plastered

What's going on plaster world? Not too sure if anyone is reading these posts. If you like, check out our facebook page and check where most of the action is. A lot of cool pics from all over the place. Also checkout our groovy page in pinterest.com. Here are the links:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vasari-Plaster-and-Stucco/121488074005
http://pinterest.com/vasariplaster/plaster-and-stucco-products/

Since you're probably  already on the site, we'll say it again anyway...we remodeled our website www.vasariplaster.com Please enjoy and let us know if there' s anything we can do to make the website experience better. We're always improving everything.

We have an awesome new stucco product that is water resistant, flexible, really durable, and really beautiful. Just like our other products, it will stick to paint, primer and cement. Our original stucco is great, but it just wasn't as durable as it could have been, especially for high traffic areas and demanding exteriors. It has a natural mineral added that makes it work like cement, excpet better. The only difference is that it comes only in dry mix. It sets up after several hours in the bucket after mixing. Try some out on your next job, It looks awesome and it goes on much faster than conventional cement products

When doing base coats, or even both coats, yuo can roll on the plaster and backtrowel it. Ths works especially well with the Veneziano since it's meant to go on thinner than the Marmorino and especially the Stucco. This method is also best for large scale unburnished Veneziano - the easiest and most affordable plaster for you or your customers. The unburnished Veneziano is the ullitmate replacement for paint and arguably looks the best. For burnished Veneziano (the shiney version) you can roll on the first or second coat and immediately backtrowel it, and trowel only the last coat. Even then , if you use a small roller and apply small amounts, you burnish it and all that.

Rolling is especially great when you have a super dark color, or when you mixed the dry mix too thin and need it right away.

The best thing about rolling on the plaster is that its amazingly fast. Your production time is cut in at least half, and yuor profits are huge (if you're an applicator). That means around 1000 square feet per day per person of finished product. So even if you double the cost of paint ($1.50) making it $3 per square foot, and you labor and materials is at the most $1 per foot, your net profit is $2 per square foot. So if you're cranking out 1000 feet per day, you're making $2000 per day per person net profit. Even if you only produce half of that because of slower labor or many angles, you're still making the money of a doctor, at worst.  Hope no doctors or your future customers read this, especially if they're doctors.

Lastly, yuo can roll on Marmorino, but it's not super effective for everyone. Try it out onthe next job and see if it works. You just have to go thicker with the roller. Oh, and if you do the rolling thing, you can use at least a 16 inch trowel if not even bigger. Life is much easier when you don't have to lug a hawk around all day. And lastly, rolling works most effectively when you have 2 people.  

We've been super busy. We got what we asked for, which is great business. We have more and more homes and businesses surrounded by our products making everyone happier in their surroundings.

It seems like I'm preaching to the choir on FB about cool projects and samples, so instead I really want to discuss your business as applicators. Many of you are homeowners that visit here, but I figure many of you might be doing this for a living, or at least trying to.  Your plaster business should be exploding. Whether you're using our products or not, I want / need the entire plaster industry to get better and better. We don't want to be part niche business, but instead of a huge industry where plaster is recognized as the standard of wall finishes, instead of just a decorative high end luxury.  (Continued in the next post below)

So from now I want to start posting marketing ideas for your businesses and I want to hear what works for you and what doesn't in terms of securing plaster jobs. I wrote somewhat extensively on the the business of the trade here
http://www.vasariplaster.com/technical-application-tips-and-tricks/tech-plaster-business-tips-01.html?SID=qr5vhi8jfi0cf0kvhjpnfvk0t6

Check it out. Don't be shy on giving feedback. You won't create competition, you'll help invigorate the industry. Most plaster applications are a piece of cake, it's the getting of jobs which seems to be the biggest challenge.  Try to post back on our Facebook... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vasari-Plaster-and-Stucco/121488074005 It only allows 420 characters which isn't long enough enough for anything too meaningful or in depth, but give it a shot anyway.

Cheers

Yup, plaster pays for itself. Plasteris a little more expensive than paint ( in the short term), depending on which version you're buying...wet vs. dry, etc.  The application will cost about twice the price of paint. But paint fades after about 8-10 years (or less) and the house has to get repainted. At that point you might as well have plastered the place for the same money. Paint looks either faded, dinged up or dirty, while plaster will look great for decades, if not centuries.

Maybe you just want to change the color of the plaster without painting it. Easy...you can either lime wash it or apply a single thin layer of new plaster over the old plaster. Either way you need a single coat to make a huge difference and still make it beautiful. With paint, you absolutely need 2 coats of material to make it look finished. Otherwise it's not so pretty.

Bottom line - plaster is more affordable, easier to maintain, makes a happier home and a heck of alot prettier than paint...or any other option.

Plaster has more variation and possibilities than paint. If you wanted, one color of plaster can give lots of variation of the same color. With paint, the wall would have to be faux finished with multiple colors of paint. In fact, faux finish tries making the wall look like plaster. Doing the real thing is easier and just better.

As you can imagine, colors are very subjective. Everyone has a different taste. Some accent walls look great when they’re red, while others are perfect when white. Some are for homes, and others are for corporate offices. A good rule of thumb for homes is simple – make a happier space. It doesn’t have to be light blue and pink, but it should be a positive color that the occupants well enjoy looking at for years. For example, grey looks great conceptually, but can become emotionally too cold over time, deep red will set off the room, it can also become too much color for the eye to handle. Find the middle ground.

