We recently saw a television commercial that made us laugh, then nod our heads in agreement, then cry (Okay, we didn’t actually cry. But the seriousness of the commercial’s message was well received).
The ad was for a carpet cleaning service. Two cleaning techs are driving down the road in a company van when they see a worn-looking rug rolled up and tossed out on the side of the road for trash pickup. The driver of the van slams on the brakes, dashes out of the van and kneels beside the rug. “No!” he cries. “I could have saved this one.” He glances up at the offending house… “I could have saved this one!”
We know EXACTLY how that carpet tech feels. The same sense of sadness and confusion wells up in us every time we drive by a dumpster filled with broken lath and crumbled-up plaster. “WHYYYYY!?”
It kills us to see it, every time. That plaster — that beautiful, irreplaceable, historic plaster — could have been saved with a little know-how and the right repair materials. In most cases, we have to assume that it’s not that homeowner or renovator’s fault – they simply don’t realize that there are products like Plaster Magic® that can spare old walls from spending an eternity in a landfill. By using an adhesive to glue plaster back onto its skeletal lath, that vintage wall can be saved.
“But,” you might be thinking, “it’s probably cheaper to just rip that old wall out and put up new material like drywall or brand new plaster.”
As my carpet cleaning friend would agree, it is not cheaper. Or faster. Not only that, but your home or historic structure will almost certainly lose value if you replace tried-and-true plaster with inferior modern materials. Plaster Magic® saves this multi-generational, consistently underrated interior finish. Interiors which plasterers (not repairers) have given up for lost can be fixed quickly and easily. Using this method saves walls or ceilings which would otherwise be lost.
So please, everyone, think twice before you decide to scrap that beautiful plaster wall or ceiling. We can save that one. We can save that oneeee!