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Ryland · 07-09-12, 11:33 PM

I've done plaster and stucco on straw bale houses, I've also done plaster repair and plaster takes skill, the up side is plaster is not perfectly flat! so when you notice a line from a seam in dry wall it's because the rest of it is flat and smooth, plaster is not so a variation blends in quite well!
If you do go with plaster, Durrabond is a nice base coat, it's not easy to sand, you scrape it to get bumps out, the Easy Sand dry mix is the way to go for a finish coat, it's a great dry wall joint compound as well because it drys faster and shrinks less, but once you mix it you are stuck using that or loosing it.

Blue Board looks like dry wall, but is grey/blue and denser, it has a course paper on it that is designed for a plaster like skim coat to give that plaster look and feel.
Cement board should work the same way but I've never used it.

You can also do blood lath, it's the metal lath that you nail to the studs, put a coat of mortar on as a base coat, then a brown coat that in plaster terms might be something like durrabond, then a sandable coat to finish it.

07-09-12, 11:33 PM	#2
Ryland Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Western Wisconsin. Posts: 913 Thanks: 127 Thanked 82 Times in 71 Posts	I've done plaster and stucco on straw bale houses, I've also done plaster repair and plaster takes skill, the up side is plaster is not perfectly flat! so when you notice a line from a seam in dry wall it's because the rest of it is flat and smooth, plaster is not so a variation blends in quite well! If you do go with plaster, Durrabond is a nice base coat, it's not easy to sand, you scrape it to get bumps out, the Easy Sand dry mix is the way to go for a finish coat, it's a great dry wall joint compound as well because it drys faster and shrinks less, but once you mix it you are stuck using that or loosing it. Blue Board looks like dry wall, but is grey/blue and denser, it has a course paper on it that is designed for a plaster like skim coat to give that plaster look and feel. Cement board should work the same way but I've never used it. You can also do blood lath, it's the metal lath that you nail to the studs, put a coat of mortar on as a base coat, then a brown coat that in plaster terms might be something like durrabond, then a sandable coat to finish it.