Water Damage Restoration in Decatur, GA

A house with plaster walls calls for a different water damage restoration playbook than a modern drywall interior. Plaster is dense and hard, and it often survives a soaking that would ruin a sheet of drywall, but it dries slowly, and the hidden bond between plaster and lath can fail without much warning. If your Decatur home has plaster rather than drywall, Alpha Plumbing and Sewer can repair the leak and dry the walls with that difference in mind. Drywall homes follow the steps in Alpha's Georgia water restoration overview, and much of that applies to plaster too, only more slowly.

How plaster behaves when it gets wet

Traditional plaster was troweled onto strips of wood lath, squeezing through the gaps to form keys that lock it in place. Water does not dissolve the plaster quickly, so walls often look intact after a leak. The weak points are the lath, which swells and shrinks as it gets wet and dries, and the keys, which can snap as that happens. Plaster also holds a lot of water in its thickness and releases it slowly, so a wall can stay wet inside long after the paint feels dry.

Signs plaster has been damaged

• Bulges or a hollow sound when you tap lightly on the wall or ceiling.
• Cracks that widen, or pieces that crumble at the edges of a stain.
• White powdery deposits on the surface as minerals are carried out with the water.
• Paint blistering or peeling over a wide area.
• A ceiling that sags between joists, which needs attention right away.

Finding the source in older plumbing

Leaks inside plaster walls often come from aging pipe. Galvanized steel corrodes from the inside and eventually weeps at threaded joints, and old cast iron drain lines crack along their length. When one section fails, others may be close behind, which is why whole house repiping sometimes comes up after a leak. A cracked drain is handled through drain repair. Plaster is harder to open and patch than drywall, so pinpointing the leak with leak detection before cutting saves a lot of wall.

Drying plaster walls and ceilings

Plaster dries from its surface, and paint slows that down. Baseboards are removed along wet walls, and small holes are drilled behind the baseboard line so air can reach the cavity and the back of the lath. Dehumidifiers bring the room air down while air movers keep it moving across the surface. Moisture meters read plaster differently from wood, so readings are compared against a dry plaster wall in the same house rather than a fixed number. Expect monitoring to run longer than it would with drywall.

Saving plaster versus replacing it

Plaster that is still firmly keyed to the lath can usually be dried in place, with cracks repaired afterward. A ceiling or wall that has separated from the lath may be reattached with plaster washers if it is otherwise sound, or removed if it is crumbling. Replacing a section with drywall is common, but the thickness rarely matches, so the patch may need shimming or a skim coat to blend. Removal decisions should be explained room by room, because plaster is not easily put back.

Estimate details for plaster work

Look for the repaired source, the walls and ceilings that tested wet, any plaster being removed and why, the drying setup, the monitoring plan and how long monitoring is expected to continue. Plaster repair and repainting are usually separate trades, and the estimate should say whether they are included.

Decatur plumbing permits

Decatur is in DeKalb County, and the city's Design, Environment and Construction Division generally expects a separate trade permit when plumbing, drainage or sewer piping is installed, altered, repaired or replaced, even on a small job. Replacing a corroded pipe inside a plaster wall is that kind of work; drying the wall is not.

Questions about plaster and water in Decatur

Does plaster take longer to dry than drywall?

Usually, yes. Plaster is thicker and denser, holds more water and gives it up slowly, especially under several coats of paint. Drilling small holes behind the baseboards and keeping the room air dry helps, but monitoring generally continues longer. Readings compared with a dry plaster wall elsewhere in the house tell you when it is finished.

Can a sagging plaster ceiling be saved?

Sometimes. If the plaster is intact but has pulled away from the lath, it can often be screwed back with plaster washers after drying. If it is crumbling, soft or has dropped more than a little, removal is the safer choice. Keep people out from under a sagging ceiling until it has been checked.

Will a repair in a plaster wall be visible?

Not if it is finished well. A drywall patch is usually thinner than the surrounding plaster, so it is built up to the same plane and skim coated to blend the edges. On textured or hand-troweled walls, matching the finish takes more care, which is one more reason to keep openings as small as the drying allows.

Plaster walls and a fresh leak

Plaster tolerates a soaking better than drywall, but it is less forgiving once it starts to let go. Call Alpha Plumbing and Sewer at (404) 409-4448, describe where the stain or bulge is in your Decatur home, and we can plan the leak repair and the drying with the plaster in mind.