Interior plaster
Venetian Plaster and Plaster Wall Repair in San Jose and the Bay Area
A troweled plaster wall reads differently than a painted one, in daylight and under a lamp, because the finish itself is doing the work instead of a coat of color sitting on top of drywall. Venetian plaster, marmorino, lime plaster and limewash are decorative finishes that fall under a plastering license, not a painting or drywall license. We hold a C-35 Lathing and Plastering license, the classification that covers plaster as its own trade, and Jose Dominguez spent twelve years as a plasterer in Local 300 before starting this company. The same license covers the other half of this page: repairing original lath and plaster walls without tearing them out.
Free estimates. CSLB #1044105, Class B and C-35 Lathing and Plastering. Se habla español.
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Venetian plaster, marmorino and decorative finishes
Marmorino, lime plaster, limewash and polished plaster are related terms for a general family of troweled and mineral finishes. They are hand applied in thin coats and burnished, so the wall changes with the light in the room through the day.
What these finishes are
Venetian plaster is the finish this page is built around, and it sits at the polished end of a lime based family that also includes marmorino, lime plaster and limewash. They differ mainly in how much sheen they carry and how much trowel texture stays visible. Which one belongs in your room depends on the room's light, and that is what the walkthrough is for.
Where this comes from
Jose ran plastering crews as a union foreman before founding the company, which is where this level of specialty finish work comes from.
Where it goes in a home
Interior plaster finishes go on feature walls, entries, fireplaces and full rooms, in both directions of home: older Bay Area houses being brought back closer to their original plaster walls, and newer homes where a homeowner wants a wall finish with texture and depth that paint cannot produce on its own.
Considering a decorative plaster wall? Tell us the room and the finish you are leaning toward, and we will set up a free in person consultation to confirm it is the right fit before anything is scheduled.
Lath and plaster wall repair
This is the second job the C-35 license also covers: bringing a cracked, sagging or previously patched lath and plaster wall back into shape, in homes built before drywall became the standard interior wall material.
How to tell if a wall is lath and plaster
Homes built before drywall became standard generally have wood or metal lath nailed across the studs, with plaster hand troweled over it in coats. It is a different wall assembly than drywall and it fails differently. Cracking that follows a pattern rather than a single line, a section that feels soft or springs slightly when pressed, sagging along a ceiling seam, or a bump and a different texture where someone patched it before, all point to a wall that is original lath and plaster.
Repairing a section without replacing the wall
Plaster wall repair does not have to mean tearing the whole wall down to the studs. Where the surrounding plaster is still sound, a cracked or sagging section can be cut back, rebuilt in plaster and finished to match, the patching plaster approach behind any lath and plaster repair. Whether a wall needs a contained repair or something larger comes down to how much of the original plaster is still doing its job, and that is exactly the judgment a C-35 license is built for.
What a repair can uncover
If a cracked or sagging wall traces back to a water source instead of ordinary house movement, that gets flagged during the walkthrough rather than patched over and left to return. Opening up a damaged section can also show lath that has pulled loose from the studs, or a section patched before with the wrong material, and either one changes how much of the wall needs rebuilding.
Not sure if a wall is lath and plaster or drywall, or how much of it is still sound? Both get settled in person, at no cost, before anything is scoped.
Permits for interior plaster work
Interior plaster and plaster wall repair are almost always a like for like finish and repair, not a structural change, which generally keeps this work outside of permitting. Requirements vary by city and by scope. We confirm with your local building department before we quote.
How an interior plaster estimate works
For a contained plaster wall repair, photos are often enough to start. Decorative plaster work, and any repair larger than a single section, gets an in person walkthrough, so the room, the light and the existing wall are seen directly. The finish, the scope of the wall and the price are then set down in writing. See the full five step process.
Where we do interior plaster work
We take on venetian plaster, decorative finishes and plaster wall repair across Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, concentrated in the South Bay and the Peninsula. See the full list of cities.
Questions
Questions people ask about this work
If yours is not here, ask us on the phone. It is a better use of your time than guessing.
How long does a decorative plaster wall take, and can we use the room while it goes on?
The wall gets prepared, then coats go on and get worked, so the room is out of use for more than a single day. The schedule for your room is in the written proposal before you approve it.
Does decorative plaster go over existing drywall, or does the wall need preparing first?
The wall gets prepared before decorative plaster goes on, and what that involves depends on the condition of the existing surface. That gets assessed at the walkthrough.
Does it matter for the repair whether my wall is lath and plaster or drywall?
Yes. Lath and plaster is repaired in plaster, matched by hand to the surrounding wall's texture. A cracked drywall wall is a different repair on a different assembly, covered on our drywall repair page. Getting the wall type right before work starts is part of what the walkthrough settles.
Will a repaired section match the surrounding wall?
Matching the texture is part of the repair itself, not an extra step. Color can still read slightly different between old and new plaster until the wall is painted, and repainting the room once the repair is finished is what evens it out.
Interior plaster is not exterior stucco. What actually protects this work?
The two year warranty against water intrusion is written for exterior stucco assemblies. Interior plaster and plaster wall repair are a different trade and a different part of the house, so they are priced and covered under the terms in your written proposal, separate from the stucco warranty.
Related work
Other things we do on the same house
Free estimate
Two jobs, one license.
Decorative finish or a cracked original wall, the scope and the price are written down before anything starts.
Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm. Se habla español.
CSLB #1044105, Class B and C-35. Two year warranty against water intrusion on exterior stucco.