liner paper vs muslin

[tomcat]

I will soon be doing a job in an old, but well maintained home which has plaster walls. Two areas of the room I'll be papering have settlement cracks, which the owner states she has fixed in the past, but they eventually return. The decorator wants me to put muslin up first, stating that will hold the wall together better than a regular liner paper. I've never used muslin before (I don't even know if I'm spelling it right). What's the story with this stuff? Is it the proper thing to use first, maybe rather than a liner paper? Your thoughts, please. :help:

[Bill Archibald]

yes muslin is spelled correctly. And although being a fabric will have more resistance to rips and tears than paper, it will not "hold the wall together" well enough. If the house is still settling, a mere piece of cloth will not hold the wall together.

If for some reason the foundation is still moving, the cause needs be addressed, not only the symptom.

However, if this old house is not moving and is built with a multi coat plaster system on lath, then the keys holding the plaster to the lath may have broken. This induces cracks, and the best fix would be to re-attached the plaster to the lath. If it is a wood lath system, the plaster can be sucessfully re-attached with "plaster buttons":

1224

here they are in use on a recent project:

1225

After everything is patched, sanded, primed, and prep, I would advise a blankstock liner.

If the cause is something else than what I describe, a simple solution lies elsewhere.

[B Blanchard]

If you can get some photos of the problem areas it might help diagnose the problem and possible solutions. You mention that the cracks are is a couple of spots and keep returning. They may be expansion cracks. In some cases the construction behind the plaster is such that seasonal changes cause the underlying structure to expand in such a way as to open and close the crack. There's not much that you could do to eliminate this type of problem.

Try to do a little more detective work to see if the cause of the problem can be isolated, how long the repairs last, any signs of moisture, etc.

That being said, muslin has long been used to cover minor expansion cracks as well as surface cracks that are a result of stress over many years, such as in an older home. In rustic homes muslin has been used to cover plank walls where there is seasonal expansion and contraction.

Muslin is flexible and strong so the cracks don't break through unless very severe. This helps support the paper that is hung over it. It certainly is a possible solution to your clients problem but that would depend more or the extent of the expansion and contraction.

Kind of general stuff here, but might give you a perspective on your situation. Hope you can post some pictures.

[wallliner]

Hi,

You need to use nw bridging liner, it is the best solution, muslin or paper liner will not do it!
Decorater is clue less, sorry.

Ed

[Lee Epstein]

O.K. Now do you want my 2 cents? Well you'll get it anyway. The cracks are probably from the house settling. I would take a screwdriver and break open those cracks wider and deeper. Maybe about the width of a fat slotted screwdriver's head. Then I would mix some straight plaster and fill the grooves. After the plaster shrinks when it dries use M-H vinyl spackle to finish them off. After they're smooth hang a lining canvas, (usually a very lightweight vinyl that is painted after) if you feel you need to. Muslin is really heavy and not necessary. Personally I wouldn't line it. I've done this and it looks good 15 years later. If the cracks are going to come back (and probably will), it most likely wouldn't be for quite a while. And no matter what is on the wall when it cracks, would look worse than just the crack.

[Boston Hangman]

I would have to agree with Barry, the muslin will help with minor expansion cracks. However without seeing the walls it is hard to determinbe just what you are dealing with. I would recommend that you invest the time and energy into repairing the cracks as Lee suggested and then installing the muslin and last but not least installing a blankstock liner.

Good luck,
Mark

[fine paper hang]

Plaster buttons Is the best tip I herd about in years.

[Bill Archibald]

Yup, they are great little anchors. but a word of caution, they are not a panacea. There are instances where the plaster is just too "rotten" for the effective use of buttons.

Here's a good dissertation on plaster cracks. These guys aren't sold 100% on buttons because they rely on a different solution: gluing the plaster back to the lath.

http://www.plasterlord.com/notebook/faq.htm


I draw similarities between (most) reoccuring cracks and earthquake fault lines. Two hunks of plaster broken away from their lath, like the tectonic plates, move independently from each other. By anchoring them back to the lath, they should not shift separately. Hairline cracks may appear again, but you wont have the two plates shifting and ripping a muslin liner.