do it properly, it costs them dearly - as it should. Plastering is an art that is deserving of the highest pay.
Really happy to come across this because this is how my house was built but no local contractors seem to know how to repair it other than to replace everything in the room with modern drywall.
I feel your pain. Plastering is almost a lost art, it would likely cost a fortune if you could fine someone who would do it.
Here in the U.K. lath and plaster is the old technique of nailing rough, wooden strips (laths) to timber framing then applying the plaster. Best practice would be 3 coats i.e. render (course plaster with horse hair binding, float (smoother layer of plaster) and set (very smooth, hard finishing coat).
I have that, wooden laths & plaster, in my old farm house here in the U.S. built in the late 1920’s. I am curious when they started with the gypsum laths here.
@@richardlug6139 The shift was gradual from the time various plasterboards were introduced in the late 1800s, but I believe rock lath took off in the 1930s and taped drywall, after being used in prefabs and DIY work for decades, caught on after WWII. I've seen houses with rock-lath-plaster from the late 1960s, but none from the 1970s.
That was fascinating, I have never seen interior plastering done. I did see a drywall veneer system being applied to a home back in the mid 80s, otherwise it was drywall all the way. That definitely took very skilled craftsmen to do. I can see why drywall became so popular, seeing how labor intensive that plastering was.
Thanks for posting this video. It's helped me immensly in understanding the construction of the walls in my 1943 house and how to address some repairs. Also makes me appreciiate my beautiful plaster walls - and archway - even more.
Once I had to do some repairs, patches, renos in my house I no longer appreciated the plaster walls lol!!! So horrible to match drywall to the 1" give or take thickness HAHA!
Probably wood lath
I'm converting my archways BACK to the original. I can't believe they framed a square under the arch for a doorway __ without a Door-? and again, the wall between the living room and dining room - without a door, why? I don't get it
Hi Guys this is the easy life
Thin wooden Lathes came before this Board
The Man that taught me in England in the 80 s told me how fast they could nail and that plasterboard was the Greatest advancement to Building sites
His family were all fibrous plasterers
4 generations
They must have been true Masters in their field
Alan Dowler my friend and Teacher infact plastered an Arch in st Paul’s cathedral
It was in the Whispering gallery
It was more than likely damaged in the war
He told me many fantastic stories
Fascinating
I became his Labourer in around 1981
I worked with Alan on Waltham Forest council , lots of Great tradesmen joined the council in their 40 s
They wanted to gain a good pension and have life a touch easier
The money was poor and us trades got little thanks from the tenants as the Budget was very tight
Happy days back then
I’m 58 now , still plastering it’s hard on your legs as your on your feet all day
RIP Alan and the other Tradesmen I was Lucky enough to meet X
Interesting, but looks like your Caps Lock key is sticking.
That final mix for the top coat is so good but so bad with the asbestos. I come across that stuff constantly. Its only like 2% asbestos but enough to mess you up if you do a lot of demo work.
i prefer to repair any big damaged areas by filling with drywall, then either skim coat the room or add a layer of 1/4' drywall, then skin coat the room. this way you maintain the integrity of the membrane of plaster. yes, its heavy and you are adding weight, but back then they used dimensional lumber that was larger and not nearly as brittle from kiln drying, the homes breathed and had greater ability for flexing with seasonal changes. when modern "climate control systems" came along, old homes started cracking and literally crumbling inside due to the homes being devoid of moisture during summer and winter. Modern drywall techniques eliminate the brutal arrid interior climate shifts because there are less joints and the weight has been reduced nearly 300% or more in some instances.
This must have came out in the mid to late 40s in that transition period between wood lathe to gypsum lath to drywall. My old house was built in 1940 and they used wood lathe and plaster. As others said, this is a great video!
I've always wondered how this was done. I've tore down dozens of walls in the Chicago area and have always hated plaster. Always thought to myself, how laborious it must've been to put on because it's definetly a pain to take it off. Video makes me appreciate a lot of things lol
I'v cutted all boards in my house this way, and was doing rendering first hand than dust grain sand plaster and than final knauf gypsum powder only bcs it have more sense, now i wached this first time and cant describe how happy i am because local pros laughed at my work, this is gold, i must move to usa im its citizen by mindset
This is Canadian though so you'll have to come to 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦
I'm pretty sure that's how it use be done everywhere (minus the plaster boards) not just in Canada.