You can achieve virtually anything with plaster. If you don’t like the results the first time, just add another layer. Just plaster with it until it looks perfect. It’s very forgiving. Always play around on a sample board first before committing to the real thing. It will save you lots of time down the road. And remember, walls and ceilings are the backdrop to everything else in the room. Make them count. Make it a positive space and you’ll be a happier homeowner.

There are many options in accent walls. There’s paint, faux, panels, wallpaper, gold leaf…well, anything that will stick to a wall. What material might be the most versatile in look, easy to apply and give the option of changing it later? Environmental friendliness is also something to consider.  

Natural lime and marble plasters do the job on many levels. So we’ll call it lime plaster. You can make it look like anything you want, and I mean anything. It comes in any texture sheen or color you can imagine. It can be rough like old stucco or polished like glass. One color can give you tremendous variation and mottling. Likewise, large scale application can be of soft and subtle. You can mix colors and sheens. You can do elaborate stencils, murals and even gold leaf areas. It can look like inlaid marble or an ancient distressed walls.

Our company, Vasari Plaster & Stucco makes plasters and stuccos, for interiors and exteriors. For professionals and DIYers. They are the same formulas and materials of the real stuff. We add a small percentage of organic binders to stick to modern day materials. It will adhere to latex paint, primer or cement. This way, it’s easier to do. Lime plaster is the same stuff the Mona Lisa hangs on in the Louvre and on the walls where Michelangelo painted frescos.

Lime plaster is incredibly environmentally friendly. It’s natural, hypo-allergenic, absorbs carbon dioxide, absorbs excess humidity, naturally kills mold and keeps the house cooler on hot days. Of course an accent walls won’t do too much, but on larger scale, it’s the ultimate stuff.

Some call it Venetian plaster, but there are so many synthetic ‘Venetian’ products, that the term doesn’t do justice to what it is.

Plasters materials, at least ours, will run about .20 cents to about .90 cents per square foot. It can go higher if you’re doing multiple coats and special finishes. Professional application cost on larger scales starts around $2.50 per square foot and more for accent walls. Imported plaster costs much more per square foot and aren’t better than US made materials. The same goes for wines and cheesesJ

Think plaster. In remodeling or new construction perhaps the most dramatic and yet overlooked part of the job is the walls.  Consider that you’re almost completely surrounded by them. Your walls play perhaps the most important part of the project.  They are the back drop to everything else and they can have the greatest environmental impact in your house. Most people do something to the walls in a remodel, but it’s usually paint or wallpaper.  Of course nowadays there are all kinds of other accent options like glass panels, wood blocks, stone, tiles and anything else under the sun.  But again, these are mostly accent materials, so let’s get back to the main walls.

Paint is pretty much paint. Yes, there are lots of paints out there claiming to be different. Some are more eco-friendly than others and some are creamier and thicker to give a little more dimension. Ultimately paint is plastic, and the eco friendly stuff is only eco friendly because it doesn’t off gas with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). As far as proactive ‘greenness’, paint doesn’t do anything. Then there’s wallpaper. Wallpaper has become a slightly outdated idea. It doesn’t last more than ten years if you’re lucky, you can’t fix it, it has no environmental properties and it’s a pain to strip when you get tired of it. However, there are some nice wallpapers out there and they they’re trying to make a comeback.  The nicer ones are usually very expensive and even more expensive to put up.

Plaster is has been used for thousands of years all over the world. From ancient Egyptian tombs to the Sistine Chapel, it’s the real stuff. The plasters are tinted so the color is already in the plaster. You get the texture and color without any paints to go over them. There are lots of plasters out there.  There are essentially 3 different types of plaster – lime, gypsum or acrylic based.  Gypsum can’t give a lot of bang for the buck. It’s hard to make it look good and it smells like gypsum for a long time. The acrylic or synthetic plasters you see at some retail stores are almost literally latex paint with fillers to thicken it up. Again, it’s just plastic.  About lime plasters…

Lime plasters are above all else beautiful and give your project an unmatched environmental quality. They’re natural, are great with moisture, easy to apply, easy to fix, absorb carbon dioxide, stabilize humidity, naturally resistant to mold, easy to change, and keep your house feeling fresh. Lime plasters can be applied in any texture, color or sheen. It can be applied with subtlety and minimal movement for larger areas or it can have a more dramatic mottled look for smaller accent walls.  Lime plaster can be applied on interiors, exteriors and showers stalls.

In recent years there have been several companies advertising Venetian Plaster.  The term ‘Venetian’ is an American invention.  Although the authentic products are true to their historic lime roots, there are all kinds of synthetic ‘Venetian’ products nowadays that have little to with the real stuff.  So let’s forget the ‘Venetian’term to avoid confusion.

Lime alone won’t stick to your walls very well, especially when you’re dealing with previously applied latex primers and paints. So the plasters have to be modified for adhesion and easy of application. It’s still a lime finish. Europe used to have the advantage on lime plasters, but thanks to modern lime manufacturing and excellent lime quarries in America, we now have the best lime plasters available. The upside of this is the tremendous cost difference between locally made and imported plasters. Before, the square foot cost was a whopping $3-4 per square foot in just material. With local manufacturing the prices have come down to .30-$1.50 per square foot. Professional application costs have also come from $12 per foot all the way to $3.50 per foot making it only few times more expensive than paint. Vasari Plaster & Stucco is a leading manufacturer of lime plasters in the United States with the largest website on the subject with videos, galleries and everything on plaster.

Plasters should be beautiful, affordable and easy to do without a mystery on how to do it. Plaster adds beauty and health to your house and improves the value of your home.  Before you consider any wall finish for you remodel, think plaster.