Dicsouraging

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jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
Working on a partial rewire. Got really aggravated. I took a lot of time & trouble to tape customer's plaster walls with blue masking tape before cutting. Later, pulling the tape also pulled flakes of paint off & also a few small chunks of plaster on some. Fortunately, we are good at patching & customer has some touch up paint. But it aggravates me no end when I do my best to show quality work & have something like that blow up in my face. Customer saw me tape cuts & use a vibe saw for less damage, so he saw I was trying my best.
 
GUNNING

GUNNING

Senior Member
Location
Gainesville, Florida
Good Electricians are type A's

Good Electricians are type A's

Plumbers don't even try to be careful , neat, or afraid of collateral damage. It's the plausible deniablity damage clause. "Nope, I didn't do that!"

Being neat and careful helps me in not making mistakes like opening a wall on a stud or missing a truss. It also cuts down on dust and cleanup. Makes me plan & cuts waste.

The customers notice the care and might not care about the chipped paint.

Your doing the right thing.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Explain beforehand that, while you'll do your best to prepare and be careful, it's part of the nature of old work. Consider that in your pricing. That's also why cutting receptacles into baseboard became popular. We have it relatively easy with modern construction.

We do a lot of work in the Fan, northside, and Churchill areas of Richmond, and have plenty of experience with it; some of these houses were built 'way before electrification. You can tell by the two floorboards pulled and replaced down the length of the upstairs hallway.

In the past couple of weeks, I probably cut in a half dozen or so old-work boxes in plaster on wood lath. I use a Multimaster clone, with a carbide blade for the plaster and a wood blade for the lath. No tape necessary. I had to patch two corners of one hole.
 
don_resqcapt19

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
Have you ever tried scoring though the tape, paint, and top of the plaster just outside of the cut with a knife? I have had good luck in preventing paint chips and plaster damage doing that. It doesn't work every time, but it does most times.
 
K8MHZ

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
I know I am terrible at patching so I don't do it. I let someone who knows the trade do it and let them get paid for it.

Ironically, the guy I always use hates electrical work and I have got far more work from him than he has from me.

So, I see no reason to change my tactics.
 
S

SBuck

Member
My brother is a painter, he said to use caulk on sticky side of the tape before you put it on the wall and it will come right off. I myself have not tried it yet.
 
H

hurk27

Senior Member
Location
Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
Any tool that reciprocates is a bad tool for plaster walls, non vibrating tools like Roto Zips, Dremels, or any other rotary type tool does the best with plaster, I use the tile bit and have never had a problem, even with plaster bulging already like it will fall off with the lightest touch, I cut in a receptacle right next to it.
 
J

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
My vibe saw mostly did great for the cutting itself. Cut smooth and clean, only bad damage was hitting a place previously patched, & pulled a chunk out. Pulling the tape was what mostly did the damage, it peeled paint flakes & sometimes pulled small chunks of plaster. Fortunately this is plaster over drywall. I remember doing burnouts in the 70's of slum houses with old damp plaster over lathe. Cutting in a 2 x 3 box may take out a 2 foot section if you hit a nail or piece of loose lathe board.

I did leave the tape on till next day, after wire was pulled. I should have pulled the tape as soon as the holes were cut. That may have helped some.
 
mtfallsmikey

mtfallsmikey

Senior Member
Musings from the house plumber...

Musings from the house plumber...

GUNNING said:
Plumbers don't even try to be careful , neat, or afraid of collateral damage. It's the plausible deniablity damage clause. "Nope, I didn't do that!"

Being neat and careful helps me in not making mistakes like opening a wall on a stud or missing a truss. It also cuts down on dust and cleanup. Makes me plan & cuts waste.

The customers notice the care and might not care about the chipped paint.

Your doing the right thing.
Click to expand...

Plumbers do that? I've spent around 40 years in the trades, everyone messes up in plaster,from sanctimonious "electricians" to tin knockers...I've grafted hot water heating systems into more than one 100+ yr. old house, try fishing 3/4" "L" copper thru some old hog-hair plaster walls, or cut supply diffuser holes in them...been there, done that. I'd love to meet anyone who can do perfect openings/holes on old,especially soft plaster...
 
B

bullheimer

Senior Member
Location
WA
hi. i always tell the customer that that kind of damage is likely, and i will try my best not to cause it. but they will be in for some plaster repair and repaint. then if it doesn't happen it's great. if it does happen, it's expected.

the rotozip or clone with the two different bits is definitely the way to go.
 
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