[Illustration: WHITEWASHER AND PLASTERER.]
When the walls, or what is called the carcase of the house, have been
built, the roof made, the inner walls and partitions set up, and the
joists and woodwork of the floors laid down, the work of the Plasterer
begins. He covers the brickwork and bare timbers of walls, ceilings, and
partitions with plaster, to prepare them for painting or papering: he
also forms the cornices for ceilings, and the mouldings and decorations,
which are usually made in plaster or cement.
The materials which the Plasterer uses for these purposes are:—1st.
_Coarse stuff_, or a paste made with lime, much in the same way as
common mortar, and afterwards mixed with hair, which is obtained from
the tanner’s yard, after it has been removed from the skins, which are
there made into leather. This hair is raked together, and mixed with the
mortar, with the _hair hook_, and a sort of three pronged rake called the
_drag_.
[Illustration: Hair Hook. Fine Sieve.]
2d. _Fine stuff_ is made from pure lime, slaked with a small quantity of
water, after which enough water is added to bring it to a state in which
it resembles cream; it is then left to settle, the superfluous water is
poured off, and the mixture is left in a tub, till still more of the
_water_ has evaporated, and it is thick enough to use. This stuff is
often used for ceilings, and then a small quantity of white hair is mixed
with it, to help to make it firmer and more binding. For these finer
kinds of plaster it is necessary to use the _fine sieve_, in order to
sift the lime and other ingredients, that only the portion which has been
reduced to powder may be retained.
3d. _Stucco_, which is made by mixing fine stuff with cleaned-washed
sand. Stucco is used for house fronts, or other finishing work, which is
intended to be painted.
4th. _Gauged stuff_ is used for forming cornices, which run round a
ceiling, and for mouldings; it is made by mixing fine stuff with plaster
of Paris, which is a fine white powder easily made into a paste, and
drying very quickly.
These are only the ordinary materials used by the Plasterer for his work,
but there are a great number of cements, which are also applied in the
course of his trade; such as Roman and Portland cements, and mixtures
made and sold for special purposes of decoration, and the manufacture of
ornaments.
These ornaments, such as centre pieces for ceilings, flowers drooping
from cornices, bosses or groups on walls, &c. are first modelled in clay,
and are afterwards cast in plaster of Paris, placed in moulds made of
wax or plaster. In this trade, as in that of the picture frame maker,
ornaments are frequently made of _papier maché_, or the pulp of paper
(literally _smashed paper_), which is a very light, hard, and durable
substance for the purpose. The moulds for cornices are made of sheet
copper, and are fixed in a wooden frame.
[Illustration: Gauging Trowel. Hammer. Salve. Plasterer’s Hawk. Check
Line and Reel.]
The various tools used by the Plasterer are shown in the engravings,
and the manner in which some of them are used may be seen by the large
cut at the commencement of this description of the Plasterer’s trade.
The peculiar _hammer_, with one edge like an axe, is used for breaking
down old plaster, and clearing away the mortar from walls and ceilings
previous to plastering them afresh; the _hawk_ is a flat board with a
handle in the centre, used for holding the plaster or cement, which is
being laid on with the trowel. The _gauging trowel_ is the long narrow
trowel, used for taking up the fine stuff for cornices and mouldings;
these trowels are of various lengths, from three to seven inches. The
_salve_ is a sort of small spade, on which the plasterer’s boy lifts the
mortar or cement, and places it on the _hawk_, which the workman holds in
his hand; as the _salve_ has a long handle, the plaster can be conveyed
to the hawk even when the man is at work on a ladder. The square is
similar to that used by the bricklayer, and shows that the corners of
the work are straight and even; the _compasses_ are used for measuring
distances; the _check line_ for marking out the spaces of the work to
be done, and the _joint rules_ for measuring the parts where different
portions of the work come together, either at the corners, or in making
the mouldings. The _set square_ is also used, for showing that the
surface or the line of the work is straight and even.
[Illustration: Joint Rule. Joint Rule. Compasses. Set Square.]
When the Plasterer has to cover a ceiling or a partition, he commences by
lathing. This is nailing laths over the whole space which is to receive
the plaster. Laths are long narrow strips of either oak or fir wood, of
various thicknesses; the thicker being used for ceilings, where they have
to bear a greater strain than in upright walls.
The next operation is _pricking up_, or placing the first coat of _coarse
stuff_ upon the laths; this is called pricking up, because when the
plaster is laid, its whole surface is pricked and scratched with the end
of a lath, that it may be rough enough for the next coat. The laying
on of this second coat of plaster is called floating, and is performed
in the following way. The surface is surrounded with narrow strips of
plastering, called _screeds_, held fast by lines of nails, and these are
made perfectly level, by means of the plumb rule (_see Builder’s tools_),
and the use of the _hand float_. The spaces within these lines of plaster
work are then filled with coarse stuff, till the whole forms a flat
surface, which is made perfectly level, or “floated” with the _floating
rule_. Other screeds are then formed and filled up in the same way, until
the whole ceiling, or wall, forms one flat surface. The operations are
the same for ceilings and walls, except that the plumb rule is used for
adjusting the level of walls, and the _level_ for that of ceilings.
[Illustration: Square. Modelling Tools. Brush. Floating Rule.]
After the work has been brought to an even surface with the floating
rule, the Plasterer goes over it again with the _hand float_, using a
little soft stuff to make good any deficiencies.
[Illustration: Hand Float.]
When the floating is about half dry, the setting or finishing coat of
fine stuff is laid on, and is first wetted with a _brush_, and then
worked over with a smoothing tool until a fine surface is obtained.
Stucco is laid on with the largest trowel, and worked over with the _hand
float_—being at the same time sprinkled with water—until it becomes hard
and solid; after which it is rubbed over with a dry brush. The water has
the effect of hardening the face of the stucco; which, after several
sprinklings and trowellings, becomes very hard, and as smooth as glass.
[Illustration: Setting Trowels.]
The commonest kind of Plasterer’s work is laying on one coat of stuff:
when this is done on brickwork it is called _rendering_, and when on
laths it is called _laying_. When there is a second coat it is called
_render set_, or _lath-lay and set_: and when it is three-coat work it is
called _render, float, and set_, or, _lath-lay, float, and set_; this is
done in ceilings and partitions with fine stuff mixed with hair; or, when
the walls are to be papered, with fine stuff and sand.
_Rough stucco_ is used for finishing staircases and passages in imitation
of stone. It is mixed with a great deal of coarse sand, and is not
smoothed, the _hand float_ being covered with a piece of felt, so that
when it is applied to the stucco the grit of the sand sticks to it and is
drawn to the surface, giving the plaster the appearance of rough stone.
_Rough casting_ is used for outside walls, and is done by throwing
a layer of gravel, mixed with lime and water, over the second coat
of plaster while it is quite wet. In some counties of England, and
especially near Nottingham, the plasterers use reeds instead of laths;
and even floors are often made by laying down a quantity of coarse stuff
upon a foundation of reeds.
These floors are almost as hard as stone, and possess the good quality of
being almost always fireproof.
[Illustration]