I watched this and it took me back to the days of mixing by hand and hod carriers. Dad started me under the stairs and in closets. Took me a year to get with the big boys. Today they have it easy. 70 years ago were different but on wall finishes I think better.
“”Dad started me under the stairs and in closets”. Great comment. I was wondering where an apprentice would get practice. Like most “construction videos”...or cooking, baking, golf, fly-fishing, you name it,..it always looks easy in the video.
As an architect who has only occasionally been able to observe the installation of traditional 3 coat plaster, I have observed that a properly organized team can accommodate a wide age range in workmen. Contemporary drywall work...as efficient as it is ...seems to place a premium on “muscle” and “youth”. Something is lost in this quest for speed..
@@165Dash Agree 100% Quality is what's lost in "Lowest Bid" Construction. Cost cutting can be achieved without sacrificing Quality. Unfortunately developers fear cuts to profits. They use low skilled workers for most of the project, then use high skilled ones to "punch out" the defects buyers catch. It leads to low quality, and kills the trades.
Very true John, on one job we had a scaffold lift and the scaffolders used it a few times before they broke it.
Were you labouring or plastering and was it lime or gypsum work?
When we got new people they were given a cupboard or hard to access place, if you take care of the corners and edges the rest will take care of itself. I started out in cements and gypsum's before working in the conservation business and the OTT materials the super rich liked to use. I now work alone and only use lime putty products and natural materials like elephant grass and lath's for builds.
There is less waste using putty because it only starts to set when exposed to the air and a lime wall absorbs co2.
Our housing needs could be helped with cob & straw-bale structures and ground sourced heat-pumps. If the subsoil has clay then all the diggings can be mixed into cob. These structures can then be rendered in lime mortar, sprayed or spread on, it all makes great, cheap, comfortable and sustainable housing with a very low carbon footprint that would easily last 100 years.
It's interesting to find old books and old-timers who'd done those jobs, talking about the preparations and different mixes before each job.
My house was built in ‘56 and the walls are built with this “gypsum lath” and plaster. I really like how the the ceilings in my house all have a different texture and pattern in each room,
Wow takes me back, I remember when I first started the trade, in the early 90's. We used those plaster boards. But normal gypsum skim plaster. Grey then pink.
I was always taught never to break the paper nailing the boards up and still do the same today screwing.
andy taught me everything i know. i am for hire.
Yep. Architects designing the buildings and then checking on construction progress. We sure don't do it those wasteful ways any more!
I was unfamiliar with the flag at 18:00 -- from Wikipedia: it's The Canadian Red Ensign (French: Red Ensign canadien) served as the civil ensign for Canada from 1892 to 1965, and as an informal flag of Canada from the late-19th century to 1965.[1] The flag is a British red ensign, with the Union Flag in the canton, adorned with the shield of the coat of arms of Canada.
That was the Canadian flag until the leaf was adopted in 1965.
Similar flags are still used as provincial flags for two provinces of Canada. Ontario and Manitoba.
What fantastic plaster-boarding skills that man with the sharpened axe-hammer had and great to see the ease with which he put up the curved boards. I use lime putty for nearly all my work and slake my own product from finely 'kibbled' quicklime which I buy from a supplier, it's a chalk lime called 'Singleton Birch'.
I have done lots of different mixes over the years and added rice flour (strength), molasses (against frost/cold) wood shavings (binder) to mortars for a multitude of reasons, primarilly because I'd read about it in old books and incorporated it into my work.
I have put some lime plaster onto a gypsum board but have never done a whole wall this way.
Lime uses less energy to make than cement, will keep forever (less waste) and absorbs carbon dioxide. It's also better for acoustics too.
Thanks for talking shit.
I’ll second that the man using the sharp axe hammer would leave many tradesman behind 👌
Andy was the real hero!
The wheel was invented last week pal.. Did you hear?
