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 ...

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

What is a drop ceiling? Are there options for replacing one? Drop ceilings consist of a metal grid that hangs from the ceiling joists and holds panels of various shapes, sizes and materials. They’re ...

The smallest stain on your ceiling is rarely just a cosmetic flaw. It is usually the first visible sign of a leak that, if ...

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 ...

Q: We live in an older home — say, built around 1905 — that has the old horsehair plaster on the walls and ceiling. We would like to do over the ceilings and paint the walls. Would it be best to just ...

Q: I recently moved into a house built in 1916 in Albany. Some of the house has been remodeled, but the rooms that haven't have plaster walls. I've been told that plaster cracks often due to settling.