Wife and I bought our house in 2021; the house is over 100 years old with plaster walls. In remodeling the house, I learned to do smooth coat plaster to keep the walls original, and added a couple of arch ways and new hardwood floors.
Still have a lot of work to do on it yet, but very happy with what we have.
Similar scenario here in Chicago. House is 99 this yr. Woodframe, plaster walls and all, but they put a canvas over the plaster in our dining room, including the ceiling, to smooth it out, at some point. Well, you basically have to remove it to renovate. Then you're left with all the imperfections they left. Our dining room was so bad I had to either pull the plaster down or find a work around. I found a product in the UK called fibre paper and it's basically a fibre wall-paper you adhere to the plaster and can then paint. Not sold in the US. Still tons of work prepping for it, but worth every penny and drop of sweat!! The room looks like it was built yesterday!! Good luck with rest of your restoration!!!
Wife and I bought our house in 2021; the house is over 100 years old with plaster walls. In remodeling the house, I learned to do smooth coat plaster to keep the walls original, and added a couple of arch ways and new hardwood floors.
Still have a lot of work to do on it yet, but very happy with what we have.
Similar scenario here in Chicago. House is 99 this yr. Woodframe, plaster walls and all, but they put a canvas over the plaster in our dining room, including the ceiling, to smooth it out, at some point. Well, you basically have to remove it to renovate. Then you're left with all the imperfections they left. Our dining room was so bad I had to either pull the plaster down or find a work around. I found a product in the UK called fibre paper and it's basically a fibre wall-paper you adhere to the plaster and can then paint. Not sold in the US. Still tons of work prepping for it, but worth every penny and drop of sweat!! The room looks like it was built yesterday!! Good luck with rest of your restoration!!!