With Persistence and Plaster Magic, Beth Rimas Is Restoring her Home

With Persistence and Plaster Magic, Beth Rimas Is Restoring her Home

Since she bought it in 2001, Beth Rimas’s small single-family house in Roslindale has been a work in progress.

“When I moved in, the whole house had 1970s paneling, drop ceilings, wall-to-wall carpet, and linoleum,” Beth remembers. “I took the paneling and ceiling off piecemeal. My first priority was to get all of that out.”

Under the paneling was plaster, and, as in many hundred-year-old houses, much of it was starting to crack and pull away from the supporting wood lath. She started with the wall next to the front door, replacing the plaster with drywall, but found the process extremely messy. Now she now opts to repair rather than replace, and Big Wally’s Plaster Magic from Boston Building Resources has been her go-to plaster repair system.

When she finds an area of weakened plaster, first Beth drills holes around the perimeter. “If any pieces fall out, I don’t worry about it, because I can always patch them later,” she says. Within the perimeter, she drills enough holes to spray in the conditioner and later squeeze in the adhesive that will reattach the plaster to the supporting lath. Applying the patching plaster and smoothing out the finish coat of joint compound “becomes an obsession, like pottery.”

Beth is a working mother with five children who are now high-school age and up. She has found plaster repair to be a project that is both DIY-friendly and workable with her busy schedule. It also fits within her tight budget. Other ways she saves money include buying items at BBR’s Reuse Center—most recently, doorknobs—and by restoring furniture she found for free on Craigslist. A rooftop solar array has made her electricity bills much more affordable.

Beth can’t say that her house is “done,” but its condition is vastly improved over when she bought it. As the needs of her family change, she will continue to work away at updates to keep pace, piece by piece.