Q. We're buying a house that is probably close to 100 years old. It has been vacant for the past several years and needs a good amount of cleaning up and fixing up. One thing we're concerned about is ...

Q: The walls of our 1938 San Francisco home are lath and plaster, with a canvas-like fabric over the plaster. There are cracks in the plaster, which can be seen through the paint as raised creases in ...

Dear James: We are planning a substantial room addition to our dream home. We are not on a tight budget, and we want everything done right. Should we use plaster walls or standard drywall walls? — ...

Question: I have two questions. My first question has to do with the removal of stipple from the living and dining room ceiling. The house was built in 1950, and the walls and ceiling were drywalled ...

Plaster, a decorative wall coating of lime, sand, and sometimes fibers, has been around since the beginning of time—and so has plaster repair. Although subject to cracks and bubbles, it's a durable ...

Yesterday my contractor pt up sheetrock over one of my plaster walls in my front parlor and in my entrance hall. I was very upset when I saw this as I had not imagined he would repair the walls this ...

Drywall can take a beating from daily living or home-improvement projects. Sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves and fix a hole with the materials you have on hand, such as a scrap of ...

As Hurricane Katrina raged through New Orleans in 2005, neighborhood after neighborhood collapsed from flooding. Of the houses that stood, many still had to be bulldozed due to mold within the walls.