Geoff Bradley
Hi triple A plasterer from down under Aussie .we use clay bricks inside and outside . Now that’s where the real art of plastering starts
We use general purpose cement, lime and yellow sand for the rendering .The white coat is lime putty and hardball plaster mixed 50to50 and gives you a hard finish .I could go on all day but I’ll leave it at Geoff from down under seeya
As a DIYer I first thought the small pieces would be handy today. Then came all the hard work. We have it pretty easy today. During the 1960's I worked with my father who was an electrician. We worked on a lot of old houses that had wood lath and plaster, knob and tube wiring. Who said they were the good old days?
It’s a lost art.
Currently demoing lath and plaster and replacing knob and tube. It’s a really fun and clean job.
I say they were.
@@ben_3256 😂😂😂😂😂
That was absolutely brilliant! We've gone a long way since the true plastering but its good to see what we came from.
You mean a long way downhill, right?
@@captainamerica9353 well, i know what you mean, but im currently finishing the drywall in a 340 units tower... i sure am glad not to be mixing sand and lime and hand troweling a thousand tons of it on the walls.
@@captainamerica9353 not a long way downhill. we have definitely advanced
Being a plasterer , this video is awesome !!!!!
Damn. Did you see that guy's hammer and nail work? and cutting the sheets? skilled hands!
👍👌👏 Oh WOW, simply fantastic! Thanks a lot for uploading and sharing.
Best regards luck and especially health to all involved people.
These tradesman are so amazing look at the way he tackled the light switch cut out and the arch as well
Hand skills almost forgotten
Without these videos
👌👌👌
I love this video. I do a lot of remodeling in the Baltimore MD area, and we see this all the time. That type wall is very well durable, and very difficult to demo!
Baltimore.....LOL :-)
@@wurlitzergroup hmm?
These people knew their stuff!
I am an aspiring home wood worker. Reading the comments from the seasoned craftsmen and the newer apprentices together, talking about quality and the evolution of the craft, gives me hope that the trades will never be without people to do the job.
the sad truth is most manufacturers want to make products that low skilled people can install. I cannot blame them. But a shame none the less. the craft will not die, but productive efficiency like they did, is pretty much gone for lath and plaster .
Holy shit that dude was a beast with that drywall. R.I.P. I'm sure. Unless he's still around and like 110 years old
My fathers firm had many of these guys. They would spit 4 d blue nails all day long. even developed a slight blue ring around the mouth, or maybe I imagined it? LOL
This dude runs faster and cleaner than any modern drywaller
by far the best plastering video on youtube. thanks for sharing
Superb just how fast they work - love the nailing, like a machine!
I'm worried about swallowing nail .
This is fascinating! They sure don't make houses like they used to (and that's a shame). Interesting at the lack of PPE (I wonder how all these guys' end of lives were, whether they had lung or skin issues, etc). Also interesting that the architect kept showing up in a full suit and not construction clothing ;) ... Interesting at 14:28. Those two adds are regularly used these days in garden soil! What an informative video!
Thank goodness they aren’t, old homes are leaky, out of plumb, under built, piles of junk
Not so fun fact about PPE and the additives - Vermiculite of this era was almost all tainted with Asbestos, coming from the W.R. Grace mine in Libby, MT. Soooo yeah...might not have had a great end of life.
@@SamChou Libbey Montana was a major site for mining this, and yes, it had asbestos in it.
@@allysonand Naaa, that's mostly because codes have been updated. I grew up in a home with gypsum walls. It was SOLID, and that was in California, earthquake country! Throwing out the old just because it's old isn't always the best idea. Just look at what that idea is doing to society!
Very interesting,thanks for sharing! My modest cape-cod house was built in 1951 and has rock lath and plaster walls,very solid. I wish this was the standard of construction today.Those men must have had bodies of iron!
I’m here because Kirk Giordano recommended it. “Who’s the best? Kirk is!”
WE LOVE KIRK DONT WE❤ BEST PLASTER BY FAR
@7:50, that is the Parkchester section of the Bronx, I can tell bc the movie theatre is the Eagle Movie theatre (which sadly doesn't exist anymore, it lasted until the early 2010s). I used to live nearby, that awesome!
Watching that guy feed nails out of his mouth into his hand without breaking rhythm or suffering a single mishit is absolutely incredible.
DescriptionLath and plaster is a building process used to finish mainly interior dividing walls and ceilings. It consists of narrow strips of wood which are nailed horizontally across the wall studs or ceiling joists and then coated in plaster.
