Ken Wildes crouches next to a cardboard box and plucks out a rose hand-formed from clay. He holds the rose in his fingertips and points out the flaws. See how the petals are pressed together? A ...

Q Am I right that when sections of plaster break away from the lath, an accepted repair technique is to roughly fill in those gaps with drywall and then drywall over the whole wall or ceiling? — M.H., ...

Q. We just bought our first house, an American Foursquare, dated 1917. It has been vacant for several years and the interior is not in the best condition. We'd like to gut it to get rid of the sagging ...

Q. How important is it to repair plaster before repainting? Our ceilings have peeling paint that we’re pretty sure was caused by past water damage. Since the water problem is no longer an issue, can ...

A dropped or suspended ceiling is often used to conceal an old damaged or failing plaster ceiling—but there are other good reasons to consider installing one. August 31, 2023 Add as a preferred source ...

Editor’s note: This story originally ran in 2010 and has been updated. You can read the previous post here. As Americans, we can feel patriotic when considering tin ceilings. It’s one of the few ...

If Beth Cayre had to move, she would regret leaving the dining room ceiling, with its plaster cherry blossom branches hand molded by ceramics artist Matthew Solomon. And who could blame her? The ...