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Plastering the Walls of the Cube Room
The masons are now plastering the walls of the cube room, the central rotunda space that Jefferson used as his dining room. Before the masons could apply plaster, however, carpenters had to install the grounds that will anchor features including chair rails and the entablature. At right you see one of the restoration carpenters checking the level of a ground.
Shims are installed, in this case behind a chair rail, to ensure the ground is level. |
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Once the carpenters were done with their work, the masons started theirs. The cube room is 20 feet high; two levels of scaffolding are needed for masons to plaster an entire wall.
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Note the winch used to haul buckets of plaster to the to the top of the scaffolding. |
| Near the top of the wall, masons apply plaster over a layer of scratch coat. The scratching helps anchor the next layer of plaster. Sometimes, as is the case with this wall, several layers of scratch coat are needed in order to build up the plaster to make it even with the edge of the ground before the brown coat is applied. Eventually, a reproduction of the entablature Jefferson designed for this room will be affixed to this ground. |
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Plastering involves a lot of preparation. Walls are watered so that the plaster does not dry too quickly.
After a coat dries, burrs are scraped off and dust is brushed away. When finished, each wall will have a scratch coat, brown coat, and a white coat. Each coat takes from two to three weeks to dry.
Learn more about the plastering process used at Poplar Forest!
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