Wooden lathes were made redundant by the use of plasterboard lathes and now there redundant due to 8x4 plasterboard sheets, not sure if there’s any more giant leaps forward in this field
bill500carphead I wouldn't describe either of those alternatives as giant leaps forward!
I’ve seen many a lathe hammer in sheds and always thought it was for splitting wooden lathes, and also sand & plaster on plasterboard your trowel wrist and hawk elbow are gonna long for Friday.
Yup. My home --- started in 1961, finished in '62 --- has walls exactly like those shown. My plasterer, it seems, skipped the screeding step as there are sweeping trowel marks that show when light shines from the sides. But, I'd still rather have plaster than drywall, hands down.
That’s the kind of board my 1950 house is made with. Full one inch thick. 1/4” board with another 3/4” over that. I’ve had contractors in and they’ve told me they’ve never seen it done that way before but it’s solid as a rock.
That was a excellent video true craftmanship
I’ve been a plaster for 40 years good to see traditional plaster we used a lot sand cement back in day new houses it’s all dot dab today not lot young lads do it which’s is a shame bloke in the film looks good trade man’s 🇬🇧🇬🇧
Plasterer by trade 20 years(not a finisher) and I can say the same basic rules apply other than the building products have changed or have gotten better. Plaster is still in my opinion the best interior finish by far it adds beauty and integrity to any project. I’ve seen some great drywall finishers but nothing adds more strength and beauty to a home than plaster and not the bag crap....real lime & gauging!
Is plastering perlite different from the garden perlite in most stores?
@@brettknoss486 I have no clue what is in potting soil...lol...sorry! Perlite in plaster is usually from volcanic rock or gypsum
@@brettknoss486 I should've said it's mixed with gypsum to make a basecoat product for finish plastet
My father was the old school plasterer. I had him help me on my own home in the 90's. He was shocked at the price of gypsum plaster. According to him, it used to be cheaper than Portland cement, now it is 3 times more? he could not believe it. Supply and demand I guess.
Imagine this. These guys the latherer and the plasterer are of course very good at their profession to be involved with this film. Could they ever imagine that their beautiful work will be watched nearly 100 years from that time? And that people will continue to watch them maybe forever? I think they would be smiling in their graves if they knew this, knowing that their work was so appreciated. I know I appreciate it. If I could shake their hands I would.
Also look how professionally they dress while they’re doing their work, and you can tell the latherer’s hands have pounded many a nail.
They would wonder why we're watching their masterful work until they see the crap that's done now.
Damn, that’s a lot of work!
I love Andy's Tuscan vibe. Nice work, Andy!
18:00 For those of you that were unaware, that was the Canadian flag before we got the Maple Leaf.
Just remember as cool as this is to us in the trades today, it was viewed as a low-skilled, low quality hack by many of those who grew up with wood lathe plaster. I can only imagine when drywall is phased out how people will look at old (modern) drywall training videos and be shocked at the amount of work and skill that went into it. Lol.
No joke though, that lather is badass. And it’s really cool what hung someone plaster with the precision you’d expect from a float for tile setting.
It is very difficult to make out, but the flag at 18:00 looks like the old flag of Canada.
Wow! Look at those gorgeous 2x4's!
I love the little nod at 17:15 to the fact that experts have literally never used the methods in manuals.
The architect doing an inspection? For modest housing that went the way of the dodo and the doctor's house call decades ago.
3 coats of plaster? Ouch. It's not hard to understand why spray-on texture replaced plaster over sheetrock.
When did the 4x8 sheets become the standard for residential home construction?
They sold 4X8s at least since the "Sheetrock" trademark was registered in 1917. I've read that the system for taping and mudding wasn't standardized until the 1920s, so the early installations usually involved wallpaper or battens in a mock-Tudor pattern. But, the smaller panels were the most popular for rock-lath (with the grey and white coats on top) into the 1960s. Maybe the larger panels expanded and contracted too much to be used that way.
Before screws we used to hammer and nail everything timber frame flats were hell on earth ,ceilings used to be 1 plank board and 2 fireline boards fixed with 75mm nails all knocked in by hand ,elbows suffered big time
Watching in my mobile home. I look around me......
