Q:We are getting ready to repaint our home office. The walls and ceiling were cracked during the 1989 quake and poorly patched before we moved in. We had the roof redone this summer, and the banging ...

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 ...

Most older homes and apartments have plaster walls and ceilings with a hard surface that resists wear. Cracking, however, is common. Damage also can be caused when furniture hits the wall or fasteners ...

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

More than eight years ago, leaks at the Old First Reformed Church in Park Slope caused a portion of the ceiling to collapse. Or so they thought. “Our approach in a situation like that, if we don’t ...

We have a ceiling fixture that rattles loudly when kids are playing upstairs. It’s a newish chandelier-type fixture, hanging from an old plaster ceiling. Any ideas on how we could stabilize this ...

On most days, Bob Kaye walks to work. An ornamental plasterer, Kaye lives in a turn-of-the-century brownstone in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. Many of his jobs are in nearby houses with ...

Dear Angie: 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 ...