The Historic District

Well, a 1/4 inch of paint is a LOT of paint; what is that, 100 layers of paint?!? I say get rid of it, I'm not sure layering anything on top of it is just throwing good money / time after bad. While Phil and I disagree about walls, and Phil always chimes in if there's a chance to tell someone to rip...

It might seem strange but milk paint might be the best thing. You can make it last 5-7 years, and it will never peel or bubble up. It will fade, but seems to me one could just paint right over that with very little of the prep latex paints require. Usually borax is added to it to keep it mildew free...

Several of our room have paint directly on the plaster, no wallpaper underneath. These are the original kitchen and the main floor water closet. We have tried everything we can think of to remove paint: soaking, heat, scraping......... If we scrape it off, we wind up gouging the plaster. We would l...

I keep seeing Pianos and some nice Organs for free on craigslist. Organ donors lol There almost always seems to be a few and some are really nice. I'm so tempted to start contacting them all to see if they have problems like a broken casting. I'd feel bad about wrecking a good one but when I think ...

phil wrote:Happy 420 day
Its a big day here. Many thousands going downtown to celebrate.. I wanted to go but instead I get to go to the dentist to get a root canal.
I know how to party

... unless you're in a very humid climate and the interior is fully air-conditioned. Well, you just described thousands of existing brick buildings. I know most everyone here is north / northeast and only familiar with those issues but "very humid, hot climate" describes a good 40% of Nor...

Next time I'm painting something I'll try true linseed oil paint. It does take longer to dry (manufacturer says 2 days between coats) but it's truly zero-VOC and non-toxic and it should be very nice to work with. Not to mention period appropriate, linseed oil paint was first choice for wood around ...

Removing interior plaster isn't going to ruin anything but it'll be a lot of work and money to put it back if someone decides s/he doesn't like the bare walls any more. Besides, the mortar might be dusty, then someone applies some magic sealant and that might be a problem if you ever want to replas...

Yea Texas_Ranger is right, interior brickwork was never designed to be exposed and in a lot of cases is rough and can be unattractive. People are doing it all over here, mostly flippers. I've seen some early 19th century brick houses entirely stripped of plaster on the interior. It looks absolutely...

Texas_Ranger wrote:Yet some people like that shabby industrial appearance of rough brickwork. I just happen not to be one of them.

THANK YOU.