There’s Horse Hair in the Plaster

Thursday we were contemplating whether to tear into the plaster surrounding the red brick chimney in our Victorian era kitchen.  When researching the pros and cons on the Internet, people were saying we could find brick that is broken or soft, cheap stuff or there could be gaps in the brick which would let in vapors since the chimney is used as a vent for the furnace.  If we found any of that, then we’d be stuck with re-drywalling.  But I’ve dreamed of exposing this chimney for two years and I wouldn’t be deterred.

We punched a smallish bit of plaster out and saw the brick underneath … looks pretty good.

Why did the Victorians plaster chimneys over?   They were all about fancy-ness, that’s why.  The old frontier look of cooking in a fire was not appealing.  They liked their kitchens to look utilitarian.

Removing plaster is messy!   Even a small amount like we did, created loads of dust along with small and large pieces of plaster.  And plaster is HEAVY.  At first I didn’t think to cover anything but quickly realized how much work I was looking at if I didn’t get busy.  I put plastic over my stove to protect it and I covered the floor grate.

I wish I had just taken everything out of the kitchen because it was all so dusty at the end, I had a lot of cleaning.  Please learn from my mistakes.  I had to wash everything down afterward because there was this awful coat of dust.  Plaster flew everywhere – into the living room even.

It took two days with the two of us swinging that hammer.  Exhausting work!   Dirty work!   Plaster in my hair and down my shirt.  But we think the chimney looks cool.  How about you?  And, yes, there is horse hair in the plaster.  They quit using that as a stabilizer in plaster after 1920.  We still have to wash it down and put a sealant on it.

We have been debating on whether or not to take it down to the floor or to leave the half.  We are thinking it looks better with the top half only exposed.  It’s not that we have gotten lazy, we think it looks a little neater this way.  I guess it’s a Victorian state of mind.  Lol.