I feel cheated.
This is great. Enjoyed the whole thing. Everything from the skilled work, material descriptions and mixing through stilted script, basic film technique and bad acting.
Amazing. Like an adobe home on the interior. If only the plasterers had insulated their walls, I wouldn't have to break up their work.
Wow! I just realized this is what I have been seeing when cutting (for repairs) the drywall in our old house. I was always wondering what type of drywall this was. Why so thick notably irregular thick and why so many layers.
Just in time for the post-War baby boom suburban expansion. Those houses probably had/have asbestos tiles on the outside. Levitt houses did/do. The basement pipes are also wrapped in asbestos.
my little house from 1957 has this type wall plaster, hard as rock. no cracks.
the trade has been simplified to save labor , drywall of today is not as durable but is much faster to complete
the only detriment to this very excellent and durable process, is the gross weight it adds to the home. as the years come the walls eventually start failing. i prefer this type of wall personally the work is worth it. Modern drywall techniques leave every room feeling hollow and acoustically extremely noisy. anyone can slam a 4x8 sheet up onto a wall and tape a joint, but the details are missing. I know drywall contractors who perform several skim coats over an entire wall to in a way, create a shell, or membrane that moves with the house. using a flexible type of skim coat enables this.
I remember packing hod when I was young. Swear it made me two inches shorter. that hod, the V shaped tool on the workers shoulder, was heavy when loaded. Not allowed to use them anymore due to OSHA regulations.
That smaller size is easier to work with I really don't know why we switched to the larger boards. More work related injuries.
The older houses look better than modern crap boxes too.
Good points. Drywall is treating joints, so less joints, faster finished. with lath and plaster, you coat the entire wall, those joints mean little to plasterers.
I think Andy is the one who plastered my 1956 house
Andy got my rolling ova here 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Good thing for Andys lack of prep,That vermiculite idea didnt age well...
It's a shame we don't have these standards now a days. Some of the jobs of plasterboarding i've seen are awful, screws in too far, foam around the edges, ripped paper... To some it's art and a lifestyle, to others it's just a job
Been in construction all my life ,just learned what the blade is for on a sheet rock hammer! 😂 never seen anyone use the blade
Great to watch proper trades ❤️
Can you imagine the arm and shoulder strength of the master plasterer? No gym needed!
I love how even back then we had to make videos explaining the difference of a handyman’s work opposed to a true professional or master of his field.
In uk i worked on 400 yearold houses with lath(oak strips) and plaster(lime,sand,horsehair)..2scratch coats (two weeks to dry)then finish coat(trowling every 2days for 2weeks,) till set...😅good fun , but dont fall in the lime pit👍🏼😂😂
Wow friggin wee. I’ve renovated a pile of homes and wondered at the workmanship of those who did the lathe and plaster. True tradesman back then.
Imagine plastering over wooden lath. Would love to see a film on how that is done.
I'm 54 and when I served my time we still did it. We used horse hair for binding and if we used up the horse hair we used grass. We used essian scrim on ceilings which had to be 3 coats to cover,don't know your born nowadays
@@northernpatriotmanchester675 As a painter and restorer of Victorian houses in NY, I repaired plenty of horse hair plaster. Never do I recall seeing horse hair available for sale. I used quick setting, non shrinking durabond as a first coat on the wooden lath.
In the UK in the early 80s it wasn't hard to get hold of. I was taught to wet plaster which used a lot of the old systems but the trade started to really modernise around 1988 onwards with the advent of mechanical mixing etc. Self adhesive scrim was the key.it put artex ceiling installers out of work because flat plaster ceilings became easy to do and cost affective. It went from 6mm skimming on ceilings down to 2mm so we made mega bucks
When did they stop using wood strips? My plaster has wood strips and horse hair.
This video is slightly misleading. The term used in the video is "lath and plaster", which was extremely common until the late 1940's when gypsum became popular to use. Lath and plaster is when wood strips AKA laths are nailed to the studs in a wall and plaster is smeared overtop of them and smoothed out and eventually painted over. Gypsum made this process very easy by far but still a sought after skill. Gypsum lead the way to sheetrock which lead the way to the drywall we use today.
My first house used the perforated type. The walls were one and a quarter inch thick.